A few fishy questions

Lately something has been chowing on the amazon sword plant and I can't figure out who it is.

I have the following fish in my tank:

Guppies (have seen them take a nip at the plants, but haven't seen them causing any damage)
Kuhli loaches
Male Betta
Ramshorn snails (they're always cleaning the plants, but I've never seen them stay in one spot long enough to cause any damage either)

For the algae eaters, I've got spiralina tablets which I feed to them once a day / once every second day and I've noticed the guppies seem to LOVE it. Lol quite weird to see them and the snails go for it.

My next question...
Are dwarf guaramies and betta's compatible? Some charts say yes, and others say no. Do any of you keep this combination? Maybe you could share your thoughts with me.

 

Hi Linxie

The chowing can actually be the algae eaters(plecs) that lies on the plant and then damage it. See if they lie on the leaves.

i love dwarf gouramies and have quite a lot 2 goldens 1 sunset 2 emerald with my crown tail fighter, the fighter will chase the G around but in my tank the Fighter lacks the speed so actually nothing happens, i have a 1.2m tank

 

Thanks Fonkie. I have no pleco's in my tank any more. I'm starting to suspect its the snails, so I'll be removing them all. Have managed to take some out already.

Thanks for the advice on the fighter. We also have a crown tail and he's quite slow as well. Think maybe I'll wait till we find space for the second tank. Then he can have his own tank.

Do you think the female bettas would show any aggression towards the gouramies?

 

Linxie the female Bettas can be but is not as aggresive like the males. Thant is why you can keep a few of them together.
Most of the time it is going to be try and error. I see all my betta would try and fight with everything and soon realize that it is futile because they are to slow or the other fish wont fight back.
They soon get bored and ignore the other fish.
Just be carefull of fish much smaller than Bettas, they can do some damage to fins when they get hold of them.

 

Thanks Vis, I'll definitely keep an eye on it when we decide to do this.

Here are pics of the plants... its only started happening recently (within the last week or so)

 

No doubt snails. They eat more at knight, maybe why you did not notice.

 

it could also be softwater - i'll explain when you get here

 

Could be. Getting some lettuce today to get rid of them. They breed rapidly. Thanks Vis


Ooh, Henk thank you. Would like to hear what about it. See you later ^^,

 

Henk would normal decay not be in more of a circular form. Usaully starts from a point going outward thus forming a circle?

Those edges looks jagged and there is no yellow edges around it like leaves get when dying.

 

Look how thin the leaf is.... its got nothing to do with normal decay - ask the prof to explain about holes in plants due to softwater

 

Maybe the snails soaked it first:bigsmile:

Linxie that was my deduction but I am no plant expert so best to follow Henks advice.

 

Just to let you know of my experience - I have that exact same species of sword in my tank and have a similar problem (although I must say my leaves are alot thicker) with holes.

The Ph of my tank is 7.5 so I ruled out the soft water decay. From what I found it seems to be my Pleco who damages a certain spot on the plant that opens it up for further damage from, what I can only assume, is the plethora of snails that then frequent the area.

Again I must say that I don't have as many holes as yours in the pic does and they are not as big so it could be a combination of soft water decay and damage from your tank inhabitants.

 

KiazerG... I may be wrong here... by pH and sotfness of water have nothing in common.

pH is the acidity of your water
Softness/ or rather the hardness of your water is the amount of dissolved minerals in the water.

 

correct Zoom - hence the prof has a water hardning mix iwth his fertz which prevents the water from taking - i think - its a calcium molocule from the plant. - best to ask the prof

 

Yes sorry my apologies... It bit of early sunday morning mix up.

Replace Ph with Hardness of 30 dGH.

 

Linx, I personally wouldn't recommend keeping dwarf Gouramis and bettas in the same tank.

Its a trial and error kind of thing. But its too risky. The two fish may seem to get along, and then all of a sudden, Hell breaks loose...

 

I have a 3kg parcel of his fertz and hardening mix (as well as food) sitting for me at the Post office from Professor!

 

Hope it isn't the frozen food?! lol!! It sure won't be frozen now!!

G!

 

I see a lot of Clown Loach food!
LOL!

 

Nope. It's dry food