voiceless_kat

I probably asked this before, but right now I am sleep deprived, so am asking again. At the store, the ladies are in tanks with some kind of tetra and another little fish.

I know everyone says the girls have to be alone, but still have to ask. Would just one of the room mates ofwhatever she is tanked with, (other than another female betta, )be an ok roommate??

Just a question..............thanks.

Tom

Do you mean bottom feeders too?
Tom

Pepsi216

I have my Artemis in with some cardinals, corries, and ottos, and they're all quite happy. It'll really depend on the personality of the betta, but I've been sucessful with it.

Good luck!

~Kelly

COBettaCouple

it will be a personality issue... some females will kill any intruders, others will be testy and others will do alright and tolerate the tankmates.

capekate

Hi Val,
when I first brought Gypsy home I put her in the 29g community tank with serpae tetras, black skirt tetras, black neons and a few tiger barbs. No one seemed to notice her or really care that she was there. I saw no problems from them or from her. I think that with the short fins of the females, we dont have to worry about the fin nipping issues like with the male betta. I just thought that on another note, the 29g was just tooooo large a tank for her, she seemed so lost in there. So I moved her to the divided 10g with Precious. But alas.. she didnt last a week here.. .
Im not sure what size tank your going to put your female in?? that would determine what fishmates to add with her. But even the otos are kewl.. and they will clean up any diatoms that a new tank will develop and they got along fine with the bettas in my ten. I know alot of folks add the cory cats, but IMO I see them as way too hyper with their constant up and down the sides of the tanks etc to be with any of my bettas.
So I think that what will determine what goes in your tank will be knowing what size you will be using..and I forgot what it was.
~ kate

Phloxface

I recently added two Otos to the Hex tank with LP. He adores them! They cleaned up the bad algae problem I had literally overnight! My tank walls are sparkling clean now and LP loves to swim with one of the Otos in particular. I named that Oto "Dotcom" and he fearlessly chases LP and one time, when LP was hovering mid tank daydreaming, Dotcom zipped over to him and kissed him right on the mouth and zipped away again. LP didn't know what to make of it and just looked surprised. It was so cute.
I would recommend Otos. They are both cute, playful and useful for cleaning algae. Besides algae they also eat cucumber, zuchinni, spinach or romaine lettuce on a veggie clip. All stuff a Betta usually doesn't eat. (don't bother trying to feed algae pellets. Bettas are remarkable at finding them and wolfing the whole thing down)
Having fish that eat a different diet than the Betta helps prevent the Betta from over-eating. Lots of bushy plants and caves will give the Otos places to retreat if the Betta gets too annoying.
After a day or so LP stopped chasing them and now he's just really used to them and they to him.
I would say Otos are just about the ultimate Betta tankmate. Just make sure they are in the tank BEFORE the Betta so she won't be territorial. LP is such a tiny, non-aggressive little guy I just put the Otos right in his home and he had no problem with them at all. He never once tried to bite them. The only other Betta I'd try that with is Frasier, as he has the same sweet gentle personality. With any of the others I'd have to take them out for a couple hours and redecorate and put in Otos first.

capekate

Hi Phloxface
I so agree... I think that the otos are a great addition to the Betta tank. My guys never bothered them either, even after adding them to an already established Betta tank. And yes.. boy ..they sure do a clean up spotless job on the algae!!! wow.... Now that I was down to one oto in one of the Betta tanks, I put it back into the community tank, since there were others of its kind there, and already I see the diatoms coming back on some decorations in the betta tank... I may have to invest in a few more otos soon.
Val..... OTO"S.... thnk OTO's..... lol
~ kate

voiceless_kat

Finally I can got on the forum, there was something weird going on yesterday.So I had to just go make a decision, since I wanted it in the tank before my little girl.

Tom, yes I meant bottom feeders/dwellers.

Anyway...decided to get an oto...........okay, all they had were way too big.( Ok everyone, I now know that I was given wrong information and that it probably wasn't an oto to begin with - yikes.) So I hummed and hawed and then decided on pleco..........they were all too big.............so then I did find some little bronze cory's and some albino cory's. I found an active bronze one , and decided to get him. They are not supposed to get more than 2 inches.

