urgent fish opinions

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

I'm not even sure it's the BABY platties that are terrorizing zuko, I think it's the adults, or maybe even both. They use to be intimidated by him, but now, they bully the crap out of him whenever feeding time comes around.

So the way I see it I have two options.
1. $16 plus tax divider (provided it fits my tank, otherwise I have to ATTEMPT to make one) then he gets 1/2-1/3 of the 15g.

2. I give away my platties. It pains me to even say it. They were the first fish I bought, I spent the most time picking which schoolers to get and was so so happy that I got them cause they are so gorgeous. But they're bullies and all they care about is food and sex. And no, two tanks is not an option, too much time and money and no space.

I guess I'll start by giving away the babies and go from there, it should decrease Zuko's stress a lot to not be running into a baby plattie everywhere he goes. But someone is coming to pick them up tomorrow, so it would be good if I could decide by then.

I think I'll feel bad either way. 5-7.5G is quite the demotion. I'm assuming I can't just split it half half, since there's more platties they would probably need 10 and the other 5 would go to zuko I guess. It seems so small from what he's use to.

On the other hand if I give away all of my platties I'll feel really guilty, even though they probably wouldn't care besides the stress of the move. I had also wanted to keep 1 or 2 babies and see em grow up.

crying dunno what to do guys. On the bright side, some babies will go to my teacher so I get to keep track of them at least for another year.  

[Akari_32]

Don't spend a bunch of money on a divider that you don't need to spend. If you have a craft store near you, buy some plastic canvas (for needle point type things, comes in lots of colors and square sizes), and cut it to fit. Make sure its nice and tight. I'll try to find a link for you that goes in to better detail about it...

Definitely start with rehomeing some of the little guys. An over crowded community-betta tank is never a good thing.


You should be able to see this. Not sure if you have to be a member or not, to see it. I'm a member there, so I can see anything LOL

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/betta-fish/46452-dividing-tank-bettas-fun-low-cost.html

If you can't see it, let me know smile  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Akari_32

Don't spend a bunch of money on a divider that you don't need to spend. If you have a craft store near you, buy some plastic canvas (for needle point type things, comes in lots of colors and square sizes), and cut it to fit. Make sure its nice and tight. I'll try to find a link for you that goes in to better detail about it...

Definitely start with rehomeing some of the little guys. An over crowded community-betta tank is never a good thing.


You should be able to see this. Not sure if you have to be a member or not, to see it. I'm a member there, so I can see anything LOL

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/betta-fish/46452-dividing-tank-bettas-fun-low-cost.html

If you can't see it, let me know smile

I couldn't see the pictures, so I registered and put you as my referer.I will try this, I just don't want to have to empty my tank before installing but it seems pretty straight forward. I know it says no substrate but I think I can sort of wedge it in the sand pretty good. Plus they say that more for an aggressive betta who might dig under, none o my fish are really aggressive per say. They're just bullies when food is around. I'll put zuko in with shy (pleco) since the platties terrorize him too. Maybe it'll help him be less shy! So how should I divide this? Can I go half/half? Is 7.5G enough for 3-5 platties? (They max out at 2inchs)  

[Akari_32]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

I couldn't see the pictures, so I registered and put you as my referer.I will try this, I just don't want to have to empty my tank before installing but it seems pretty straight forward. I know it says no substrate but I think I can sort of wedge it in the sand pretty good. Plus they say that more for an aggressive betta who might dig under, none o my fish are really aggressive per say. They're just bullies when food is around. I'll put zuko in with shy (pleco) since the platties terrorize him too. Maybe it'll help him be less shy! So how should I divide this? Can I go half/half? Is 7.5G enough for 3-5 platties? (They max out at 2inchs)

That works LOL

How longs the tank? I'd give him about a 6 inch across section. Platties are very active, and'll need room to move around.

As long as the divider has a good inch into the sand, it should be fine. I put dividers in with out taking my gravel out, though with gravel, you can push everything off to either side, and not have a huge mess on your hands...  

[Krissim Klaw]

I would probably rehome the platties. Then again I wouldn't have got them in the first place so I am probably a bad person to ask. I really enjoy bettas though because they are so interactive and would prefer seeing mine exploring a whole tank versus a little cut off section.

Not sure you should feel all that guilty. I mean what were you going to be doing with the constant influx of babies? I'm guess you were going to be rehoming a lot of fish anyways unless you were planning on feeding them to something larger?  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Krissim Klaw

I would probably rehome the platties. Then again I wouldn't have got them in the first place so I am probably a bad person to ask. I really enjoy bettas though because they are so interactive and would prefer seeing mine exploring a whole tank versus a little cut off section.

Not sure you should feel all that guilty. I mean what were you going to be doing with the constant influx of babies? I'm guess you were going to be rehoming a lot of fish anyways unless you were planning on feeding them to something larger?

Well I didn't expect them to breed so quickly and I sort of thought the betta would eat the babies. But yeah, I was going to rehome the babies much like breeders home all their babies, but feel like I made a commitment to the adults, and I did want to keep 1 or 2 babies. And some babies are going to one of my teachers at school. But yeah, dividing the tank sucks a bit too cause I'd like for Zuko to have lots of space.

