Pink~ I love the garlic too, but no one would ever come to my house haha! And it's pretty much irristable to the fish and good for them!
I just chop up the freshest garlic cloves I can find and put them in a cup of tank water, then I soak the pellets in there.
Oh, and where in BC do you live? I live about an hour and a half from Nelson.
Fabulous, thanks for the tips on the garlic! I'm gonna try that in the next few days!
And I live in Vancouver, so we're pretty close to each other! That's awesome, whenever I'm on these forums, I always think of everyone else as being super far away, like in Australia compared to me, or something.
I heard that betta can handle a cycle pretty well. This tank has been cycled but its been empty for a few weeks. I have kept the filter and heater going and added a bit of ammonia now and then but it will probably mini cycle when it gets new in habitants.
I would put all 5 in, or they will have some trouble establishing a pecking order.
I'm gonna have to argue with this one a tiny bit.
I'm a huge advocate of the fishless cycle since cycling can be SO rough on fish if you're not absolutely OBSESSIVE about testing and water changes,
and when you talk about some fish being able to "handle a cycle well", that sets those fish up for living through HORRIBLE conditions while people cycle their tanks with the fish. Some people are good about water changes, but others aren't, and fish like danios who now have a reputation as being "good for cycling" are bought almost like disposable tools and killed during the cycling process.
With a tank that hasn't been stocked for a while, even with the addition of bits of ammonia, I feel like suddenly adding 5 fish could almost be setting you up for a whole new cycle. From almost no bio-load to 1 fish per 2 gallons of tank size right away. I know it's hard since the bettas do need to be added together in terms of territoriality and aggression, but if it was any other fish, it would be suggested to stock slowly, like 1-2 fish at a time.
I'm not sure how it goes in terms of compatibility, but I know corys are pretty docile, and I'd add them first, since you might only have 2 or 3, then test the tank super regularly and change water to control ANY ammonia spikes, then look into adding more fish. Or try to do a small fishless cycle just to get the tank going again (or to make sure that it's still going, in case the cycle has lasted) so that it's better able to handle the bioload of 5 fish.