Building a Betta Sorority Tank

It's been a long time (very, very, very long time) since I last posted. Only recently, I had the time again to get back into fish keeping. 99% of us don't have the whole day to spend for fish keeping. Time-saving, effort-reducing and productivity-increasing have become the rules of the game. Keeping in line with that, I decided to set up a betta sorority tank again. This was how I have always done it until I became very busy and had very few fish left.

So, what is a betta sorority tank? It is a tank of female bettas. Just google "betta sorority tank", "female betta community tank" and other similar keywords. You'll find article after article about setting one up. For this article, I just want something free-flowing. I'll simply list down my experiences and some points on how I do things.

Tank.
1. I don't use tall aquariums and I always choose horizontally-shaped tanks.
2. Gravel or no gravel, it doesn't really matter.
3. I make sure that there are many different hiding places for the females. These are places where they can retreat and rest between fights. Hiding places I've used are coconut shells, driftwood, pots, clay tiles and live plants. There are other things you can use.
4. I don't use any aeration or filtration for any of my tanks.

Number.
1. For me, the minimum number of females for a sorority is five (5). If it's less than that, keeping them separate is manageable too.
2. I allot 1-2 gallons per female.
3. I haven't read an article yet that says it's alright to add new females to the sorority but I have done so in the past. Yes, there is the fighting but I've seen it mellow down in a few days.

Tankmates. I've had placed different tankmates for my female bettas. These include corydoras, rainbow sharks, guppies, angelfish and even goldfish. The females get out of the way of the bigger fish and ignore the bottom feeders. They do show some aggression to the guppies. The long fins and colorful patterns remind them of other bettas. In my experience, this does some good - the female bettas get distracted and show less aggression to others of its kind.

On breeding. I have taken females out of the sorority to breed them and then put them back afterwards. There is not much fuss with the females. They do remember tankmates but there might be some nipping as a reminder. It is as long as the returning female is in good shape. If not, then she might not be fit enough for the tank.

Feeding. I feed my sorority tank as I would any other tank. I drop the food in two or three places (only one if I'm rushing). Leftovers are cleaned up by the bottom feeders and the snails in the tanks.

That's about it. I just wanted to share. I hope you can find this useful in addition to whatever else you've read in your research.

Happy Fish Keeping!

Tubifex Experiments (Day 13)

Here's the previous one: Day 3.

Well, I've been away on a family vacation. (By the way, if you want some tips about holidays and fishes, here's a post about it) I left my fishes with a relative.

What I forgot to tell you is that I bought a starter culture for my tubifex. I dumped it in the tubs containing gravel from my planted tanks. I never had the chance to take a photo (even now because the camera broke during the trip).

I want home today. I noticed that there are tubifex cocoons. This means that my tubifex are breeding and growing. I've seen a lot of them. But they still don't have the distinct red color (hence the nickname "bloodworms"). They're still a very light brown.

I continue the drip programme and refilling the 100gal tank every morning.

New Bonsai Flowerhorn

Here us a new flowerhorn I got last month but I forgot I have not uploaded pictures. I got this fish from the same person I got Bonee (my other red dragon bonsai flowerhorn).

So, here it is (and I hope it's a 'she'). It's a bonsai (short body) flowerhorn.

Working on Symmetrical Bettas

Well, I'm thinking of working on the three unpaired fins of bettas: dorsal, caudal and anal fin. In my plans, I have two of the three fins down. The sailfin trait for the dorsal and the rosetail for the caudal. Now, I'm thinking of working of the anal fin. Thus, breeding for the symmetrical trait will deal with the anal fin.

Here are some links about symmetrical betta.

The Plakat Trilogy

Proposal for Adjustment of the IBC Plakat Standards

I see some work in progress in the anal fins in a handful of my bettas. They show a more rectangular anal fin than a trapezoidal of a typical asymmetrical betta. 

Here are some pictures:

Here is the most prime example of the anal fin I'm looking for. This has the rectangular shape. The outline is smooth from the front part of the anal fin to the back. Aside from the anal, this has the dorsal and D-caudal to boot.

These two have rectangular anal fins. However, as you can see, the anal fin is not as smooth from the front to the back. This hints that the rear part of the anal fin will extend in the future...leading to an asymmetrical form. The extreme branching of the Copper Red Rosetail HMPK causes the anal fin to wrinkle and further make the outline more bumpy.

With more work, I will try to bring the form close to the first fish.

UPDATE (10/26/2013)
I got several new breeders from a friend. These fish are gonna be symmetrical!!! I'm excited to breed them!!! Then, breed them with my fish!!!!

Moreover, I am planning to breed the Platinum male to the DTPK daughter of the solid Copper male. If I'm lucky, he'll produce more symmetrical fish for me.

Tubifex Experiments (Day 3)

Here's from Day 2

This day is pretty much nothing.I refilled my 100gal tanks. I will cycle the tubs for at least a week. I also intend to adjust and get used to refilling the tanks everyday.

Sorry, no pictures for today.


Substrate
I am thinking for substrate. I'll use my coarse gravel found in my planted tanks as a base. That is the easiest solution. It is gravel straight from a cycled tank.

