Fish Lovers 3.0 [new poll]

[PeachFuzz]

Hi I have a small question about stocking -

So I'm starting to think about what fish to put into my 20 gallon (that I'm hoping to have set up within the next two weeks!) with my betta. For sure I'm going to have four panda cories, but a type of fish that I've had in almost every aquarium I owned as a kid was a red eye tetra. I know they're not very flashy fish so I was wondering if it would be OK to house them in the same tank as a betta, and how many I should get for the tank if so?

While I'm at it, I do have another question. I'm going to be putting live freshwater plants into the tank, and I've never owned live plants before, so is there any I should 100% stay clear of?
The fish going into it will be:
A male betta
Four panda cories
Possibly red eye tetras depending on the answer to the above question

Thank you for any help!

Skip the red eye tetras. They can get up to 3 inches and would be better off in a larger tank. With less room to swim they tend to get nippy and the betta's fins will be the perfect target. You might want to consider lemon tetras instead. They have a similar look but only get about 1-1.5 inches. You could get a shoal of eight in your tank and they'd do great. c:
I also recommend bumping the cory count up to eight. You have the space and the cories would do better.

Plants depend on your lighting, fertilizer, and substrate plans. Let me know what you're thinking for those and I can give you some plant suggestions c:

[Hime]

Hi I have a small question about stocking -

So I'm starting to think about what fish to put into my 20 gallon (that I'm hoping to have set up within the next two weeks!) with my betta. For sure I'm going to have four panda cories, but a type of fish that I've had in almost every aquarium I owned as a kid was a red eye tetra. I know they're not very flashy fish so I was wondering if it would be OK to house them in the same tank as a betta, and how many I should get for the tank if so?

While I'm at it, I do have another question. I'm going to be putting live freshwater plants into the tank, and I've never owned live plants before, so is there any I should 100% stay clear of?
The fish going into it will be:
A male betta
Four panda cories
Possibly red eye tetras depending on the answer to the above question

Thank you for any help!

For starters what temperature will you be keeping the water at? Some corry species prefer bit cooler water than other, and generally their temperature preferance is on the lower side of tropical fish preferance. So depending on the temperature, I might advise againts corries, pandas particularry liked the lower temperature range if my memory serves me right. Also with corries as they are schooling/shoaling(which ever is the correct term, I always get them mixed up) fish there should be more than 4 of them; close to 10 being ideally minimum.

As for the red eye. Couple bits of info I found about it:

Although it has a reputation as a bit of a fin nipper, this behaviour can usually be rectified by keeping it in a small shoal of at least 6-8 specimens.

The Red Eye Tetra is very peaceful if kept in groups, but may get a little fin nippy if kept as a single

So I'd be little cautious with them and most certainly get a decent size shoal of them(10 at least I'd say). Though another issue that came up is the tank size recommendation which is 29/30gal for this fish. And I have to agree with that recommendation and even think that it's maybe tad underestimation as well, as they are fairly large schooling fish. So I'd stick to fish under 2" of lenght for schooling fish, which still leaves ton of tetra and rasbora options.

For beginner it's probably best to stay clear of any red plants and start out with low light fast growing ones, like vining sorts or things like swords, cryptos and valisneria. How strong light you have is pretty much going to set what you can and can't grow. Then comes the CO2 and amount of fertilizers you are willing to use. Rest will be just hit and miss, since even if some plants should work in theory, sometimes they just don't work in some set ups.

[PeachFuzz]

Didn't even think of the cory temperature thing^^ Corydoras sterbai would suit your tank, sav. They do well in the high 70s to low 80s.

[fluffycat6]

Anyone know of a good heater for 5.5 gallon betta tank? I bought the aqueous mini heater but I read some really bad reviews on it about it suddenly overheating so I'm going to return it. I need one that you can adjust the temperature of. Thanks

[Lorne]

All right, so Lemon Tetras instead? I can do that instead ^^
Is there any chance at all they could be nippy? Mufasa is a tail biter so if they did start nipping his tail I'm not sure if I'd be able to tell if it's from him or the new fish.

As for the cories, I'll definitely get a bigger school then, and the water will be around 76*F (When I looked up a care sheet for the cories, it said they'd be OK with that temperature range, but I'll definitely look into a new cory species if they won't be able to tolerate it.

