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I'm in a daze....a betta daze 🥴

497 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Betta Daze, 
Betta Daze
Hello! Here's a little about me and the fish I keep.
I'm new here and fairly new to the hobby. I've been keeping fish for about 3 years now. If it's not already obvious bettas are my jam. It all started with a lonely little betta I saw in Walmart and I broke all the rules of fishkeeping on the day I started lol (didn't we all?)
I guess if I'm being honest it all started when I was very young, my mom kept fish and I have amazing memories of helping her feed our oscar fish named Oscar. But I never kept fish myself, at least not seriously until about 3 years ago.
Today I have 10 aquariums going in my house, 8 of them with fish (two of them are only 2.5 gallon and I keep them going just in case I come across a betta I need to take home with me haha) I am inspired by the Walstad method so I have 4 of my aquariums set up with deep substrate and lots of plants. One of which is my prized community, my first tank large enough to begin exploring fish other than bettas and corydoras. It's 29 gal (maybe not huge... but much bigger than my other aquariums haha) I have an angel, thick lipped dwarf gourami, bn pleco, and a small variety of corydoras (albino, panda and emerald) and tetras (ember, glow light and neon).
I also have had the pleasure of keeping a baby flowerhorn for a few months now (also in a 29 gallon, about to upgrade very soon to a 50 gallon) I have tried keeping her tank planted but I'm learning very quickly why most people don't bother in cichlid tanks lol. She's a little pitbull with fins! But I'm very much in love with her, her name is Puff the Magic Nugget!
Let's see, I recently have tried my hand at apple snails and ghost shrimp so they've each got an aquarium dedicated to them. I haven't decided on a final set up for them yet so their tanks are bare bottom, with leaf litter, mulm, wood, floating plants and plants that don't require soil. The rest of my aquariums are of course dedicated to bettas. I currently have 4 bettas. Two of my females share a basic bare bottom set up (divided) much like my shrimp and snail tanks. I have a deep substrate planted cube (4 gal) that was actually meant for neocaridina shrimp.... however I recently saw this beautiful female betta I had to have so she currently resides there instead. My one male betta, Hades has the pleasure of living his best life in my fluval spec 5. He actually has 7 CPDs as tank mates. I keep this tank with deep substrate and lots of plants, leaf litter and wood as well. This was my first and only expensive aquarium and it's probably one of my favorites.
Last but not least it's another deep substrate cube that I started cycling for my dad last month so he can have a betta. It currently has 3 guppies getting it going that will eventually go back into my community when he's ready to take the cube home.
One of these days I'll get around to uploading some pictures for you to see (I'm pretty bad with social media after the into... sorry in advance lol) if you've read to this far, thank you! I'm no professional writer so I know I'm all over the place haha. I'm off to explore the forum! Byeeee
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Plinkploop
Greetings!! Betta and cichlids have definitely been my thing as well. Currently I have none of either 😆. Plants and larger cichlids are definitely the definition of tank goals. Takes a lot of time and fish and plant swapping to combine the 2. If you're looking to combine cichlid attitude and plants I'd suggest apistogramma. Hardy and smaller with flashy colors and all that cichlid grumpiness without as much of the kill factor. Plus they don't destroy plants, which is great.

I do want to warn you that your angel will outgrow the 29 gallon, though.
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D
Welcome to TPT! I'm looking forward to seeing your tanks, they sound like great set ups.
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Betta Daze
Plinkploop said:
Greetings!! Betta and cichlids have definitely been my thing as well. Currently I have none of either 😆. Plants and larger cichlids are definitely the definition of tank goals. Takes a lot of time and fish and plant swapping to combine the 2. If you're looking to combine cichlid attitude and plants I'd suggest apistogramma. Hardy and smaller with flashy colors and all that cichlid grumpiness without as much of the kill factor. Plus they don't destroy plants, which is great.

I do want to warn you that your angel will outgrow the 29 gallon, though.
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Thank you for the advice! And yes, I'm aware the angel won't be able to stay in there forever. I'm trying very hard to convince my hubby to let me upgrade to a 75 or larger before I have to rehome her. I used to have two angelfish but I've already had to give one to a friend. It was fine for a few months when they were little but you're right, a 29 isn't quite big enough. I knew how big they would get eventually..I didn't know how quickly they got there though lol. The flowerhorn growth blows me away! She went from tiny to the biggest fish I own in just a few months 😆 at least I was semi prepared for her and will have her upgrade ready very soon.

deeda said:
Welcome to TPT! I'm looking forward to seeing your tanks, they sound like great set ups.
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Thank you! I'll work on getting the glass cleaned up for current pictures in the next few days
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Plinkploop
Betta Daze said:
Thank you for the advice! And yes, I'm aware the angel won't be able to stay in there forever. I'm trying very hard to convince my hubby to let me upgrade to a 75 or larger before I have to rehome her. I used to have two angelfish but I've already had to give one to a friend. It was fine for a few months when they were little but you're right, a 29 isn't quite big enough. I knew how big they would get eventually..I didn't know how quickly they got there though lol. The flowerhorn growth blows me away! She went from tiny to the biggest fish I own in just a few months 😆 at least I was semi prepared for her and will have her upgrade ready very soon.
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😆 I've raised some flowerhorns in my day (grew them out for clients). They grow very fast and are some of the most aggressive frankenfish I've ever come across. I had one that would attack my knuckles every time I'd do gravel vacs- bloody knuckles every week, he'd jump out of the water and fight me for jumbo krill. I have to admit, I was glad to see him go. I have never in my 30 years of fish keeping come across another fish as violent as that one 😂

Fingers crossed you can get your hubby on board soon... Maybe try to convince him it's an investment in you? 😅 I dragged my own hubby through the wringer with my hobby when it became my job- my 1800's house has been modified into a fish breeding operation and then back into a residential property... I'm retired and trying to wrap my head around being a normal hobbyist. I'm pretty new to the forum too and also completely out of the social media scene as well, so I feel you. Looking forward to seeing your set ups (😉 especially the betta- I'm living vicariously through others people's betta 😅).
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Betta Daze
Plinkploop said:
😆 I've raised some flowerhorns in my day (grew them out for clients). They grow very fast and are some of the most aggressive frankenfish I've ever come across. I had one that would attack my knuckles every time I'd do gravel vacs- bloody knuckles every week, he'd jump out of the water and fight me for jumbo krill.

Looking forward to seeing your set ups (😉 especially the betta- I'm living vicariously through others people's betta 😅).
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Oh my goodness! I've heard they can be like that. The guy I got mine from is a breeder and he's got a few mean fish too. So far mine is not mean to my hand... but anything else that goes in the tank yeah she goes after it 😆 I do always tell her not to bite me when I put my hands in the tank haha... maybe she listens?
What's so funny about that to me is, my first betta would flare and actually attack me when I cleaned his tank! He didn't like my hand at all 🤣

I did end up getting a few albums up, one is for that aggressive little hand biter 🙃
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