I personally would forget about the Betta imbellis. No types of Betta do well in a community tank and are best kept by themselves. I have personally never heard of asian stone catfish or seen them in any fish store (Im from N. Ireland), which might mean they are a difficult fish to keep so maybe a better option would be salt and pepper corydorus. They grow no more than an inch at most and are an extremely active fish. I think a celestrial pearl danio is also a galaxy rasbora. They are an expensive fish where i am from. If you want a shoal of ten your talking over £50. I personally also find them a bit two small and they are quite a slow and inactive fish, but thats just my opinion on them
The Betta imbellis do well (I've learned this from multiple owners) with not so hyper fish. The catfish are actually very small and easy to care for. The galaxy rasbora/ celestial pearl danio are very cheap here though. I will have a tank in hand if the bettas are cranky, and also, this is going to be a Southeast Asian community.
I meant scientific or zoological sources or personal experience, not websites. The 4-5 years lifespan has been widely replicated on the internet having been posted on wikipedia a few years ago, possibly after confusion about powder blue/ blue gourami (which have a much longer potential lifespan) but I doubt the validity. There was a survey in 2016, a report from a major European Aquarium (better not name it but it is in Germany) plus a UK national fishkeeping magazine article that suggest 2 years as an expected lifespan (possible would, of course be more) but based on experience of many years, I do not know of any individual that lived more than two years after purchase. I am interested to know if the dwarf gouramis we used to see in the hobby, before the heightened colours and cranial hump did live for 4-5 years. I would also be very interested to hear of anyone who has kept this species for 4-5 years and can put a date to this. personally, I have some very long lived individuals of other species but not anything beyond 2 years with this species.
Many people have also told me that before the dwarf gourami had the inbreeding thing, they would live 4-5 years, so I've learned that apparently the full lifespan is 4-5 years, and if they have all those problems that they nowadays have, than they live 2 years.
There's no doubt that the males looked different, the first time I saw the 'new' type in the UK was c1982/3. The natural type were hardier and may have lived longer but I would be interested to know if that is really the case, or if they were just healthier during their lifespan. I stand by my comment to the poster that 2 years would be quite old for one now. I think there are dangers in repeating what is spread across the internet without any supporting evidence; we see myths perpetuated throughout the hobby when there are so many copy and past fish descriptions and advice and you know you are reading the same words in multiple places. You are certainly right about the virus though and it is a terrible thing to see; it would be unusual for it to have suddenly come out after a year in the case of TheEtheopianWolf03's fish.
They weren't wild, they were farmed but no, I've never seen or heard of wild caught Dwarf Gourami on sale in the UK. I think you would have to go back to the 1950's for that. Sometimes they are labelled 'wild type'to distinguish from them from red, powder blue or peacock varieties. I have some old fish books with photos of them in but I think you would struggle to find a picture of them on the internet.
I haven't got my shrimp yet, I am getting them later today. But I will either get a bee or cherry shrimp.
Can you by any chance house both in the same tank? I googled pictures of bee and cherry shrimp and they both look so pretty It would be hard to pick between the two
No, I wouldn't do it as both are very different, aggression, hybridization (possibly) many different variables.
So what did you decide on @ZooBinh Also if your able to I'd like to see a photo of your new shrimp tank
Well, after some research, I decided to go with a Blue Velvet Shrimp. His name is undecided, though I think it will be Tom (no, not like Thomas, but rather the Vietnamese word for shrimp). I know for definite that his middle name will be Savage, so he would be qualified to be called Savage Shrimp. I will upload pictures tomorrow.
Mmm I'll participate in this! I've kept fish continuously in varying capacities for the past 19 years. I hit my peak around 2013-2016, at that point I was running well over 200 gallons between all my systems and I had a rather good freshwater collection amassed. I was breeding some rather lovely imported discus and bettas, and in those times I have a lovely freshwater ray that I trained to swim onto my outstretched hand for treats. I also had a bitchin' cold water setup going, I had two species of sturgeon, mahseers, and a variety of other fun odds and ends. Oh man, I could ramble on with all the stuff I had for ages, but I'll cut it off here for the moment. As it stands I've cut myself down to "just" a 90 gallon saltwater setup. I've been somewhat apathetic towards spending money on it after losing ~1500 dollars worth of deepwater Japanese fish in quarantine due to equipment malfunction, so as it stands it is a rather bare setup, just rock and sand with a few isolated corals and fish. Nonetheless, I do intend to get it fully stocked at some point in the near future, so that should be fun!
Lucky you! Sadly, yesterday I had to stop my honey gourami breeding project to treat the male who was showing signs of dropsy. Any help ideas? Also, I really like discus and want a few for myself!
@ZooBinh where's this photo of your shrimp tank. Also how come your trying to breed honey gourami. They aren't exactly worth much.
Well, I stopped breeding them because the male died of dropsy earlier today, and the photo, well I can't find my shrimp. Any tips on finding it?
