Hello!

Hiya!

I'm a 21 year old student, studying at the University of York. I'm a relatively new fishkeeper, having only started my first tropical tank in June, but I've become addicted! I now have two beautiful male VT bettas, a red-tail black shark, 4 corydoras, 7 neon tetras and a shrimp. Yayness!

I'm hovering around a few fishkeeping forums, so some of you may already have met me, but I thought it was about time I found somewhere dedicated to bettas. I'm looking to get a third betta in September, as a present for my partner (he's been infected by my addiction) and I don't want to repeat any of the mistakes I made with Osiris and Orion.

My tanks -

3 gallon QT - RTBS ('the shark')

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4.5 gallon - pink/blue/red male VT betta (Orion)

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13 gallon - red male VT betta (Osiris), 7 neon tetras (Team Tetra + Matthew, Peter and Tom), albino cory (Morgan), sterbai cory (Trent), peppered cory (Matt), bronze cory (Maynard) and a shrimp (Patrick Bateman)

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To the forum

Some GREAT fish you have there :Love:

to the forum Assaye....it's nice to have you here and your great collection of fishies

TO THE FORUM ASSAYE

Nice purple Vt you have there:)

hun

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Neither of them are actually purple. That's just my awful camera. I need to put a decent one on the Christmas list!

Orion was actually a rescue. I know we're not supposed to rescue, as it just makes the shop get more stock in to treat badly, but he'd been there for weeks and always lying motionless on the bottom of his cup. Every time I went in I had to look *really* close to check that he wasn't dead. I was really worried that he would actually be there until he died that I brought him home for some TLC. Tried to argue the price down as he was clearly not a very happy boy and unlikely to be sold, but they said this was 'normal' betta behaviour. Ha!

He's a bit sulky but I think he's just getting used to his new home. He's not eaten properly yet so I've picked up some Bio Gold to try him on. I can't wait to get back home to see them all!

What's your stance on bettas in communities? I wanted to move the tetras out of the 3 gallon but he got all sulky when his friends left, so I moved him across as well. He's very active and will flare at anything. It was touch-and-go with the corys as he was circling them and flaring when they were in their bag. All fine now, but he's very protective of his friends and his tank. Experimented with putting the shark in there, as I was worried that 3 gallon wouldn't be fair on him, and Oz was having NONE of it!

Ooops! Long post. I get carried away when I 'talk fish'.

Some Male bettas will tollerate tankmates and some wont. Its one of those things that there isn't a definate answer too.
The RTBS is probably not the best tank mate in the world though. They can become quite territorial and very aggressive which wouldn't go down well with the betta. Also, RTBS will grow to around 6" and most people would advise not to keep one in anything less than 25 Gallons at a push.

and

Vandraco aka Bronzecat wrote:Some Male bettas will tollerate tankmates and some wont. Its one of those things that there isn't a definate answer too.
The RTBS is probably not the best tank mate in the world though. They can become quite territorial and very aggressive which wouldn't go down well with the betta. Also, RTBS will grow to around 6" and most people would advise not to keep one in anything less than 25 Gallons at a push.

I think I knew it wouldn't work out but I just wanted to try and give the little fella some more space.

He's going to have to survive in the 3 gallons until September and then the 23 gallons until I can upgrade.

*sighs*

WELCOME!!!!!!!

hi assaye and to the forum
dont worry about long posts i get carried away too,
as you say talking fish i could sit and talk all night
look forward to reading your posts,
sorry nearly forgot lovely betta

Welcome!