Fish Advice

[BettaGal]

My betta died this evening, and I will be cleaning the tank and changing the water several times tonight. Tomorrow, my friend and I are going to go fish shopping to a fairly reputable fish shop. Walmart is out of the question for me, Petco and possibly the one down the street that I don't believe is a chain are the ones I choose. I want to get a fish that can sift through the gravel. My snail will crawl over it, but can't get the dirt out, and I have never mastered the gravel vacuum. Possibly a cory cat, and I have no room for a school of many, so that's out of the question. Does anyone have any advice for a hardy fish that I could get one, maybe two of and can handle about 80 degree water? It's pretty stable at 80 without a heater. I'm not much of a fan of goldfish. Any thoughts?

 

[Rivercats]

I forgot what size was your tank? If you have any bleach just adding a tiny amount (a few drops) will ensure any bacteria is killed. Just rinse it really good. I've sanitized alot of tanks this way. As for fish cory's won't be good if the tank is small. There are alot of micro fish but depending on what size the gravel they may not do any better than snails.

 

[BettaGal]

I don't have any bleach. I live in a college dorm, and the room size is 12' by 8'. Not much room for extra stuff. I have a 3-gal half-circle aquarium. The gravel is as far as I know normal aquarium gravel. I can get pictures of it now that Buddy won't go insane at the lamp if that helps. It's just annoying that every time I do a water change, everything in the gravel I missed gets kicked up and makes a mess everywhere. And the snail doesn't care about anything other than his algae wafer, so he won't be too much of a problem.

 

[vance1013]

I don't have any bleach. I live in a college dorm, and the room size is 12' by 8'. Not much room for extra stuff. I have a 3-gal half-circle aquarium. The gravel is as far as I know normal aquarium gravel. I can get pictures of it now that Buddy won't go insane at the lamp if that helps. It's just annoying that every time I do a water change, everything in the gravel I missed gets kicked up and makes a mess everywhere. And the snail doesn't care about anything other than his algae wafer, so he won't be too much of a problem.

Im sorry to hear about your betta was there a relapse from the velvet

 

[Rivercats]

Yeah I remember those days, way way too many years ago. This is just a thought but could you get a small little branchy piece of DW and tie like one little anubia or Java fern or heck even some Java moss and leave the tank bare bottom. I've got a tank like that, 20L with one piece of DW that is not quite as long as the tank yet its got branches and I just tied on Java Ferns and Anubia's and left the tank bare bottom. It's easy to keep clean and actually looks pretty cool. Then you'd have a bigger choice of micro fish you could use if you could find any. Another thing, only give your snail an algae tablet once a week so he will do some foraging on his own... he sounds like a real mooch!

 

[BettaGal]

Energizer (Grandma named the snail) only gets an algae wafer every three or for days, and it was my way of making sure I knew he had enough food. When he gets an algae wafer, he'll let it sit for a couple hours so it gets nice and swollen and soggy, then he'll set up a tent and eat on it night and day until it's 90% gone and leave the last of it for me to clean up. He goes on everything everyone said he wouldn't. His litter box is on top of one of the caves, he constantly cruises over the gravel, goes into the caves, all that. I swear, every fish I own does everything they aren't supposed to, with the exception of Dmitri, my first fish, also a betta. He tried to attack my ex-boyfriend every chance he got, to the point of even flaring at pictures of the guy. Sadly, Dmitri was smarter about that one.
Anywho, I've never had any live plants and haven't had good experiences with fake ones, hence why I have none. I've had too many fish get stuck in them. Any ideas for a fish or two to add, plus a fish to clean up what Energizer and I can't get?

 

[Zimmanski]

Something to keep in mind, most fish that forage on the substrate are more suited for sand because of their sensitive sensory barbels, and fish that sift or dig through the substrate should have sand too because it won't damage their scales or scrape them up. The bare bottom sounds like a good plan to me, or switch out for sand and use a small vac, should be easier because all the crud sits on top of it

 

[BettaGal]

I could possibly add sand to the gravel, although I've never had sand. I would take any advice I can get with this tank. I wanted a cory cat this summer along with 4 neon tetras, but the fish store said that was a bad idea, and ended up talking me into glofish, which were crap. They were all mentally challenged. One I named Ninja hid everywhere never to be seen except to do a fish-language "Haha, you can't see me!" and run again. Bubbles was named because he would constantly play in the airstone, swim into it, float up with it, and go back to the bottom to do it again. Louis was named by a friend and was just weird in general. He thought he was an eel. I'm just tired of fish stores telling me what I want is bad and so am asking the ones that have taken care of fish since they were created it seems and know what's good and what's bad.

