# 9 Betta Sorority - Finnex 24/7! 20G Long 2 Yr Rescape - Zoid's Journal



## JJVanier (Feb 4, 2014)

Diggin it man! can't wait to see some updated pics.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

My stand is complete thanks to ikea and some serious 2x4 base and a braced interior.
Also sorry for the poor quality ipad/iphone pics don't have a good camera... yet.
Note: I/m a grown man who collects Toys 









Pic of Tank March 1, 2014, added in a spraybar, Rotala has grown 1 1/2 inches in 1 week.









Spraybar custom made from a PVC Irrigation Riser, Hose Clamp, Cap and a 1/2" to 3/4" Elbow ($4.54)
No more Jetstream from the stock 205 outtake!!! Fish finally swimming throughout all levels of tank.
Have since moved the spraybars flow towards the glass









Some of the inhabitants
Neons and Amano Shrimp








Neons and Rummynose








Neons and Dwarf Rams









Still waiting on several plant and tank accessories in the mail 
Will be adding in more cories, neons and rummy soon once I find a home for the bloodfins.
I'd love to get some other varieties of shrimp but I'm afraid of a population explosion.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Zoidborg said:


> *Plants*
> Amazon Sword, Rotala Nanjenshen, Mini Pellia, Moss Ball, Java Fern, Anubias Nana, Amazon Frogbit.


The amazon sword will outgrow your tank. Read 1 had 1 that had roots which consumed most of his 30G tank.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks for the suggestion. The swords will stay in this tank till they get well established then ill move all but one to other tanks I plan to make 

If they get a growth spurt, I don't mind trimming. We'll see how it goes, my lights aren't to powerful, they're growing slowly.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Since the last update I made a few changes. First I bought 6 Otos, they were uber tiny almost half an inch, only 3 survived the first day. The 3 Otos remaining went to town on my algae and cleaned every plant in the tank.

I bought 3 friends for the Peppered cats to play with, unfortunately they all died in a week. My LFS's pepper cats are 3/4" but my two guys are already 2". I'm guessing they didn't like the pesky kids.

Then I bought my new Finnex Fugeray Planted+, so much light!

Then today I tore down my tank.

With a nice shopping spree at Docteosfosterandsmith here is what I came up with.

Note: I should have taken pics during the setup, unfortunately I forgot.










On the left side the vertical piece of Mopani is conveniently covering the unsightly Filter Sponge/Canister intake. I've also stuffed the nooks and crannies with Java fern.









Happy Ram and some Tetras checking out the new digs.









Not much going on in the right side. View of my h2show bubbler, shrimp filter, heater and custom spraybar. Waiting on Rotala and Amazon sword to grow out here.









Thanks for viewing!


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

1 year update.

Not so crystal clear anymore but I love it!

TANK DETAILS:
20 gallon Long
Fluval 206 Canister and modified spraybar
FINNEX 30" Fugeray Planted Plus
Fluval M200 Heater
h2show Venturi bubbler
Cheap Shrimp Sponge filter from ebay
Versa Top Glass lid (half only)
Homemade Window screen/bird netting lid (half only)

AQUASCAPE:
Fluval Shrimp Stratum
White Pool Filter Sand
Malaysian Driftwood
Doctor Who Tardis

PLANTS:
Banana Plant (Nymphoides Aquatica)
Willow Moss (Fontinalis Antipyretica)
Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium Laevigatum)
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus Amazonicus)
Anubias Nana (Anubias Barteri)
Rotala (Rotala sp. 'Wallichii')
Rotala (Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan')
Java Fern (Microsorum Pteropus)
Moss Ball

INHABITANTS: (yes I know im overstocked, but its been like this for such a long time and Im doing fine.)
20 + Neocaridina Heteropoda (Ultra Red Cherry Shrimp)
10 Amano Shrimp (Started with 5 surprisingly)
7 Female Blue Fancy Guppies
12 Neon Tetra
6 Glass Bloodfin
6 Rummynose Tetra
2 Peppered Corydoras
3 Pygmy Corydoras
1 Dwarf German/Gold Ram its companion died 3 months ago =(
3 Assassin Snail (Clea Helena)
Varying number of Random Snails that hitchhiked

WATER PARAMETRES:
pH – 6.8
gH – 9
kH – 2
TDS – 250
Temperature – 26C


FERTS/WATER SCHEDULE: (Water changes have been going so well for me with this sched)
Flourish tabs in stratum
Seachem Planted Aquarium Dosing Chart (every other week, Excel every day)
PRIME with minimum 10% water change every week unless (below)
PRIME with 50% water change monthly. (Fluval Filter clean out and baby shrimplets rescue)

Full tank shot.









