Fin2you

LOL yep! Blue now named Pablo (yes after the Backyardagans character; can you guess the age group of my children?), has found a home @ my house. Thanx to the brilliant thought that came to me at 5am after I hadn't gone to bed till after 11:30. Little Girl will eventually outgrow the little cube, so why not "upgrade" her tank now & then Bad Boy Boo-Boo can have the cube.... So I now have a 2nd 10Gal! it's home to the 3 remaining habrosus cory's (hoping to hit Pisces tomorrow for 3more don't worry), 4 spixi snails, the blue mystery & then my female betta. my original 10Gal is home to 6 julii cory's, 1 purple striped, 1 black mystery (who must both be girls considering within minutes of going into quarentine she was at it with Boo-Boo) & Fin my male betta. 1.5-2 Gal is home to Boo-Boo @least till his shell heals. Then he might go in the "new" tank, we'll see....

hard to believe that's in only 2 days! She'll be ready for a bigger tank in no time!!!!

Had to put the blue into the quarentine tank tonight b/c the betta nipped off some of it's antenna, well didn't take long for Boo-Boo the purple with the damaged shell to take advantage of his new tankmate..... I now know the purple is a female & Boo-Boo is most assuridly a male So I may have a clutch soon! Plus my friend had the same pairing happen at her house with snails I shared with her from my purchase from sprucegrove! Blue is going to my friend's, she's got more tank space than I do & without being able to house her in the big betta tank.... kindda wondering now if the other purple I've got if it's a girl & then my black... guess we'll see.

B4 picture; this was taken on Thursday after I brought her home

She's settling in well I was worried about her but she's eatting & now her stress stripes are fading!

I'm nervious about adding Boo into my big tank as my betta is a bit of an antenna nipper. I may end up adding another 2 or 3 gal tank to my collection just for Boo, maybe a peaceful fish wouldn't take advantage of the fact he's slightly exposed?

Ok so my snails from sprucegrove were delivered by ridersfan today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (anyone who read the classifieds ad, knows how excited I've been) Ok so 1 purple striped arrived with a chunk missing from shell Boo-Boo as it's been named, is trucking along in a little 1/2 gal tank right now, I crushed up some cuttlebone immediately & it's sitting on my kitchen windowsill. It's a bigger snail 1.5" already, nothing seems to be falling out of the hole (just off to the left side of opening) but antenna & siphon often slip in. It's shell is pretty thick can tell that from where it's broken for sure! suggestions????? thanx!!!!

I appriciate the offer but I think I'll keep her! how young do you think she is?

So I was certain it was my betta attacked the cory's this morning, but after long consideration, I am going to keep the community going. Maybe the cory had died in the night & not by Fin attacking it. But can anyone give me some good tips/suggestions for keeping this community happy? Fin wasn't happy in the 2gal, he's an active betta he likes having 10gal to swim in..... Then there's another thing.... I went to the store to get a new heater for the 2gal b/c my old one wasn't working anymore.... & there was an interesting female betta. She ended up with some serious stress stripes coming home but I would like it if anyone could tell me her real colors & her fin type? All I've ever had are VT males!!! http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2009166270055689198FlGmcC?vhost=pets there are 2 pictures of her

My betta community has been disbanded. Fin the betta attacked the cory's & 1 snail this morning. lost 2 cory's possibly 2 more. Not sure if the snail is going to be ok, he took a good fall & after I finished rearranging (set up my betta tank with some gravel and decorations from the big tank) I put the snail in a safe spot & offered him his favorite catfish pellet (seems he likes the cheaper Nutrafin over the other brand that was recommended for my cory's!).

the 5 that I have now (3 habrosus, 2 julii) are happy and really active most of the time. They get along great with my betta. I know they are happiest in larger groups but I only have a 10gal that also houses 3 spixi snails & a black mystery snail. They love love love algae wafers (but I only give mine 1/2 of one every 3 or 4 days.) & I also feed a bottom feeder sinking pellet. I guess they are very very very sensitive to travel stress & acclimatizing. I've taken to traveling very carefully with them in a spot in my van where they can't move, then when I get them home I put them in a fish bowl with just their travel water & use the slow drip method then after 3-4 hrs I just tip the bowl over into my tank slowly and let them swim out. If I get a 2nd tank I'll divide up the snails, & cory's then I'll get more of each type so I have 5-7 of each.

