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Well after finally settling back down after a couple cross country moves, I found a sad lil female betta,sitting in about a HALF INCH of water in one of those lil cups... and somehow her and a new 10 gal, found their way back to my house... This was about a month ago.
After looking around at local fish shops, decided to go online to look for aquatic plants for my tank... and back to az aquatic gardens.... Had great luck there in the past and went looking.
Well I ran across some of the cutest lil tiny fishes ever-
EMBER TETRAS, and they also have pygmy cories......

Havent placed an order yet, Want to get the 10 gal heavily planted before I get any more fish.... and i wasnt planning on adding fish till I saw those lil ones...

questions-
1) Anyone have any experience with Ember Tetras?
2) since my tank Isnt yet planted ( currently has some fakes in it which sooo isnt working for me) Any advise on setting up the tank speifically for these tiny fish? Its always easier to make adjustments to anything BEFORE planting...
3) I know betta personalalities differ- But considering the size of ember tetras- will the betta see them as food?
4) If I do get them, How big of a school could I put in a 10 gal?? If its just them and 1 F betta, I was thinking about 8-10 in a well planted tank- Am I on the right track here?
5) I'd love to add some pygmy cories to this set up, but not thinking its possible to put 2 decent sized schools in there even though they are small fish- is this correct?

how big is the betta? What colour is it? You have a better chance of a friendly relationship if she's young, small, and fancy rather than standard, aged and brown. Part of it is size, in that the mouth will be smaller, part is that often the prey drive is bred out of them as they get more colourful.

Unfortunately it is not foolproof, but it might give you a bit of a better idea. If you get full grown embers, you should have a better chance than with juvies

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

The betta is still on the smaller side, but growing pretty quickly.... She is a very colorful, blue with bits of purple,lavander,and teal.

I know that there is no fool proof way to decide how she will react to tank mates, until she HAS tankmates...

The ember tetras, if I get them will be purchased online, and I cant control what size I get them at.

Maybe It would be safer to get a school of pygmy cories? As an addition to the tank?

IMO that would definitely be safer, and pygmy cories are quite interesting little things. From my recollection of size and behaviour, 6 should be an easy fit in the tank.

The other option would be to jar your betta inside the tank til the tetras are large enough to be safe. If you do it with a plastic tube, it isn't too visible. Normally I'd suggest melting holes through it too, but um, maybe then the tetras could swim in

What plants were you going to go with?

If you want to try the embers, I'd add the cories first and get the betta used to tankmates, and then try with a small group of 3-5. If the tan is filtered and well planted, that should be fine stocking-wise.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Taking things slowly with this tank
First- tank has a typical HOB filter that came with 10 gal set up, as did lites, hood,heater....

Substrate- 5 pounds flourite on bottom, covered with 5 pounds reg black aquarium gravel on top

Going to upgrade to compact daylight bulbs- with a 10 gal that should give me plenty of light

Going to make a plant order soon, its going to look something like this....

3-4 bunches of Wisteria or Anachris
1 Java fern
10 walkerie crypts ( sp?)
10 tall narrow leaf sag
10 dwarf narrow leaf sag
2-3 java moss that I'm going to TRY and tie down on a flat slate thats prob 2.5 inches by 5-6 inches

Im terrible at trying to estimate a plant order for a new tank.... Any suggestions??

I LOVE cories- and they would be a safer bet with an unknown betta... If I go that route, I'd Like a school of 6-8 Corydorus habrosus... see how the f betta gets along with them.. Id love to get the embers, but do not want to take a chance on them becoming tasty betta bites....
Before I put anything in there though, Getting it planted is first priority.With the tank being only a 10 , planting will help its stability...

I

Sounds like you have a good plan worked out.
Your plant order does seem to fit the tank well but I'd say wisteria over anacharis and get a piece of driftwood for the moss. Corries do live in waters that tend to have tannic acids in them and it adds just another dimensional touch with a good piece.

