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Hello
Since the death of my seccond betta I think its time for a change in my community tank.
I still have 2 female bettas in the tank but (this is very unlikely) I might hence might be able to get a small tank for them both to share along with a few species of dwarf gouramis and some cories (what would be the correct tank size for this? I saw a 68 litre BIUBE in Pets at home for 60 quid a bit too big I think)
So to replace him I am thinking of some sort of dwarf chichlid maybe some sort of Ram or another type (reccomendations please) I want something fun to watch that breeds easy (rams?)
also easy to look after and colourful. It needs to be compatible with the following fish:
X-ray tetras, polkadot loaches, red clawed crab, peppered cories, gupies (m and f) swordtails (m and f) and baloon mollies (m and f) neon tetras and amano shrimps, dwarf honey gouramis, little plecos and upside down catfish (warning to anyone else that wants these- they hide all the time and dont even come out at night (well mine do))
I currently ny have a male swordtail as he killed the female, but I am getting him two girlfriends this time, and also only one female baloon molly because its boyfriend and friend died the day after we got them
so reccomendations in the order of:
colourfulness: top priority tank looks a bit dull,
but I saw some BRIGHT orange female swordtails like marine bright so I might get 2 of them.
Fun to watch: I have no real charecter in the tank now as my fighter was the mane attraction, the male swordtail is quite funny, mating with the baloon molly and the guppy, but when he gets his girlfriends he'l calm down a bit.
Easiness to look after: I dont want anything too chalenging or too soft. Nothing overly agressive. (I dont want to try bettas again for that reason, they may not like the guppy and females)

Right so thats it, any thing you know of??

What size tank is this? It sounds pretty well stocked already with what you already have and plan to add.

I'm with Two Tanks. If you give us the size we could offer suggestions.

Last edited by GirlieGirl8519 at 31-Dec-2005 14:07

*Kristin*

Its a 25 gal.
I have now realised that I want a juwel rio 300 lol.
so what do you think? rams are ok for a 25 gal??
Oh and UPDATE: thre is only one female betta and one neon left in the tank now- the pets at home fungus got them

Last edited by br0ke_1T at 01-Jan-2006 06:56

Rams would work in a 25g

Bolivians are my favs

Bettas and gouramis usually are a bad mix. They are both surface breathers and would compete for the same space in the tank. The lone female betta could be kept in a small 1 gallon bowl. Bettas don't mind being alone. I wouldn't keep bettas with live bearers either. Had a problem when I tried female bettas with guppies. Everything was fine until the females matured and started dropping fry...betta babes discovered fresh meat and decimated the guppies. Only managed to save one..

I wouldn't recommend bettas and mollies. . .(you did have one right?) I just bought a black lyretail molly and my betta killed it in an hour. . .he was fine with my cory though plan to buy more of those soon and maybe platies, needless to say I won't be adding anymore mollies. ..

Look, I didnt ask for help on my bettas.
And I am not keeping my female betta in a 1 gal bowl. They become Idle and dont do anything, now she has lots of room to swim and is happy. I wouldnt put her in anything under a 5 gal. I have seen bettas in small containers and they just look like they want to get out.
I had my betta with females and guppies for 4 months before the stupid pets at home fungus arrived. They were fine.
So ill get some rams, the fungus is over now, its all gone.
Ill see if i can find any rams around.
What I really need is a bigger tank, Im after a 90 gal Rio 300. Im hoping, Maybe I can find something cheaper.

Rams will not accomplish raising fry in that tank. Also when rams do breed occasionally they get it in their head to kill any threats. In a smaller tank(anything under 30-40gallons is small to me) that could mean a few dead fish. You could get 2 female rams. 2males might fight. Rams also lean a little to the sensitive side and prefer good water quality. Bolivians are a bit hardier and I think a little less agressive but I haven't kept them.

I think if you want something that can breed in that tank your only options really are livebearers and even then most of the fry will get eaten. You have too many bottom dwelling predators(crab, loaches) for fish that lay eggs on the bottom. Fish agressive enough to defend their eggs might kill your other fish and anything else will get the eggs eaten. The only other thing that might work is to move the bettas and get a pair of the smaller more peaceful gouramis. Honey would work but probably not dwarf gouramis. Mine have always been fairly agressive. You would need a very still surface though for them to accomplish breeding. While bettas sometimes work with livebearers and sometimes don't it's rare that they get along with gouramis so you could try it but it's probably not a good idea. It really depends on the personality of the bettas and gouramis.

If you did want to move the bettas I would suggest at least a 10g tank for the 2females and then you could add either a few small top swimming fish or a school of small cories. A 15-20g would be much better for that purpose though since the smaller the cory the more sensitive they tend to be and a 10g can be hard to keep up water quality.

My crab isnt a predetor, the only time ive ever seen bim doing anything like that is when he was eating a female swortail that had been killed by the male.
Also you said something about the babies not surviving from livebearers, I currently have easily over 25 fry from 1 breeding sesh.

The crab may not eat fish but the crab will eat eggs. As will the loaches. You can't really breed egg laying fish with bottom dwelling fish that are more carnivorous. Small crabs and loaches cannot eat fish but they are not herbivores and will definitely enjoy a meal of caviar.

You must have alot of hiding places if the fry survived the bettas or else had alot of fry in one drop. I had just 2 sparkling gouramis(much smaller than a betta) in a 20g tank with lots of plants and rocks and 3 female guppies giving birth. I only have 2 fry after several months. Usually labyrinth fish like bettas and gouramies are wonderful fry control and take on a search and destroy attitude. They spend all day hunting fry down which is why they are recommended for tanks with livebearers to keep the population down.