 

[Zimmanski]

Yea I'm not a fan of genetically mutating fish. Also with a 3 gallon it's going to be even tougher and I wouldn't suggest having corys unless you had 3 or more of them, I would've suggested a small group of kuhli loaches but they really should be in sand or very fine and very smooth gravel too. Your choices are limited with a 3 gallon half circle. Ever thought of upgrading to a 5 gallon square? I don't think it would take up any more space but would have some extra space on the bottom

Another thing, yes neons are small and yes a lot of people have them in small tanks, but people also keep goldfish in bowls which we all know is wrong. Neons and other tetras are pretty active fish and should have their space to enjoy so I wouldn't suggest anything schooling like that for anything under a ten gallon, but that's my opinion

 

[BettaGal]

Depending on the costs, I could possibly get a 5 square and maybe even keep the 3 half-circle on the other side of the desk. We're allowed up to 20-gal, but honestly, there's no room for that. I would love it, and when I get an apartment probably next year, I have every intention of getting a bigger tank to add to my place, but for now, I'm stuck with what I got. As long as it's fairly cheap at Petco, I possibly could get a slightly bigger tank. If I can't, I still need a new friend.

 

[azmodan]

Sorry about your betta. Unfortunately 3 gallons is extremely small and your options are very limited. You could try another betta, maybe do a planted invert tank with some shrimp (RCS are beautiful and easy), or maybe try a scarlet badis?

 

[Yiesh]

I'm sorry to hear about your betta ): If you are up for a bit of a drive, Gerber's fish warehouse is located in Dayton Ohio and has an amazing selection of healthy fw fish for reasonable prices. They also have a lot of used tanks and equipment for cheap prices. I've never bought a fish from them that was sick or unhealthy (however I might just be lucky). They also know a lot about fw fish and could give you some advice on what fish types you could fit in your aquarium. Make sure you talk to the manager if you need advice though.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I'm sorry to hear about your betta. Ideally you want to sterilize the tank and quarantine your snail for a good number of weeks to make sure the velvet doesn't infect any new fish. 3.5g is too small except for the smallest of the nano fish or a single betta IMO. There are no bottom dwellers other than inverts suitable for a tank that size. switching to sand will help greatly. The waste will sit on top of it.

 

[BettaGal]

I have every intention of getting some sand when I go to get a new fish or two. The velvet was successfully treated, the only thing was Buddy didn't handle the treatment and went downhill with it. I need advice for a new fish to get tomorrow, or else I'll be stuck going with what looks fun and researching how to care for it after I buy it. I'm trying to do right with what I got. I don't have a lot of money to spend on an all new tank. And Dayton is where I'm from. It's a 3 and 1/2 hour drive away from me. I have no problem with a small fish, I just need advice on what to get so I don't have to deal with know-it-alls at the fish store talking me out of what I want and giving me crappy fish that think they're eels and ninjas.

 

[Zimmanski]

If you have space for a 5 and a 3 next to each other then sell the 3 on CL and buy a ten gallon for $10 at petco! That opens you up to a whole lot more, but I know you said you're trying to make due. Have you checked out liveaquaria.com? They have a ton of fish and pictures and have generally good info. Look on there, see what you would like then ask here to make sure it works. That's the ideal way to do things I think.

 

[BettaGal]

That sounds better. I'll try it. I just don't have all that extra money. Textbooks, you know. I'll try that website and see what looks cool. Oddly, I have a thing for weird looking fish. The weirder, the better. Maybe that's why I love albino corys.

 

[azmodan]

Betta, shrimp tank, scarlet badis. Those are your three most basic options. You might be able to do a nano schooling fish like celestial pearl danios but that's really pushing it IMO. I'd say keep it simple and go with a betta again.

 

[BettaGal]

Would a dwarf gourami be feasible, or are those crazy things?

 

[azmodan]

They need a minimum of ten gallons, preferably more.

 

[azmodan]

If you had something of at least five gallons you could do a dwarf puffer, but they do eat/pester snails too. But they're a cool micro 'oddball' fish.