u/AeosManifold

Backstory:

Ich habe einen Kampffisch den ich Leuten aus einem Harem-setup abgekauft habe. Er hatte Probleme mit der Schwimmblase, er konnte nicht abtauchen. Ich habe ihn gepflegt bis es ihm gut ging und dann in einen Fischladen gebracht, so dass er besser Chancen hat, einen neues Zuhause zu finden.

Ein paar Wochen später war ich wieder im Laden und habe gesehen, dass er wieder Schwimmblasen Probleme hat, aber dieses Mal sank er einfach zu Boden.

Ich nahm ihn wieder mit und habe Ihn wieder gepflegt. Es geht ihm viel besser, er ist Putz-munter, frisst auch wieder. Aber die Schwimmblase hat immer noch Probleme. Ich habe auch bemerkt, dass der Kot nun manchmal Weißlich ist.

Mein Tierarzt ist in Urlaub, ich kann keinen anderen in der Nähe finden, der etwas mit Fischen zu tun hat und der Fischland kann mir zwar sagen was ich brauche (Antibiotika), aber die können es mir nicht verkaufen.

Gibt es noch etwas, was ich probieren kann? Gibt es ein anderes Medikament? Oder muss ich einfach warten, bis der Tierarzt aus dem Urlaub zurück ist?

After the death of one of my Bettas (got behind the sponge filter </3) I have unified two aquariums into one 60L.

It now contains:

1 Betta (rescue, very docile)

5 Pygmy Corydoras

5 Otocinclus affinis(?)

1 Orange Foot Rabbit snail (5cm)

3 Yellow Amanos

2 Blue Jelly snails 2cm

Dozens of Orange Shrimp

After I add more hiding spots/ plants / foliage, could I introduce 5 Pangio muraeniformis?

Looking at it now, it looks pretty stocked.

The loaches in the LFS up to 5cm long atm, but can grow up to 10cm in length. I could see upgrading the tank at some point to a size bigger, but that wouldn't happen for a couple of years.

I want the creature in my care to have the best life possible, and I am unsure if this would be good for the loaches. I fear they won't have enough space to enjoy themselves, which is why I decided to ask you beautiful people <3

Additional Information:

Sorry for the messy set up, but I needed to get this tank working ASAP as I realized my Panda Garra started to bully the Otocinclus, so I had to take them out. The tank was previously cycled and was just running on standby with the filter for a couple of weeks. I intend to do a nicer set up with a lot more hides. The reason for the bullying was simple:

When I upgraded the tank from 60L to 110L I wasn't sure how much to feed and was overfeeding. I noticed the snail explosion and reduced feed. Hence the Garras getting more handsy for the food.

I always wanted to get loaches, but they weren't a great fit for the other aquarium (110L/30G) as I had the Strebai Corydoras who do bully for food. I didn't want the loaches to get outcompeted for food. I decided to go for the Gara Flavatara instead, as they eat from the ground & can graze surfaces (in case Cory's are competing for wafers) and they were described as head strong. The Corys and the Garras are getting along at this time, but as I mentioned the Garras now started bullying the Otos. Given that loaches are usually shyer, I wouldn't add loaches to the 110L.

I am in the situation, that I currently have 2 rescue Bettas , one original planned one and 3 tanks because of this.

I am feeling that my mental health is suffering from having more than two tanks, which is the only reason I am even considering this.

The idea would be to put the chill boy with the chill girl. They have seen each other through container glass before and seem to be very chill about each other now.

Is there any chance this can "end well", so they just coexist in the big tank with lots of plants ect to break vision? I know they would mate and I would remove the eggs I do the same way for the snails and other fish.

Additionally information below.

Background

Biotechnologist,thirties, started fishkeeping early this year as a passion project into building ecosystem after 3 years of decision making.

I rescued 5 Bettas from a Harem set up with 13 Bettas a while ago. One girl was to far gone, but I was able to get the boy and the 3 girls to health. I kept one girl, Suii in my 30L "desk" cube, and after a couple of weeks of having no luck rehoming I brought the girls to my LSF, to give them a higher chance of adoption.

Even when my mental health started to decline,

I didn't want to surrender the boy, as the boys are kept in all bright enclosers.

They have a huge set up with filtration in each container, but it still isn't a nice set up for them to live. They are transitioning to having them in small but much more appropriate display tanks, but they don't have enough for all atm. The girls are kept in big community tanks, so it was easier to surrender them. When my mental health declined further I surrendered the boy too.