if I had a bigger tank I'd go for a school of them! very pretty

well now I think I know where I'll stick to for my advice!!! I have a very happy if not odd ball community tank. 10Gal (heated & filtered, though I'm considering upgrading my filter to a bigger size) 3 habrosus & 2 julii cory's, 3 spixi snails, 1 mystery snail & then my royal blue VT male betta. on the betta form it was NO Snails, tetras & guppys too mean.... the only thing suggested was the cory's but then I got given it b/c I had 2 different species & not enough of either for a proper "school"... well I tried but 3 habrosus & 7julii's have died on me in the process of trying for 5 of 1 species. I was sure the 3 habrosus were gonna die so I got 2 different batches of julii only to have them die quickly on me. these 5 are happy and healthy so they can be their own school and they're fine with it

ok thanx so much, on the betta forum I joined it's all "it's going to kill your betta, he can't be housed in a community"

Ok so I've had betta's a bunch b4 but never in a community, I'm wondering if the sinking catfish pellets & algae wafers I'm feeding the habrosus & julii cory's & the snails, are bad for the Betta b/c he's eatting them! I swear this betta thinks he's a cory.....

thanks so much everyone! Unfortunately due to my tank not being fully cycled the ammonia spike killed my spixi's lastnight I am very saddened by the loss of Slow, he was a very unique colored snail. & it was a pleasure to see him bombing around my tank & up and down my sunken submarine cave. I am going to let my tank finish cycling & then keep an eye out for another special colored spixi. I am very encouraged to know that I could put these guys together in my 1 tank, eventually.

I just did a bioload calculation from (http://aqadvisor.com/articles/AqAdvisorIntro.php) & with even what I want to add (2 more julii cory's) I'd still be at 95%. The only suggestion would be if I don't want to be doing 50-60%/weekly water changes is to upgrade my filter to the next size up. B/c I just replaced my filter last week with a better quality filter I'm fine with doing 50% I've always done that LOL I'm glad they'll be fine together!!

Do you by chance do you have in stock or on order; Julii cory's? I purchased 3 from Pisces & 2 died within hrs I would love to replace them so I would have 3 of each habrosus & julii grouped together.

Ok so thanks to a wonderful trade I now am the proud owner of multiple Spixi's & a Black Mystery Snail! at 1st I thought I'd just house the Black Mystery in my tank & go buy another just for the spixi's but the more I thought about it the more I'd rather just have 1 tank for right now, unless it's not going to work! I don't want to accidently make someone anothers lunch! reading online I've seen conflicting info (I know shocking isn't it), some say it's the same species so they'll be fine others say 1 will eat the other. Other tankmates are; 4 cory's & a betta (a friendly one not aggressive at all)

Nope no salt, only thing I add is API tap water conditioner & stress coat when I added newbies. I was treating the ammonia spike with tankbuster, but levels back to normal. Now if only the cloudy water would settle so I can enjoy my tank more!

So I'm very discouraged. 2 of the Julii Cory's I bought yesterday died. I am so careful transporting & acclimatizing, but yet they didn't make it. If I'm going to get any more of these guys I will find a new store to purchase from. out of 8 purchased cory's I've only got 4 in my tank Funny how my most sensitive fish which I bought at the same store, is thriving, Fin (the Betta)!

thank you for the info that cory's will school together! I was at the store today picked up 3 jullienne? cory's, b/c they were adorable! They had them in a tank with the salt & peppers as well as another fish so I assumed it was ok to keep them together. I hope these 3 are stronger than the last group of cory's I purchased from Pisces. 2/3 of them died! thanx also for the tip of the better food!!

After some research & a trip to Pisces in Calgary, I have realized my dream of having a Betta community! Right now it is home to; Fin Royal Blue Veintail, 4 Habrosus Cory's. (I had bought 5 but 1 died asap) & 1 Spixi apple Snail. Soon to come is another Spixi & a mystery snail. wondering if I should add a couple more cory's too? I have rarely seen them together (infact only when I was doing a water change!), the rest of the time they're spread out around the tank. Usually only the 2 larger duller colored (females right?) wondering too, these guys don't seem to care for the TopFin bottom feeder pellets but are eatting the Algae Wafers like they're candy. I usually break 1 up into 1/2 or 1/3's and try to get them around the tank. any other thoughts, suggestions, advice would be great too. I love these little guys (& gals) they get along great with my Betta, infact I am certain they play tag with eachother. It's commical to watch!!!! here is a link to the most recent tank picture I have. I have since gotten a new heater, another decoration, & the cory's! http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2308233760055689198LFLFRa?vhost=pets