@Akari, the tank is 24 inches long, 12 deep and 30 high.  

[Vanilla eXee]

Zuko will appreciate the space, BUT if you divide it, it's not like keeping him in a smaller tank, since there will be more water even if he has less physical space. So he'll still be as healthy as he would be if the tank was not divided, just possibly have less area to explore.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

I think what I'll do is START by giving away all but 1 or 2 babies. (course I guess I'll end up with some inbreeding, I dunno if this is okay) and see if Zuko is less overwhelmed he might go back to flaring and standing his ground. And while the adults bully him for food, I still don't know if it's them or the babies giving him fin issues, so no more babies might resolve that.

I'm gona go ahead with the tank divider and see if giving Zuko a little vacation helps his fins heal faster, then I can always take it out when the population is under controlled and I don't have babies and see if he does okay with just 3-5 adults. I can give Zuko a good 8X12inches to share with Shy. I know it's still a demotion but, just temporarily while his fins heal and then I'll decide what I want to do long term.  

[Akari_32]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

@Akari, the tank is 24 inches long, 12 deep and 30 high.

I think what I'll do is START by giving away all but 1 or 2 babies. (course I guess I'll end up with some inbreeding, I dunno if this is okay) and see if Zuko is less overwhelmed he might go back to flaring and standing his ground. And while the adults bully him for food, I still don't know if it's them or the babies giving him fin issues, so no more babies might resolve that.

I'm gona go ahead with the tank divider and see if giving Zuko a little vacation helps his fins heal faster, then I can always take it out when the population is under controlled and I don't have babies and see if he does okay with just 3-5 adults. I can give Zuko a good 8X12inches to share with Shy. I know it's still a demotion but, just temporarily while his fins heal and then I'll decide what I want to do long term.

Thats a good length. You can easily divide 6-10 inches of it for him smile

Inbreeding won't hurt anything. How do you think they got them to the colors Platties (and other fish, at that) are today? If you want to keep a line pure, you breed siblings to siblings, and parents to children. Just how it works lol

You can always cut down to all males or all females if you feel you need to.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Akari_32

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

@Akari, the tank is 24 inches long, 12 deep and 30 high.

I think what I'll do is START by giving away all but 1 or 2 babies. (course I guess I'll end up with some inbreeding, I dunno if this is okay) and see if Zuko is less overwhelmed he might go back to flaring and standing his ground. And while the adults bully him for food, I still don't know if it's them or the babies giving him fin issues, so no more babies might resolve that.

I'm gona go ahead with the tank divider and see if giving Zuko a little vacation helps his fins heal faster, then I can always take it out when the population is under controlled and I don't have babies and see if he does okay with just 3-5 adults. I can give Zuko a good 8X12inches to share with Shy. I know it's still a demotion but, just temporarily while his fins heal and then I'll decide what I want to do long term.

Thats a good length. You can easily divide 6-10 inches of it for him smile

Inbreeding won't hurt anything. How do you think they got them to the colors Platties (and other fish, at that) are today? If you want to keep a line pure, you breed siblings to siblings, and parents to children. Just how it works lol

You can always cut down to all males or all females if you feel you need to.

I figure inbreeding with fish is fairly normal, but I guess the AHT in me wants to bring new genes in. Like I would even try to get an all yellow plattie and see what their babies look like, or get like a dalmation or something with a neat pattern and go wild. Like maybe if I had a pet store that reliably took my offspring I could actually start breeding this suckers. But in the future, I think platties get their own tank. They say community fish but I wouldn't put them with a betta again or any other species of fish really. They're fun to have, to watch the male do his lil erotic dance, and get baby surprises and watch them grow up, but I think they need to be a single species tank.  

[Akari_32]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

I figure inbreeding with fish is fairly normal, but I guess the AHT in me wants to bring new genes in. Like I would even try to get an all yellow plattie and see what their babies look like, or get like a dalmation or something with a neat pattern and go wild. Like maybe if I had a pet store that reliably took my offspring I could actually start breeding this suckers. But in the future, I think platties get their own tank. They say community fish but I wouldn't put them with a betta again or any other species of fish really. They're fun to have, to watch the male do his lil erotic dance, and get baby surprises and watch them grow up, but I think they need to be a single species tank.

Yeah, they can be a little crazy LOL Perhaps female Guppies would be a better way to go if you were to try again XD

New blood every now and then is a good idea. Inbreeding too much can cause a lot of issues, such as sensitivity (ex: Guppies these days are very prone to Ich), deformities, sterile fish, and so on. You definitely need new blood every few generations.  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

That's gotta be the 4th time that someone was suppose to come pick up my fish and never showed up. So tomorrow I'm calling the pet store. 5 are going to live in a nice 60G at school at least. If the pet store will give me a store credit, I'll get some better food and maybe a snail or two since the ones that snuck in with my plants have almost all died out. (Plus I lost a few during water changes lol) Going to get a bigger snail, maybe zebra nerite? Something to help with the algea since my pleco is too busy cowering.  

[Akari_32]

Aw that sucks.

Nerites are good smile