I wanted to have whatever I bought into the tank before my little girl arrives, and also thought it will help cycle that tank, which I hadn't fed since last week. So we got home, ( I am pretending he is a boy) and while I was acclimating him, I decided to add some more Bio Spira since the pack was open and in the fridge.

Having done that, I finally added "Sammy" - the name just came to me, so he can be a boy or a girl - well after an hour on the substrate, he started going, and going, and going. As I said in the nitrogen cycle thread, he made Wink JS look like he was sitting still!!! I thought I had best check the water parameters: well yay for me: ammon 0ppm' nitrite 0ppm and nitrate 5 PPM. This tank is cycled. I was/am very excited.


So, I put lights out and he settled down. This morning, Sammy is laying on the substrate winking at me, so we are going to do his first feeding very soon. ( I bought algae/vegetable tabs, and will order sinking food from F&S. Any suggestions??) Wow, hyper is right!! Not sure how my little girl will like that, however, if it becomes a problem, I can move him, since I have extra everything. And there are base plants, tall plants, swim throughs with caves and a little pot decoration to swim through/hide in.

I am almost toying with the idea of ordering a little girl on line if I can't find one here....the conditions at Walmart really are pathetic for some : a few tanks had dead fish in them, and no one there to flip out on ( it was evening).

So in a few hours I will be off to see what they have to offer as far as little girls..............well, I couldn't be more excited!!! I will let you all know.

So Kate & Phlox, I tried for an oto, and hope this little Sammy works out. Wow, is he small...an inch from tip to tip at most. He is darling, actually. I hope one alone is okay...I think Nat has a cory, hopefully she will read this and give me tips I need to know, although I have been reading lots on the web. I thought that two may be intimidating to a single little girl betta - don't ya think? ( Kate, I get library books so I can sit and look at pics and keep things straight in my ever addled brain..LOL - I am on the internet all the time researching too - man, what a time waster that is, I always feel guilty for spending time on the web!).

When I get that big tank, then an oto. And am also getting clown pleco for Neptune, who will help with house cleaning. Haven't found him here, will try down at my new favourite pet store in Minnesota, and may end up on line. I am going to see if the Fed Ex drop place guy would accept overnight live fish, and then I could go over and pick him up.

Anyway, I have had a lazy morning, so should get up and get busy. An overcast day, just made for house cleaning - or better yet, finding a little girl betta! Wish me luck!!

Val

Phloxface

The Otos were too big? They could not possibly have been Otos then... Otos are tiny little things and full grown don't get more than 1 inch in length. You probably saw some chinese algae eaters which are sometimes mislabeled as Otos. They are really terrible fish (the chinese algae eaters) and will suck on other fishes bodies and kill them. Lucky you didn't get it.
Cories get a lot bigger than 2 inches. I've seen a full grown Cory and it was HUGE! You generally need a ten gallon tank for them and I think with both Cories and Otos they need to have others of their own kind with them or they get stressed and lonely. I got two little Otos last weekend for LP's 5 gallon Hex tank and they fit in just great. (pictures on the Otos forum here) I could easily have gotten 3 Otos and the tank would still not be overstocked.

Cories are carnivores and eat shrimp pellets and don't eat algae. I decided against Cories simply because the Betta would be constantly stealing the Cory food and overeating. The Otos eat mostly algae and some veggies on a clip. LP has no interest in their food other than algae pellets which he steals anyways so I'm not using them anymore.

voiceless_kat

Oh Phlox....if I screwed up............I will post a pic soon. The labels on the tank were all over the place. I asked the kid, who I had to snag out of groceries and he pointed at something, and said it was an oto, and it was huge!!

Well, if this little guy gets too big, I can move him in with either neptune or when I get the bigger tank of community fish, into that.

But I do have to say, after reading on the web, and also postings here, there is a lot of different and conflicting information.

Well, guess I will buy some shrimp thingees then!!

