Adopting two girls

[turtle10]

I will be adopting two female bettas from a member on here who has come down on his luck :(

I am planning on putting them in my filtered, heated, and almost cycled tank (ammonia and nitrite drop everyday, nitrate at about 10-15ppm). I have five guppies in there, a boy and fours girls. I also have five cherry shrimps. About two days ago, in preparation for the bettas, I bought three females at petco. They are getting along pretty well right now, except for some occasional chasing, and I haven't seen any physical contact from any of them. So I am pretty hopeful about starting a sorority (but I've still got my eye on them! lol). The females also seem healthy. Their fins were clamped at first, but they are warm now and swimming around, though the horizontal stress bars have not faded away. They are eating well, and even they even try to steal the guppies flakes. I have posted pictures of each. There is one female who is a bit bloated and has a white dot under neath her. She is the one that is blue but with out the red pectoral fins. It looks like it might be a bit of stuck poo or something :/. Other than that, please let me know if you see anything wrong or that should be changed.

[wallywestisthebest333]

How big is the tank? If it's 10 gallons I'd take the guppies out or do a lot more water changes while it's still cycling and then do at least twice weekly changes once it's cycled.

If it's a 20 then you're perfect. I see plants both floating and anchored for them to hide in a cave (though I'd put the broken part on the bottom to give the fish more cover when they want to hide in there) and it's almost cycled. =]

It's great that you adopted! =] I favor adopting when possible! =]

Hope that everything runs smoothly for you and your girls! <3

(btw out of curiosity what's that purple stuff at the bottom of your tank? gravel? :3 If so where'd you buy it? :D)

[turtle10]

Oops I forgot to say, it is a 20 gallon. The purple is gravel from petco.

Thanks!

[Sweeda88]

That white spot is just her egg spot. Mine has a very prominent one just like that.

[turtle10]

Awww her egg spot :) Okay well that is good, I don't have to worry then!

[LucyLoofa]

Did you say you'd be keeping a male betta in the tank with them?
Or was that a "there is 1 boy guppy and 5 girl guppies"
lol

[turtle10]

Originally Posted by LucyLoofa

Did you say you'd be keeping a male betta in the tank with them?
Or was that a "there is 1 boy guppy and 5 girl guppies"
lol

It was one boy guppy and four girl guppies, but unfortunately the male died.

It was soo weird one minute he was fine and the next he was upside down, dead at the bottom of the tank with two of the females eating his body. It looked like something ripped his tummy open or ate it, I could see his dark insides. I took his out immediately of course, and I am now watching for signs of disease.

[turtle10]

So far the three girls are doing pretty good. The bloat has gone down since the pet store. Unfortunately, there are still horizontal and dark stress bars on the tiniest female. Also, her colors have not come out yet like the other two females. She is still a bit dull and brown. I don't mind her appearance, I just want to know if this is normal. Could it be that she is significantly younger? I have also heard that the horizontal stress bars can mean other things. Still no physical aggression btw, just a bit of chasing and flaring.

[scootshoot]

My 5 sorority in the 14 is coming along great. They each have found designated areas in the tank as their "chill" location. A few give me elbow room matches when food time comes but definitely nothing major, or even minor to worry bout.

My two female guppy (4 feeders total) who are sharing the tank show more aggression with each other then the female bettas.

[turtle10]

Okay cool. That makes me feel better. Is it normal for the stress stripes to have been there for 4-5 days?