My Sorority Joined My Carnivorous Tank

[ToeBiter]

Keep in mind that the tank I am about to discuss is a 75 gallon planted show tank.

So I had a ropefish, blue gourami, bristlenose, and electric blue crayfish (gigantic pain in my plants @$$) in said tank and wanted more color soooooo... I added my/creat's sorority to the tank.

They are doing fantastic! I have had dwarf gouramis with betta before w/o problems though this is a first for a full sized one. More miraculous than the betta and gourami getting along though is the fact that other than some possessiveness over food (on the side of the ropefish), there had been no betta/ropefish conflict.

I'm still looking for some more activity/color. Any ideas? I did plan to get another ropefish buddy for "inky pinky" (his name is a long story) and expand my sorority a bit, but I'm looking for more diversity. Something like neon tetras will just get picked on by the betta (know from experience) and I'd like to avoid mollies/guppies/platies as I already have a tank of them.

[bettababe89]

I too am in idaho and finding aquarium supplies unavailable almost everywhere. where do you go?

[paloverde]

SO um yea, well good luck with that.

[betta lover1507]

i thought gouramis aren't able to be in the same tank with betta fish :U well i don't really quite remember ._.;;

[LadyVictorian]

No they are not suppose to be together actually.
"Generally regarded as peaceful, gouramis are still capable of harassing or killing smaller or long-finned fish. Depending on the species, adult and juvenile males have been known to spar with one another. Aggression can also occur as a result of overcrowding.
Gouramis have been housed with many species, such as danios, mollies, silver dollars, and plecostomus catfish, but will often show aggression toward species with long, flowing fins like male guppies, goldfish, and bettas."

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

There are always exceptions to any rule! Wonderful!

[ToeBiter]

the first time, I had 2 dwarf gouramis with my male veil tail and after I separated them, the beta got so depressed that he started eating his own tail. After that I found that dwarfs with my females (since they don't really have longer fins) and they have always gotten along great. This is a first for the full sized for me though. Mind you there is a LOT of foliage/ hidey holes so if something does come up they have someplace to go.

[ToeBiter]

Originally Posted by bettababe89

I too am in idaho and finding aquarium supplies unavailable almost everywhere. where do you go?

what area of Idaho are you in? I'm up in Moscow so I have a couple pretty good options.

First off... for the moment I work in a pet store. Once we are back in business after our move, Palouse Pets usually has a pretty good selection including some more specialty fish and they do special orders. Pets Are People Too really only carries the basics and no marine, but again will do special orders.

But my FAVORITE place to go is Bob's place in Lewiston. It's a bit of a drive from Moscow (~45 minutes), but totally worth it. We visit when we go out to Lapwai/the reservation to see friends. Lewiston/Clarkston also have Petco and a couple other places as well.

All of the above have aquarium supplies. So too does Walmart for very cheap, but DO NOT BUY THEIR FISH UNLESS YOU WANT YOURS TO GET SICK- if you do buy from them, be very wary and make sure to really look at their health in the main tanks/ don't put any of their water into your aquarium unless you want to be very sad.

Those are your best bets in the pan handle area. If you are in the southern half of the state... dunno. Boise and some of the larger cities will have the norm: petco, etc... and I assume there are a few specialty shops in there somewhere.

You could also try buying online. I know there are a couple betta breeders in Idaho who are pretty good. My house is also a VERY BIG fan of The Betta Shop in MN ( www.mnbettashop.com) because they have gorgeous betta, update all the time and will mail them to you. If you want something other than betta, I have had pretty good luck finding what I want at www.liveaquaria.com, including some supplies.

[emeraldmaster]

neon tetras, or any other tetra would be a nice colorful option. and an option that i chose. maybe guppies, if you want to be experimental. i use fancy guppies as well as the non fancy variaty and neither bother my bettas. they add activity and LOTS of color. glofish would be a cool choice, but i think that they are coolwater, i would put the temps at the lower end of the tropicle side. cherry shrimp add red through out and clean the tank, as do apple (mystery) snails.

hopeed that these sugestions helped.

[ToeBiter]

I ended up with harlequin rasbora's and they are evading my larger fish and getting along fairly nicely. i also added some platy's out of one of my other tanks and it has really added some color plus I really like the schooling quality.