Middle of the tank with a selection of fishies









Ultra Cherry hanging out near the Spray bar in the Rotala forest









My lonely GBRam.









Ultra Cherry hanging out on the Frogbit forest (this dang plant blocks so much light i remove than by the handfulls every week lol)









Ultra Cherry on my Moss balls


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Zoidborg said:


> TANK DETAILS:
> 20 gallon Long
> 
> PLANTS:
> ...


I don't see the Rotala sp. 'Wallichii'. Where is it?


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

The wallichi is in the middle back and front corners of the tank for some reason they blend in with my nanjenshan which is in the back right corner. Its not red like it is in my 7.9 EBI.

Perhaps this picture better shows it. After the cleanup.

Full tank shot, I had no choice but to clear up the rotala forest and frogbit. Almost half a grocery bag gone.









That is not pearling sadly...









Doctor Who and the invasion of the Shrimp!









I have an algae problem in this part of the tank =[ Atleast the shrimp love it...









Havent seen my pygmys in awhile because of the overgrowth. There ended up being 1 more than I thought I still had, 4 Total.









FUN FACT:
Aqadvisor has my 90+ inhabitant (Including fish, snails, shrimp) at 142% capacity.

(Yes i know its not taking into effect my plants, dosing schedule and water changes. But its fun to know anyways)


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## theericafish (Apr 27, 2012)

I miss when I used to have cherry shrimp in my 20L. Had the co2 cranked up and they all died off except a bunch of clear/black ones that I put in my 10g. Seems like you have quite the community tank. I just added fish yesterday and I'm trying to get used to the whole zooming around everywhere thing.


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## ROYWS3 (Feb 1, 2014)

I like the evolution - looks great!


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks!

Im thinking my 4 Largest Female Guppies might be on their last legs ( they are atleast 1 1/2years old), so Ill be needing some new tankmates soon. I'd prefer not to make anymore baby guppies as its alot of work. Although these blue guppies are pretty sweet Ill be doing breeding guppy only tank sometime in the future.

Ill probably just get more neons as that was the whole point I started this tank.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Small update: 

Both my Rams died ;( and I also moved my Pygmy Cories to the 5g Contour. Some of my neons had ntd. Uhhhhhhhh!

I added 8 Otocinclus catfish, I'm hoping they do well in this very green algae tank. I haven't had success with Otos before, so far 5 days and they are all alive and well. so I guess the tank is doing something right!

Snail problem is ridiculous I had 3 assasins in here but they are not keeping up so I've added 2 more.

Updated community tank list: 

50 + Neocaridina Heteropoda (Ultra Red Cherry Shrimp)
6 Amano Shrimp (ghosts that tricked me have been culled)
11 Female Blue Fancy Guppies (4 adults - 16+ months)
8 Neon Tetra
6 Glass Bloodfin
5 Rummynose Tetra
2 Peppered Corydoras (Adult - 16+ months)
5 Assassin Snail (Clea Helena)
8 Otocinclus Catfish (not sure which sp.)
Varying number of Random Snails that hitchhiked


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

More updates:

I've added on a Finnex Planted+ 24/7 today! (yes I'm from Canada and was able to get two!)

To those that wanted to know if you can control multiple fixtures with one remote:
Yes you can but you have to aim in between the two sensors, it doesn't work everytime though.

Note: Assassin Snails breed like crazy too! Ignore my post above lol, I must have 30-40 now.

Here's a demo of the awesome Finnex 24/7. I'll be posting more pics soon, while I test out this new light.

http://youtu.be/D3JPmjjrcE4


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

I've had the Finnex 24/7 for 2 months now. Its doing good so far, plant growth is good (just did a trimming) and there certainly is lots of algae, which imho is a good thing.


































Also for the funny pic...

Remember my Assassin snail problem? The one where I felt i needed to add more for a total of 5 to kill all the pond snails?

This is during feeding time across all 4 of my tanks, an army of assassins!