Other than that I think you should do the corries first and let them settle for a few weeks before considering getting ember tetras. and I also suggest you internally jar the betta (if you do get the tetras) with either a store bought or DIY separator just to keep your new fish in ship shape until they are old and big enough to evade attack from a potential predator.

Sounds like a sweet setup is underway!
I use CFL (compact flourescent Light Bulbs) in my little ten gallon hood at home. They work great and can be substituted into the incandescent hoods to save a little bit of money and add a bit of wattage!

another thing i didnt see you mention a heater, make sure you have one or your fish and plants may suffer. also i know you have flourite but you also may consider some liquid ferts depending on the plant growth you wish to achieve and your light wattage.

Good luck!
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Yes, it is heated. Just forgot to mention it, thats all.

Why wisteria over anachris?

Driftwood- wasnt thinking about it, like the idea if I can find the right piece.

I do have a hurricane lamp top that I could use in the tank to divide the betta from her new tank mates.. Its a tall glass tube thats wider in the middle than on the ends. She will be able to see them, but not get at them.And nothing will be able to swim into it.

Tank plans so far;
1) Im going tonite to take a look at local shops and see if them got any decent plants in, get new lights, and take a look at the driftwood.
2) Put in first plant order this week, get it , and start planting tank
3) In a couple weeks order rest of plants, and 3-5 cories
* see how betta reacts*
4) wait a few weeks, then 3-5 more cories
This will give me total of 6-8 cories
5) wait about 6-8 weeks, see how tank is doing,giving everyone and the tank a chance to settle... then decide on ember tetras.If I get the embers- Id do it in 2 small batches of 3-5 like the cories...and with betta housed in the hurricane glass. Hopefully she cooperates.

When I start getting plants- I'll post a tank diary with pictures.

Wisteria I believe is an actual tropical plant, while anacharis is not actually tropical and does better in colder temperature (generally kept with goldfish and etc).

The hurricane idea sounds excellent! if the betta shows signs of aggression towards the tank mates while in the hurricane i would suggest against it. also you might want to check into covering the top of the hurricane with something so the betta cannot jump out because betta breeders use these to get the females conditioned and often when ready the male or female will leap out of the separator to be with its counterpart. knowing this might be a precautionary step just to keep the other fish safe, although it shouldnt be too much of a worry.

-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Oook , that makes sence on the wisteria....

Well she is a jumper anyway, was going to try and cover the top of the hurricane with a piece of pantyhose and rubberband to keep her from jumping.

No luck finding anything at the LFS' last nite, All the plants being sold as aquatics were houseplants.....

got the cf bulbs, and found a couple really cool roman/ greek ruins type decorations,Wasnt going to go there... but thought a couple poking threw the jungle of plants i hope to have would look cool...
only driftwood I could find was HUGE......

So Its going to be online ordering for me...

I stopped in a 2nd hand shop near one of the places I went to, and found a 20 gal bow front tank, for 30.00 water checked it, its good to go. So after I get my 10 gal stocked, gonna start on the 20 .... MTS is kicking in full force, and all I did was bring home 1 lil betta that didnt have enough water to even be upright.... I do not know how these things happen....

I placed the plant order... since I cant find any tru aquatic plants around here... Now I just gotta wait for them to get here-
order is
4 bunches wisteria
5 crypt- retrospiralis
10 crypt walkeri
10 dwarf narrowleaf sags
1 java fern
1 small piece drift wood

That will get me started, Ill get java moss later, after Ive had time to get the wood soaked and boiled....

Still going to get the dwarf cories, and possibly the embers later... trying to decide what to do with the 20 gal and what to put in it to make the kids, and boyfriend happy...

well My order came in, tank is planted, crypts are trying to melt, once It settles a bit, Ill take some picts.

I'm just going to leave my betta girl in here alone. I got a few extras in my plant order- snails.
Well Ive never had a fish even notice lil snails before, but she was NOT happy, flaring and nipping. So I am not even going to try fish with her.

Lol. Wow, yeah, so maybe the snails were a blessing in disguise. You found out now, before spending money on fish, that she isn't compatible with others. Lucky!