new tank/even more questions!!!

[sharon]

ok, Im going on hol Sept 14-25, when i get back Im getting my first Betta, thanks to all your advice here, I think I have the perfect home for him/her, I have been told that they like aged water, question is, when I get back should i fill it with water from my other (very healthy tank) and add the biological starter etc or just run with a bag of gravel and water or just tap water with dechlorinator and bio-start, my instinct is to use half tap and half other tank water, plus a bag of gravel , plus the bio start for a week or so,then take out bag of gravel, obviously I test water regularly but is this too much?also if running empty(with any of above) should I still add a fish flake to feed the bacteria,also I have two hockey sticks that could go in (either temporary or permanently) what do you think, is having a couple of other fish beneficial for a Betta or are they ok alone?

[dramaqueen]

Bettas are solitary fish and prefer to live alone.

[5green]

but you could put feales

[5green]

sorry i made a typo you can put females together

[dramaqueen]

lol I was about to ask what were feales! You can only do 4 or more females in a 10 gallon or larger tank.

[sumsum]

At petsmart they said anything that says tropical can live with bettas. It depends on the fishes personality

[MrVampire181]

Originally Posted by sumsum

At petsmart they said anything that says tropical can live with bettas. It depends on the fishes personality

NEVER believe anything a petstore tells you. Sure a betta can get along with other tropiclas but how will those fish treat the betta?

[dramaqueen]

Some fish are nippy and will chase and nip a betta's fins. Also, bettas are territorial and may not like sharing his living space with other fish.Personally, I wouldn't want my bettas with other fish because if it dies, the other fish will eat off of it. Also, bettas will also eat off of dead fish.

[dr2b]

OMG Please never listen to what the petstore tells you! I am in agreement with DQ and Mr. Vampire on this one.

[RoseyD]

putting bettas with other fish species is really chancy. I'll give a few examples. I love big tanks and community tanks in general. I try to have a betta in every tank I have.

my 12 gallon recently was designated to a school of threadfin rainbows. and I really wanted a betta to go in there. first I tried moving my king betta in. He wasnt interested and immediately went into attack mode even though when he was in the 30 gallon tank only a week before these same threadfins were ignored. the change of size of the tank for sharing does matter. I learned that going smaller doesnot work.

I tried the same test moving female ruby into the 12 g tank. Ruby never made it out of the floating cup... she was already attacking the cup on seeing these threadfins.

then tonight I bought a crowntail male and floated the bag in the 12g ... no flairing at the rainbows and no attacking the bag to attack the other fish. I am still monitoring the tank and will keep the light on tonight to give both the betta and rainbows a chance to acclimate... Roland seems to want to play in the current more than exploration of the others.

it will be interesting to see if this peace will remain. I hope so.

1 betta crowntail with 7 threadfins ... 12 gallons. an interesting tank to watch.