Phloxface

The adjective huge is not one you'd ever use to describe an Oto. Here's a pic of LP in his Hex 5 with the two Otos busily working on the patch of algae on the glass (they cleared it sparkling clean in a matter of hours!) The one up top is a pregnant female (she's laid her eggs somewhere yesterday... I'm hoping LP hasn't eaten them) and the one on bottom is a male. These two are young but pretty much full grown. They may grow just a fraction more but nothing noticeable. You can see they are small enough to very comfortably fit in the Hex 5 with a Betta. The only thing huge about these Otos was my female's belly just before she laid her eggs! She looked like she swallowed a marble!

If your Cory is still small he should be okay for now in a smaller tank (what size is the tank again?) but he'll definately need a 10 gallon when he grows. The adult Cories I saw were at least 3 times the size of a Betta! Post some pics of him. Do you know what type of Cory he is? There are a million different color variations of them! My favorite are Panda Cories.

nmwierman1977

Hey Val- I actually have 2 oto cats. My tanks aren't big enough for cory. I have 1 in with RJ in the 2.5 gal. I know, I know 2 fish in a 2.5 gal.,With my condo up on the market I can't OMG is she nuts. Well unfortunately that' s all I can do right now. With my condo up on the market I can't have too many tanks. I had to dismantle the 5. So RJ and Fred live in the 2.5 and Pebbles and Bam-Bam live in the 3. They are all very happy. Fred actually prefers to be by himself w/o another oto believe or not and Bam-bam doesn't seem to mind either. More algae for them and they don't have to share.

I also find it hard to believe the otos were too big. They must not have been otos. They were probably Chinese algae eaters as they look very similar to otos. Otos are actually smaller in size then Cory's. They only get to be 1- 1 1/2 in. They must've miss labeled them as otos.

I think Cory's as far as care is the same as otos. I think Otos are a little bit more gentle as far as their health goes, meaning the can die very easily if you aren't careful. They are very hardy fish as long as you take care of them properly. So are Cory's. I think Cory's are a lot more hyper then oto's.

If you don't have algae in your tank, which once you do you always will have growth even after they eat it. Soon after it will grow back. They like to eat any kind of gr. veggie. Mine likes to eat broccoli( I only give them the stem part though-I'm afraid they will choke on the tree part), gr. beans-seedless ones are the best, but if you don't then just take the seeds out as they can choke on them, seedless cumcumber too they like, spinach. Pretty much any gr. veggie. I haven't actually fed them vegetables in awhile though because there is always algae for them to eat. Mine are spoiled too. I found that they will only eat it if all the decor is out of their way unless it's an area that they can get to it. When I did a water change in the 3 gal I had to keep all the decor out until Bam-Bam ate all of the algae. I just put it back 2 night ago. Spoiled I tell you. You may not have to do that unless it's under an ornament or something.

Well that's all I have for now. if I think of anything else I will let you know. Enjoy Sammy. They are a lot of fun no matter which kind you have.
Natalie

capekate

LOL.. IM glad that someone else noticed Vals remark on the otos being too BIG> I was going to comment on it, but just knew that she would be corrected on that. Maybe the guy thought she said.. plecooooo and not otooooo.. its possible??
Anyway i hope that the cory cat gets along ok.. I went with otos awhile ago, which I just fell in love with those silly little worker bee's...
~ kate

voiceless_kat

Thanks, Nat. I feel just awful now. Even on the fish profiles here, it says corys get 2.5 inches, ottos up to 2 inches. The books I have mostly say cory 1.5 inches. Sammy is quite adorable even tho he may be the wrong kind. My tank is the Eclipse 3. I know I am pushing it having two fish in there.

I even feel guilty because I don't have algae in any of my tanks except occassionaly Neptunes! He gets light from the window, but I gravel vac and wipe algae off every couple weeks. And even then it is just on the silk plants and one tiny spot on the glass. I am trying to find him a clown pleco for company. Rose suggested I test for phosphate, so I have that on my wishlist at F&S.

I don't know what to do. I am going back today, to check out if there are any little girl bettas, and the regular fish girl will be there. I will ask her about otos.