Two weeks later when i visited the shop I noticed the big being in really bad shape. The two girls were unfortunately on the small singular tanks, as they were being mean girls:(

But they were in good shape, probably bored to hell, but chipper when interacted with, bouyancy was good and fins were regrowing. But the boy, Tez, was really bad. He was lying on the ground, having stringy poop, not reacting to interaction at all. So I asked if I could take him back. Tez is now doing much better, his swim bladder has seemed to recover. I won't surrender him again, as this will clearly be a death sentence for him and finding a new owner might be boardline impossible tbh, but I will do my best. For the time being, I am left with 3 Bettas.

The fish in question

3 Bettas. Girl Suii, rescue (koi Plakat ?), Boy Pete, Crowntail (Señor Petushok the first) & Boy Tez Half chewed up Halfmoon (rescue).

Tez has shown signs of aggression before, I wouldn't trust him to live with anything bigger than a neo shrimp.

Pete has lived in a community tank for over 3 months now. He has matured and filled out nicely. He doesn't flare at anything. In the beginning he did at the Corydoras, but they didn't react and as their paths never crossed, he didn't do it again. He seems to get disinterested in other fish fast. He will take a look at acclimating fish, puff up but not flare and continue his rounds.

Suii has never shown signs of aggression, only flight.

Pete is now in a 110L/30G community tank and is doing amazing. He hasn't done a bubble nest in the new tank yet. When I clean Suii's tank, I take her out so she doesn't panic, and hang her plastic container into the community tank to not lose temperature. On the Very first time, Suii tried to swim away once Pete approached but calmed down quickly. Pete went into full strut mode. Fins flared, chest big and flaring at her when passing by. He would then swim away, Suii would try to follow and watch, and swim back strutting. When I noticed that he started flaring at the Blue eyes wanting to take a look, I took her out. I continue to do it, as it is healthy for Bettas to flare from time to time (from my knowledge) and Suii panics terribly whenever she sees the vaccume thing.

I think they met a total of 5 times? He seemed less and less interested, he would do rounds in between coming back and strutting and wouldn't flare at the other fish. Suii still watched him though. Yesterday I was doing tank maintenance on Suii's tank and noticed that Pete took a look initially and then went about his business inspection his fishdom. Suii was watching the Blue Eyes and was just chilling in the container.

This brought me here now, is there any chance of them peaceful coexisting in the same big tank? Or will they inevitably start fighting?

I would wait for the plants to mature more and get a denser constellation and keep letting them meet through the container.

This is a funny story. I have ADHD and my partner is autistic, dating for 6 months.

The other day I went to stock up our groceries and read through the groceries list he had on the fridge. One bullet point was as follows:

- Cornflakes (Oats, Almonds, Chocolate chips, Raisins)

I went to the store he always shops in and spent over 30 minutes reading through all other the cornflakes mixes and trying to find one that contained these ingredients. I didn't find a single one, so in the end I chose two which contained all of the ingredients when mixed. They had additional stuff in them, but I chose something I knew he would like ( one had dried strawberries & raisins for example, and the one with the chocolate bits had coconut bits).

When home I showed him the two packs, explained how I couldn't find a single one containing all of what he wanted and asked if this is okay when mixed. And what brand he usually gets.

He looked at me confused and answered:

"I just get the ingredients and mix it myself."

My brain 404ed. Never, in a million years, did this option cross my mind.

We had a chuckle and he is enjoying his mix. Not sure if this has anything to do with our conditions, but these moments where one of us has a completely different way to approach something and the other's version is very convoluted happens a lot xD

Hope you guys have a wonderful day

54L/ 14G running since February

Something was off with the Zucchini I bought and fed to.my animals. My dog vomited it up hours later and this morning it was completely mush in the tank and had given a massive Nitrite spike. Never had anything like this happen, have bought from this organic brand for years, never had any issues, probably bad batch :(

I have done a 35 % Water change (with water from the cycling tank) and added Sera Nitrite binder, I am still reading around 0.2 on the Nitrite. I couple of shrimp have died :(

I have a 110L/30G tank cycling atm for about a week. I had tested with Ammonia twice, it seems to get it broken down without a Nitrite spike. I had seeded the new tank with lots of gunk, sponges and sand from old now crashed tank.

