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Add Beta to aquarium now or wait until I have the Gourmi and add both at same time?

776 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Argus 
#1 ·
I was going to purchase the Gourami and female beta at the same time so there would be no terrirorial issues however the Gourami at Petco were all filled ICK or something. Lots of white spots on their fins. There was 1 that he got for me that look ok however I told him to put the fish back because I did not want to take a chance since all the other Gourmi in this tank had ick or fungas. ( paranoid or smart move ?)

Anyway, I did not get the Gourami but have the female beta in a little cup with no heater.

Do I leave the beta in the cup until I get the Gourami and introduce them at the same time or just throw the female beta in now? Its in a 75 Gallon tank. with lots of rock mountains and few plants.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Do you have a quarantine tank? I would never put any fish from Petco directly into a display tank, especially if some of their tanks are known to have ICK. Get a cheap 10g tank kit and set it up as a quarantine tank. Put any new fish in there for at least 30 days before putting them in an established display tank. If you add the gourami before the 30 days are up for the beta, extend the beta's quarantine to match the gourami. If both are female, they should be OK together.
 
#5 ·
I've had male and female pearl gouramis with male and female bettas with no issues. Pearls imho are very peaceful . you could keep a trio of pearls ( 1m 2f) in a 75 g.. Plus a female betta. But I'd definitely quarantine.
 
#6 ·
Very smart move to reject sick fish. Many stores have common filtration and no UV, so any disease or parasite quickly spreads through the whole population. Reject such fish in the strongest possible terms. The people who work in such stores usually know nothing about fish. The particular store you mention has several branches near me. I do not go into any of them because of issues like this: I have seen such problems in ALL the branches I have been in.

Absolutely quarantine EVERY new fish, EVERY time.
If there is a special fish that you must have, and you already know it has been exposed to Ich I would set up the quarantine tank with UV. This would kill most of the Ich in the water before it lands on the floor of the tank to breed (the mature ones that fall off the fish after you get it) and will kill the babies that come in the water. Heat and salt can be combined with the UV, if the fish will tolerate these.
 
#7 ·
Thanks. The guy actually was shocked that I rejected it. He was like " but I already got him out of the tank and he looks fine" but I did not want to take any chances.

The other fish had serious ick, like TONS of it. It was not just like a mild case but all over.

I actually drove to another Petco to get the Gourami and this was the largest Petco I know. In the entire store they only had 1 pear Gourami and it had a white looking possible fungas on its tail so I rejected that one too. I honestly don't know why these Petco always have such limited supply on fish. Last time, they only had 1 white cloud fish and you need at least 5 of them in a tank for schooling.
I went to another one that only had 8 neon tetras but would only sell me 5 since it was 5 for a dollar sale but I later found out that they could have sold me 8 for $8.

In any event I may have to go to a fish farm specialty place to get a pearl Gourami. I did not realize they were so hard to get.
 
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