Phlox, I think what I have is a bronze cory...the pandas are adorable, but not available here, because after reading a thousand things about corys I thought a panda would be cool. ( I brought home 6 big books on freshwater aquariums from the library.) The tags on the tanks said there were albino; bronze and pepper. Sammy is very light brownish grey, with a dark splotch kinda mid body. I measured him when he was sitting by the side of the tank and he is one inch. I told him he wasn't the right guy, and really hurt his feelings.

Well, he seems pretty happy, not that I can tell what they are supposed to be like. I watched them in the store and they lay still, then scurry all over the place. I broke a bit of algae/veg wafer off but he has yet to find it. All the books I read say they are omnivorus - eat both veg and meat. So I will get him some sinking shrimp.

I am all upset, so better take off for the store to find my little girl.

Val

voiceless_kat

What can I say, the guy was an idiot and I didn't know what to look for. You guys, I feel horrible. Is there anyone out there who loves corys and can help me out

capekate

LOL Val...
its okkkkkkk... hehehe..... Don't feel horrible. I had cory cats in with my betta too. I just moved them for my own peace of mind. They are silly those cory cats and I found that since they are bottom feeders I had to buy seperate food for them, which I really didnt want to do, as I had all kinds of food here anyway, but none for bottom feeders. I used Hakari sinking wafers, they didnt eat it, I tried aqurian bottom feeder, sinking shrimp pellets.. they didnt eat it. So I hope that someone gives you some good advice on what to buy that they will eat!
~ kate

nmwierman1977

Have you thought about talking the cory back and just saying you bought the wrong fish. Then maybe talk to someone with more expeience about what the fish are and see if you canget an oto cat instead. Is Sammy even eating the algae. If he isn't and he's not going to ever, you night just be better off taking him back and getting oto cat. Do you still have the receipt? It's completely up to you. Natalie

Phloxface

Don't feel horrible! Cories are very cute. If anything, it's a good excuse for another larger tank.

nmwierman1977

Yeah you can always just move into the 10 gal when you get it. You're getting that soon aren't you? That wold be even better. I've thought about getting cories. I just can't until I sell my condo and get the house we want. Natalie

chickadee

I am sorry if you answered this and I just skimmed over everything but thought before you bought more food the cory will need sinking shrimp pellets or carnivore wafers. They do not eat veggie tablets or algae or algae wafers. They aren't algae eaters so they won't help clean your tank. This is a very common misconception and so don't feel bad about it. I fell into the trap too and could not figure out why they weren't eating the algae.

You need an oto for algae eating but the cory will be fine for your little girl and I have known some that do fine by themselves. Usually once they are on their own they do not get acquainted with a new group well so I would say that your little guy cory is going to be a loner. I had one and then later added 3 and the 1 I had would not go anywhere near the others so it will do no good probably to plan on adding more. But he will be fine. The betta should be company unless she is a stinker. (that is something you never know unless you try)

Good luck and tell Sammy hello and welcome to the cory board.

Rose

Tazmiche

Val i'm not an expert as have only had one female betta but she is great and i get the feeling that if i took her out, re decorated it and added otos ( I would love to) she would be fine.


I have 2 community tanks and one to set up, they are all fine and if i could have room for 2 cories i would and bronze are my choice too.

Phloxface

Do you have any flake food? You can suck up some flakes in a turkey baster and squirt them onto the bottom of the tank. They will eat that. You can try simply floating a couple Betta pellets. Cories will grab food from the surface too.

They should be fine until you get your community tank set up. They will be a great addition to that tank and will be very happy in there. I'm hoping to have a large community tank someday too as there are so many other types of fish I'd love to have that can't live with Bettas, like Gouramis. I saw a huge Dinosaur Bichir at Petsmart last time I was there and I'd LOVE to set up a big 30 gallon with only him in it. Such an unusual fish and cute face... reminds me of Bettas. They are also aggressive and should be alone or they eat your other fish but seem friendly and responsive to humans.

Don't worry. You'll get your female Betta. She's just on her way to you...

voiceless_kat

Phlox, too bad they didn't eat the humans and were friendly and responsive to humans......LOL.

Thanks for the good wishes regarding the little girl. She must be going to be very special!!

Phloxface

LOL! I can think of quite a few humans that would make excellent fish food! Sadly for many people that's about all they are good for!