Is moving my animals into the new tank the safer option? Given it has double the water volume?

I had initially gotten one tank,ina 60L /14 G Blackwater Community. Then it turned out that one of the shrimps I had in the community tank was a Caridina, so I made a soft water 30L Cube for my Caridina Shrimp.

I rescued some Bettas and had a guy sitting in the hospital tank, a girl went in with the shrimp as she was tiny being bullied by the other two girls.

After 3 weeks of care I brought the girls to my LFS so they can find a new home and picked up Pea Puffers.

I had 5 tanks, it was a lot of work but I had lots of fun. Unfortunately I quickly realized that my Peas in particular quite picky eaters. I had to feed them frozen bloodworms from tweezers while twirling them around at just the right jiggling frequency. I had lots of fun and they were so adorable. I would had 4 Peas, so I would add 8-12 snails a day (bladder, Ramhorn & pond) in different sizes, trying to stay close to what they would eat.

Feeding them became increasingly more strenuous and I will be gone in July, August and September for trips, each lasting 1 week +. My other tanks are established enough+ vacation set up was working so I knew they would be fine for that time, but I was very worried about the Peas. I tried lots of different stuff to make it more vacation friendly.

Unfortunately my mental health started to take a downturn as well and taking care of 5 tanks became unmanageable. When my new canister filter failed last week & my tank stand got damaged, I knew I couldn't continue like this.

I wasn't able to take care of the Peas in the way they needed to be taken care of, so I decided to return them to the LSF. They were kind enough to take them back, noted how nice and healthy they all were (which made me so so happy) and gave me store credit I used to get a new tank stand.

It hurts so much to see their tank empty and thinking of them back in the store, which is certainly worse for them. But in the store they have a chance to get adopted by someone who can give them an appropriate sized tank (mine was 30L) with an appropriately sized swarm ( I only had 4, as the tank was so small).

I hope they will be well and that one day I will be able to have peas again.

Take care of yourself and your little puffy guys <3

I got a solo pea puffer last Friday (4 days).

I sometimes bring in animals I breed to my LFS for credit and while there I exchanged animals for a single pea puffer. As I rehabilitate animals, I gladly took the tiny guy whose tail had been bitten off, to hopefully give him a calmer environment to rest and recover.

He spent the first 24h in the Caridina shrimp tank (30L Cube, Temp 24, KH5 GH8 ph 7.2). I noticed him pacing and breathing hard, so I moved him to my big community tank where the water hardness is a bit higher (54L, 60cm wide, Temp 26,KH7 GH10 ph7.4). The heavy breathing has stopped and he has been hiding in the jungle and pacing ever since. He is eating, as I can see the discarded snail shells and I saw him eat in the first 24h.

He paces exclusively on the parts of the tank which are reflective - so he paces where he can see himself. I assume this could be distress as he is alone & the community tank might be too busy for him.

Initially the plan was to keep him with my shrimp - knowing he would snack on some shrimplets, which would be a good part of his diet. But the heavy breathing made me very worried. So I am unsure of what to do atm. Both my hospital tanks are full with rescues, all of which will need time to recover.

I would prefer to keep him, but I want what is best for him & my other tank inhabitants, so my options are:

A) Bring him back to LFS.

Con: He was in a 30L tank with about 20 other puffers with high current. It looked like a pea puffer carousel. He got his tail bitten off there. I am unsure if the current set up is worse or better for him than the one in the LFS.

B) Leave him in the community tank for 2 weeks and see if he chills out, recovers his tail. If He chills out, stops pacing and starts exploring the tank, He stays as solo in the community tank.

C) if he continues to pace: As soon as his tail recovers, I return him to LFS.

D) He continues to pace, but is eating and healing. I get two more pea puffers to keep him company in the community tank.

Con: they need a specific gender ratio & the rascals will most likely start harassing all the other tank members.

E) I do as D, but try out the shrimp tank again.

Con: They could eat all my shrimp? Parameters are off for the Peas in that Pot.

F) As soon as the inhabitants of the 30L Hospital tank (Rescued Betta sorority of 3) leave, I use it to make a little pea puffer paradise.

Con: it's only 30L, I won't be able to get more than 3 peas in there and keeping 3 can lead to ingroup aggression and bullying.

I would love to do option B or F, but God knows then the girls will be healthy enough to head to their new homes, which I too have to find first.

What would you do in my situation?