I have a large 220gal acrylic turtle aquarium that is heavily planted and has tetras, Corys, and twig catfish (apparently mine breed) in it and all was well until at some point I must have somehow gotten some guppies with a plant order that I bought.
FF to now and I have a million guppies. I can't control them all – I finally resorted to just catching them in a net and freezing them. Problem is that the ones that are left (maybe 20-30 adults?) have wisened up and are now very skittish whenever I go near the tank and are basically impossible to catch with all the plants and driftwood. So I'm looking at natural predators to help eat the fry in an attempt to control them.
I've had the turtle (a stinkpot) since I was a kid and he is very old and doesn't bother the fish, not even the twig catfish so I don't think he'd bother the Betta.
Do you think it would be worth a try with the Betta to help me control them? I don't want to get a large predator fish that might eat the tetras or Corys. I think the Corys and tetras also breed because I've had the same group of fish for 16yrs now and they seem to maintain a stable population.
If I could catch all the females guppies I'd just do that, but as you can see from the pic it's basically hopeless. The aquarium has been cycled for 15yrs and has excellent water quality and is basically its own ecosystem at this point.
https://i.redd.it/4cm2j69lv6dg1.jpeg
Posted by yt545
2 Comments
A betta would just torment the crap outta the guppies, and be tormented by the tetras
I bet a betta would help keep the fry down I’d say it’s worth a try I feel like a betta would be in hog heaven in the aquarium! I wouldn’t know what else to try I know my wife’s does a good job at keeping cherry shrimp to about 25-30 or so on his own.