COBettaCouple

wow.. having fun yet there vk?

voiceless_kat

No Dave, I am not having fun. I am heartbroken ( duh, how pathetic is that ) that I can't find a little girl betta, and now I have two corys that are as sweet as can be, but they are the wrong fish. They are in my 3g Eclipse, so now I have to get another tank ( well, when they get larger) .

And bettas are always such a happy thing to talk about. No one talks like that about corys and they are hysterically funny. That makes me sad.

Oh ya, and I am not sure if they are getting enough to eat, and so have to get over to the ickiest fish store ever today and see if they have shrimp.I gave them tropical fish food this morning, pellets that sunk after a while, so hopefully they will find them. That gravel substrate isn't the easiest to find food in, I wouldn't think.

Oh ya again, my flouro light burned out on my Eclipse 3 and I have to order a new one. I hate cities, but man oh man, they do have their advantages!

Maybe I am bi-polar, feels like it. The corys zooming around, feels like my head. The corys sitting on the bottom feels like my heart.

this isn't really funny, but it feels like not being able to get pregnant. Man, I need some drugs.........................
Please be patient with me. And I meant to post, " too bad they didn't eat humans and were friendly and responsive to fish".

nmwierman1977

If you intend on having a Betta with the 2 cories then you will need to at least get a 10 gallon tank. A 5 gal. will not be large enough. Cories get to be about 3 in. in size full grown I believe.

I'm sure you will find your baby soon. These things take time sometimes, but it's well worth the wait until you find the right one. Natalie

Phloxface

Trust me, they get a lot bigger than 2-2.5 inches! Those would maybe be dwarf cories and they are really hard to find. I've seen full grown cories at a store and they were nearly 4 inches long! Full grown they make a Betta look small. I really don't think a 6 gallon is going to be big enough. You should get a 10 gallon otherwise you'll just be having to upgrade again in a few months. Don't believe everything you read on other sites. I can tell you they get big because I've seen it with my own eyes.

nmwierman1977

I agree with Phlox Val. You really are better off getting a 10 gal. tank. Fish tend to grow pretty fast and in a matter of just a couple months or sooner you will be finding yourself getting another tank. You will be saving yourself a lot of money if you just buy one now rather then gradually upgrading them. I'm glad to hear that you are having fun with them. I plan on buying 2 or 3 myself one day when I get a bigger tank. I want to get a few other varieties of fish besides Betta's. It will be awhile before I do that though. Natalie

voiceless_kat

I am going to skip the 6g and just get the 28g straight off. It has a really nice stand and I wanted to get it up before Christmas/cold weather anyway. Even my hubby likes the one I have picked out, I just may buy a different filter, or even an Elipse hood for it.

These guys are good for a while, and then they can be the first kids into the big tank, along with 2 or 3 three more for schooling around.

I am in the process of figuring out how many/which fish I can have in the community tank. I would like to have a pair of a little bit larger ( like discus /or angels/silver dollars/larger gouramis) and then mediums. I have a great book that suggest species to use together in a community tank that like the same water parameters, heat, set up in general, ao along with asking advice here, I will be following that.


Meanwhile, Sammy and Scooter are adorable and so entertaining. They are eating like piggies and always scooting in and out of the castle, the swim through and the swim through jug. I am trying to get pictures to post, but man, you have to be fast.

When I get my little girl, if they seem compatible, I will leave them together for a month or so. ( But I have a spare 3g set up and two 2g spares if needed in emergency ). ( and a pack and a half of bio spira to boot ). By then I will have a new tank set up, and decorated and have a concrete plan on what I want. When Sammy and Scooter move, I will buy an oto, ( I can get them at the pet store just over the border I now find out). Honestly, I don't really like the look of them, but I was being creeped out by a weird man walking around with a white rat on its shoulder, so I was a bit jittery...LOL. But to have a fish I can feed vegetables other than peas to, sounds like a hoot. And maybe one day the tank will have algae on it!!

This fish thing has truly grabbed me, what a neat, fun ( lots of work) thing to do as a hobby. However, I am sure no fish will ever compare to a betta for me, not after Storm and all the personality he had.

Now, to get my little girl...........................Val