[Hania41806]

I’m starting a betta sorority. I finally got some money saved up and my local fish store is selling juvenile female bettas. I’m starting with adding more driftwood and plants to my 20 gal high tank. I’ll wait about a week for everything to settle before going out and buying the girls. I don’t want plants dying or driftwood floating while the new fish are settling in. The tank already has neon tetras but only 4, so I’m going to add 2 more. Hopefully everyone will get along when I add the new fish.

 

[Hania41806]

Got the girls today! They only had 3 left so I took them all. They got a new shipment today but those won’t be on sale until Sunday, so I’m coming back for more then. Overall the girls seem to be in great health. A tiny bit of fin damage on the smallest one but that is all. They all ate readily while acclimating.

for plants today I got dwarf saggitaria and “creeping Charlie”. the creeping charlie should fill out the back of my tank pretty well within the next few weeks.

I also got a new Nerite snail who’s name is Tyrone.

 

[Hania41806]

I may have accidentally crashed my cycle. Ammonia is reading 0.25 and nitrates are a LOT lower than usual. My usual nitrates are at about 10-15 ppm and they are now between 0 and 5 ppm I’ve had the ammonia problem before however (turned out it also reads ammonium, which, if memory serves, is harmless) and I did do a deep clean of the aquarium a couple of days ago because it wasn’t looking great.

other than that everything is still going good. Fish are all acting great. The 2 bigger girls are picking on the littlest one a little bit, but she hasn’t been injured and they leave her alone as long as she’s not in their areas. I may get another one her size so that the aggression is more distributed.

 

[Hania41806]

I’ve heard that of neon tetras but mine have never picked on my bettas. This specific group of neons has gone through 3 bettas now (2 long-finned males and a short finned female) and have always been little sweethearts. They are very greedy when it comes to food though so with my long finned boys I had to watch to make sure all their food wouldn’t get stolen. 😂

I really don’t think the littlest betta is in any danger so I won’t be separating her for now. By “picking on her” I mean the two larger girls flare at her is she gets close and if she doesn’t leave they chase her out. I may be wrong but it looks like normal pecking order behavior to me.

 

[Hania41806]

Ok so I think my ammonia test is just also reading the ammonium because my fish are all acting perfectly normal, my nitrites are still at 0 and my nitrates have gone up just the slightest bit. Yesterday it was hard to tell if they were zero or not but today they are definitely at 5 🙂

 

[Hania41806]

Why don't you get a SeaChem Ammonia Alert? It only reads NH3. I wouldn't be without them.

That’s my plan. I had one earlier but algae got all over it and I had a hard time cleaning it so I just threw it away.

 

[Hania41806]

One of the girls is going through quite the color change which is worrying me. Is this because of stress?

She started changing color almost immediately when I brought her home. She had less black spots in the pet store. What can I do? I planned to go to the pet store today but I may not be able to because it just snowed.

 

[Hania41806]

That’s what I thought at first but the change happened so fast that I’m not sure. The 2 pictures are just days apart, not even a full week.

 

[Hania41806]

Sorry i'm replying so late!! I wasn't able to get more females but the girls are settled in very nicely and aren't being picky with each other anymore.

I absolutely love bettas; they are like puppies with fins. these little buggers have so much personality. My girls follow my finger around if i dip it in the water and recently started eating out of my fingers. I'm so glad all my girls are happy and healthy.

 

[Hania41806]

They do not have names yet. I was thinking about naming the marble one speck, after a late pet, but I’m not sure. The other two still need names.

 

[Hania41806]

well here is a belated update. Speck is now named Spot. The gray iridescent fish passed away a few days ago. The third fish is doing fine but still doesn't have a name.

The gray iridescent fish was a bit more bloated looking for about a week before her death. I cut down on feedings in case that was the issue. She was doing and acting well right up til the day she died. I believe she only suffered a few hours.

I was worried the other 2 girls would start fighting since gray fish was previously at the top of the pecking order so the next day I went out and bought 2 more girls. I would have gotten 3 but my store only had 1 inexpensive fish and the rest were $22+. I bought the inexpensive girl and one expensive girl. The inexpensive one is still a baby; she is very small and still has stripes. She is an iridescent blue that looks purple in most light. The other is a marble koi betta. She is mainly red and black on her back and white/yellow on her belly and face. She has a few iridescent scales scattered about.

I was worried on how they'd settle in but everything went incredibly smooth. My 2 original girls were very welcoming of their new tank mates and the 2 new girls were very respectful of their elders 😂. By that I mean: I didn't see a single flare from anyone and they all just swam around in peace. Considering how smooth everything went, I might go get another girl for the tank.

 

[Hania41806]

Oh and unfortunately I cant get any pictures up before anyone asks.