As for plants, the substrate I have is a white sand - it doesn't give me a specific brand name on the bag (It's the only thing in there right now) and for fertilizers... I have no idea there x'D

[Tigerlily ❤️]

My pregnant platy died this morning. I'm not sure what happened but I'm completely devastated, she was doing fine yesterday and last night. This morning she slowly began to look more sickly I should say, and then she died around 8:30..I'm extremely sad..I dunno what I did wrong. My male platy has been what seems to be a depressed state, the rest of the fish are completely fine..

[zoomzoombadaboom]

I don't know what kind of pellets, I already threw away the packaging. It was a small amount of tiny pellets that came with my tank, specifically for bettas.

That's okay, I was just wondering what brand they were, so I could think about how small they were. c: Has she started eating more yet?

I actually was looking around and found the package that I thought had been thrown away. It's Home Grown Ponics Community Diet Fish Food for all tropical fish; premium quality slow sinking pellets, natural, balanced diet. They are .5mm size micro-pellets, and it's a color enhancing formula.

And yes, she has started eating them, and I don't see them sitting in the gravel/floating at the top uneaten anymore. But I have noticed her showing possible signs of illness recently; I'm not sure if it's normal or not, since this is my first Betta, and I've been doing research online but can't find anything that really solves my problem. What should I do?

[PeachFuzz]

I don't know what kind of pellets, I already threw away the packaging. It was a small amount of tiny pellets that came with my tank, specifically for bettas.

That's okay, I was just wondering what brand they were, so I could think about how small they were. c: Has she started eating more yet?

I actually was looking around and found the package that I thought had been thrown away. It's Home Grown Ponics Community Diet Fish Food for all tropical fish; premium quality slow sinking pellets, natural, balanced diet. They are .5mm size micro-pellets, and it's a color enhancing formula.

And yes, she has started eating them, and I don't see them sitting in the gravel/floating at the top uneaten anymore. But I have noticed her showing possible signs of illness recently; I'm not sure if it's normal or not, since this is my first Betta, and I've been doing research online but can't find anything that really solves my problem. What should I do?

Can you tell us the exact signs of illness you've noticed?

[zoomzoombadaboom]

Well, I've noticed she's been hanging out in the corner in the bottom of her cage under her rock a lot. Often she'll come up just for air and go back down to hiding. We got her on or around February 11th from PetSmart and she's the first betta I've ever owned. She is in a 3 gallon water garden tank with spring water and a simple heater - I do not know the exact temperature of the water, but I will be installing a thermometer soon. I do see her swimming around sometimes, but I just think it's unusual how often she lays in her hiding spot, ignoring everything. It might be normal behavior and I just don't observe her at the right times, but I will be keeping a closer eye on her. She does eat but she doesn't notice the food right away when I drop it in and often ignores me. I haven't gotten a really good look at her scales, but her coloring and fins appear normal from what I've seen. Her eyes do not bulge abnormally (just a very slight bulge is normal, right?) and she doesn't seem bloated. Am I just worrying too much?
Edit: I also may have seen her trying to scratch herself against her tank decoration.

[PeachFuzz]

Well, I've noticed she's been hanging out in the corner in the bottom of her cage under her rock a lot. Often she'll come up just for air and go back down to hiding. We got her on or around February 11th from PetSmart and she's the first betta I've ever owned. She is in a 3 gallon water garden tank with spring water and a simple heater - I do not know the exact temperature of the water, but I will be installing a thermometer soon. I do see her swimming around sometimes, but I just think it's unusual how often she lays in her hiding spot, ignoring everything. It might be normal behavior and I just don't observe her at the right times, but I will be keeping a closer eye on her. She does eat but she doesn't notice the food right away when I drop it in and often ignores me. I haven't gotten a really good look at her scales, but her coloring and fins appear normal from what I've seen. Her eyes do not bulge abnormally (just a very slight bulge is normal, right?) and she doesn't seem bloated. Am I just worrying too much?
Edit: I also may have seen her trying to scratch herself against her tank decoration.

Since you got her just over a week ago she may still be settling in. It can take some fish a couple weeks to get fully comfortable in their new environment.

Definitely get a thermometer in as soon as you can! Temperature is very important for fish.

Does the tank have a filter? Did you cycle the tank? How often are you doing water changes?

Scratching against decor every once in a while is not cause for alarm. Fish get occasional itches just like we do and since they don't have hands to scratch with they use their environment. You only need to worry if she's rubbing against decor continuously or hard enough to scrape off scales.