Beginner Needing Help!

Hello,
I currently have a 20 litre (roughly 5 gallons) tank that’s cycled and ready for a fish or two in it. Being fairly new to the fish hobby I don’t know what I can stock it with. I had a male betta in there but he passed away when I put two female guppies in with him who had brought a pet store disease with them (I didn’t yet know about the quarantine system and thought this was a good pet store and how to treat them so they all passed while I was gone one weekend, he was fine with them by the way). I also might have access to a 170 litre tank (40 gallons roughly) which is currently a turtle tank but we want to upgrade it to a bigger enclosure (any relatively cheap ideas?) so if I can have suggestions for both that would be great!

 

The betta would enjoy being in the 10 gallon tank by himself with maybe some snails and a whole bunch of plants that he can lay on top of. As for other types of swimming fish with a betta you would really only be okay with small bottom feeders.

With the 40 gallon though you can open yourself up to a lot more stuff so it really depends on what type of fish do you want. Are you wanting a tropical fish, a cold water fish, a schooling fish or an individual fish...

 

Battas can have other fish in with them it all depends on this temperament. Mine spent one day chasing fish around then decided it was alright to share it's tank. Happily ever after. When testing if your batta is going to be fine with fish, choose something that is faster then it but will not nip its fins. I used three guppies that I breed, but you get a back up plan if it does not work. Will the store take them back, do you have another tank or some one to take them.

 

Get some african dwarf frogs they're a lot of fun.

 

In terms of spare tanks I have another spare 20 litre and the turtle’s tank (she’ll generally leave fish alone, no matter the size, which could work for a few months (as long as I remember to feed her on time) and I know a few people and stores that are happy to take fish. I can’t find any African dwarf frogs but I will keep searching! I don’t mind about whether they’re tropical or cold water fish but I would prefer to have multiple fish (single is fine if they have a big personality). I currently have 3 ideas for the 170 litre:
1:
- a betta
- 6-8 small schooling fish(maybe) (neons?)
-heavily planted with small adjustable filter and a heater
2:
- a few moderately small schools of fish
- 1-2 larger fish
- moderately planted with filter and heater
3:
-1-2 fancy goldfish (fantails?)
- heavily planted with large filter

Help appreciated!