I’ve had my community tank established for 5 days. I added 1 betta, 8 harlequin rasboras (from petco and one died but the others are well), and 2 peppered corys (that’s all Petsmart allowed me because I bought the betta from there. I’ll be getting more)
I worried about nipping from the rasboras and monitored and everyone is living peacefully. The tearing pictured only appeared within the past day or two.
He’s been thriving, getting color back when he was only white when I bought him, light iridescence.
The water is fine. I cycled for over a month and while I had some nitrates before the fish I now have none. But I know it’s not like my cycle magically disappeared because I have no ammonia or nitrite still, and that’s with five days of fish waste and food.
I’m thinking it could possibly be the flow or the 3-d printed resting area I just got as it’s a new addition. For some reason my betta likes to swim on the back wall behind the filter. He swims everywhere and through the driftwood gaps but the filter does have a strong output I’ve attempted to reduce. However, I don’t think the water bottle trick is working.
Should I get a suctioned soap dish for under the filter and put some gravel? Or could it be my driftwood? I don’t know how to shave down the edges an he doesn’t really swim along the points as it is. Or could it be the resting spot?
I have a 29 gal high with an Aqueon quiet flow 20 filter so it’s got that sponge at the front already.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1o8abwm
Posted by RemarkableSandwich81
1 Comment
Could be nipping, could be some sharp edges on your decor, and it might be the high flow. Sometimes, the betta even bites their own tail. I wouldn’t worry too much about the hiding behind the filter, mine did this as well. It did scare the shii out of me in the beginning. I legit thought he had died lol.
Sometimes they will hide before they acclimate to their new home. I would recommend using something like Seachem Stability or Stress Guard, but mostly he Stability, when introducing new fish.
Also, having aquarium salts at hand might be a good idea to aid the healing of the fins and negate the potential for infection.