Mael
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Betta or Cherry Barbs For Action-Adventure Tank?
So I'm going to be setting up a small tank for my viewing benefit (behind my desk so I can actually look at it while I'm working) and I'm wondering which I will get more action out of: I'm considering a betta, or a small school (6-8) of cherry barbs. These are the only small, non-feeders I have access to at my local store (Pet Supplies Plus). Everything else I have considered and have access to -- bala sharks, pictuses, piranhas, silver-tips -- require more space than I'll have to give them in the right schooling amounts. I had also considered a couple baby goldfish from our breeding pond, but we all seem to know they need considerably more space than a small tank can grant them.
I've read that bettas are actually quite active in tanks where they have room to swim. I know next-to-nothing about cherry barbs other than what wikipedia has to say about them (and we don't always trust the wikipedia).
I will probably pick up a bag of black sand-blasting sand from Tractor Supply (which is within tripping distance of the PSP, awesomely) for the substrate, but if I decide not to, I'll use gravel I have around from previous tanks.
I will be fish-in cycling as I have never done it any other way (through seven or eight tanks I've had in the past and the one I have now) and I've always had great luck with it.
Please advise on any considerations or past experience you may have had with cherry barbs (there are tons of posts about bettas around already, so no offense to betta owners, it's just that I've probably already read your posts).
Thanks in advance.
So I'm going to be setting up a small tank for my viewing benefit (behind my desk so I can actually look at it while I'm working) and I'm wondering which I will get more action out of: I'm considering a betta, or a small school (6-8) of cherry barbs. These are the only small, non-feeders I have access to at my local store (Pet Supplies Plus). Everything else I have considered and have access to -- bala sharks, pictuses, piranhas, silver-tips -- require more space than I'll have to give them in the right schooling amounts. I had also considered a couple baby goldfish from our breeding pond, but we all seem to know they need considerably more space than a small tank can grant them.
I've read that bettas are actually quite active in tanks where they have room to swim. I know next-to-nothing about cherry barbs other than what wikipedia has to say about them (and we don't always trust the wikipedia).
I will probably pick up a bag of black sand-blasting sand from Tractor Supply (which is within tripping distance of the PSP, awesomely) for the substrate, but if I decide not to, I'll use gravel I have around from previous tanks.
I will be fish-in cycling as I have never done it any other way (through seven or eight tanks I've had in the past and the one I have now) and I've always had great luck with it.
Please advise on any considerations or past experience you may have had with cherry barbs (there are tons of posts about bettas around already, so no offense to betta owners, it's just that I've probably already read your posts).
Thanks in advance.