So, just wait until I update again!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 2)

Here's a link to Day 1

The pictures here are taken roughly 16 hours after I started my drip test. The big hose is too strong. It drained the tank to my minimum water level even before the 16-hour mark. The small hose is still dripping and I'll wait for the 24-hour mark. But, I think there is a chance that will also be able to drain the water to minimum level. So far, I plan on utilizing the small hose and if needed, adding a clamp to restrict water flow.

Here are some pictures:

The tubs have been filled and overflowing through the handle holes.

tub of small hose

tub of big hose

The effects of draining the 100gal tanks

effect of small hose

effect of big hose

One thing is for certain. The water change for the tub is more than 1; I am guessing around 7-8 times. This is due to the relatively strong drip and the small size of the tubs. I think this will work.

Thanks!
Keep checking!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 1)

I'm testing out how I could culture tubifex worms on my own. I asked around what I need to keep them alive:
1. Oxygen (aeration)
2. Running water (water change)
3. Substrate
4. Food

So, I came up with a no-work (I hope) system to solve #1 and #2. This is using a drip system design. I take water from my tanks to my tubifex. The movement of water solves the aeration problem. The water change is pretty much obvious. The excess water from the tubifex tubs will just overflow to the soil.

Here are some pictures of what I set up

"Sipping" from the big tanks

"Pouring" to the tubs
They've just been set up so the water is still really shallow

I chose two sizes of hoses: smaller (first picture) and bigger (second pictures). I did this for comparing which hose size would be more effective for tubifex.

Fingers crossed. I hope one (and hope more that both) would work. This could help my fish be stronger, healthier and happier.

So, I hope you keep in touch and watch for updates!

Daphnia Culturing (With Pictures)

I wanna share with you breeders out there how to culture your daphnia for you baby fish!

Let's start first with the base

The Fish that poop for me
Some fish can't be left alone without aeration. They need to have filters. So instead of throwing away the waste, why not use them?

The Filter Is Black Magic
Of course, poop has to go somewhere and away from your fish. So we check the filter.

My Betta Breeds 2

Here are fish that I have bred in the past few months

Platinum Red HMPK

Copper DTHMPK

Copper Marble DTHMPK

Copper Marble Sailfin HMPK

Green Broad Dorsal HMPK

Copper Red HMPK

Copper Red Rosetail HMPK


Here is a link to the old one: My Betta Breeds

My Ryukin Collection

Here are ryukins from my local fish stores

#1

#2

Grandfather VS Grandchild

Grandfather

Grandchild

I don't really know what motivated me to compare them. I just want to.

I will point out the differences that are most significant to me.
[Feel free to comment if you want to add more]

Dorsal
For me, both are sailfin because the dorsal fin width is at least half of body length. Dorsal bases (where the dorsal is attached to the body) are still wide.
Grandfather has a nicer shape because its more rectangular. More broad
Grandchild has a broad dorsal too (check out the base). However, the shape doesn't give it that impression though.
First rays play an important role. Grandfather has an abrupt increase in dorsal ray length while grandchild has a more gradual increase in dorsal ray length. Hence, grandchild's dorsal shape is more smooth and rounded.

Body
Grandfather has a typical betta body
Grandchild has a thicker, stockier body...this evidences a strong dt background (even though both of his parents are singletails carrying DT)
Toplines are both smooth.

Ventral, Anal, Caudal
All are pretty much the same to me. The shape of the anal fin is uniform for the line. I'm seeing a trend to a more symmetrical look.
Caudal is still rounded. I will have to work on that.

Color
Honestly, I have no idea how Grandfather carried marble. Grandchild's father is a copper marble. When Grandchild was younger, he was a solid copper then marbled out into his current color. It pretty much stabilized now.
Grandfather showed the typical black base my coppers have.


The Winner
For me, Grandfather still wins. I am planning to cross Grandchild to Grandfather's two DT daugthers. They are Grandchild's aunties. I hope to get more of Grandfather's blood into the next batches of fry. I am yet to see a reincarnation of Grandfather but I am hoping.

More about dorsals here: http://babyfishbreeder.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-dorsal.html

UPDATE (10/23/2013)
I see fry from Grandchild x DT aunts.
They are almost all DT! Grandchild really has strong DT blood in him.I crossed the aunties to other related fish. They threw in some singletails. I'm planning to bump the DT produced by him to these STs. I hope for more Sailfin HMPK to come my way!

Bonsai Update

This is just for Bonie

Before (2 weeks after I got him)

After (a few weeks ago):

Bonee was in a 20gal tub so I had to raise him to take a photo.

This is them today (Aug 15, 2013)

The photos are around 3 months apart. I would say he got more round than before. It's nearer the coin shape. The mouth is also not as pointed as before. Kok has definitely grown.

What do you guys think?

Update (10/23/2013)
Male is doing better. I put him back to a crate to grow out some more. His colors really intensified!

The female is starting to fade out. She looks really pale now. Since she doesn't have much pearls, she'll be a pale white fish. :(

Scalares without Aeration

This is how I keep, breed and raise my Angelfish

Community

Pairs

Juvies