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Over 2 years ago I started this tank and it has gotten out of hand the entire tank went Black with Algae as I became lax with my carbon dosing schedule and they could not be saved (well some plants were saved).


















I will save you all the horrify pics and just move on. Now it's time to do what I've always dreamed of doing ; a Betta Sorority.

I have completely removed all the driftwood and old Fluval stratum (which for those wondering turned into mush after 2 years) and was able to salvage only my Multiplied Java fern and Anubias (some may need another bleach bath)

Survivors in the tank included 5 of my original 7 Glass Bloodfin Tetras, 1 Pygmy Cory as well as 20 Cherry Shrimp and 20 Assassin snails.

I have chosen to go with Black Estes Stoneyriver Polymer coated sand and Stratum again as well as several pieces of new Malaysian Driftwood










More pics to come, soon I will add in background plants (Wisteria and Ambulia clippings from my new 15 gallon)

I have yet to choose which Lucky Female Bettas will come home from Petsmart. Also not sure how many I'm getting.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Hilde said:


> The amazon sword will outgrow your tank. Read 1 had 1 that had roots which consumed most of his 30G tank.


Just thought I'd let everyone know that I had 6 handfuls when I was done cleaning the tank. If Amazon swords are not quickly pruned back you will have a nightmare on your hands in short time. Especially in such a shallow and short width tank


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

I'm getting so much growth because of my Finnex 24/7. From just a few stems of each originally planted in my 15g a month ago I have a huge amount of clippings of water wisteria and Ambulia to completely full my 20g Sorority Background.

Here is the result.









These clippings will need to get themselves situated and the water will clear up soon (water is much more black then usual with Fluval stratum probably because I used almost 15lbs)

I have gone ahead and purchased/rescued 7 Female Bettas from Petsmart. I'll be keeping them quaratined in lil 1g Betta cubes until 14 days elapse.

Pics of the lil girls soon.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

After reading many success and horror stories on Betta Sororities I've found some tips that I'll be using to keep this one a success.

1. The Bettas I bought were all from the same store (more likely to be from same supplier aka sisters)

2. After quarantine 7-14 days place them back in their cups and float them in the tank for a day or two to get them situated/friendly with each other.

3. release them all at the same time

4. Watch them constantly for any severe aggression. Place bad girls In timeout (breeders box inside tank). New additions can also use breeders box before introducing to open tank.

Tank pic this morning.








Any other tips? I'm still at the quarantine stage and waiting out the Petsmart guarantee


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

New girls are in the tank and I've named them some cute girly names. I ended up getting another 2 girls from a different Petsmart 2 days after getting the main 7 =)

I have been trimming the Ambulia and Wisteria almost every 3 days after the Light Schedule has been changed to 6am - Midnight (Finnex 24/7).










Day 14 - Here they are in the tank acclimating 'cupped' after being in their separate 1g betta cubes for 14 days. All of the girls survived and are looking very healthy. (The red betta seems a little stressed, more on that later) 










After a couple of hours floating in the cups in the tank (couldn't wait 1-2 days like I planned too) they entered the tank.

Day 16 - No signs of fighting so I fed them Bloodworms, and they got along swimmingly. Poor little ADFs had to be hand fed because the girls where eating up all the food.










On Day 18 I added two more girls (The yellow one was a young betta)


















Here is the Red Betta I mentioned earlier. Its been a full 18 Days later and she still has 'Stress Lines' but they have significantly dimmed since Day 1 in Petsmart. Perhaps its a natural feature?










BBA: Ive been able to control the outbreak by daily dosing excel and spot treating with Hydrogen Peroxide and tank dosing during weekly PWC. As of Today's water change the Anubias BBA is turning white HURRAH!










More Pictures soon with a better camera


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Did yet another trimming and something happened.










The girls have eaten all the Cherry Shrimps whether they were babies or fully grown adults. (My male Betta in his 5g lives with 30 cherries and leaves them alone)

Also it looks like Amber got into a little nip fight at some point but her fins are already growing back. Not sure who did it as I've never seen any aggression live in person. Scarlets stripes are very faded now and it looks like she does have some natural stripes as she seems to be the most friendly and unstressed girl I have.

Other than that the Sorority is doing excellent. If I even have shrimp in this Tank again I should prob not do to much trimming getting rid of hiding places.


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

3 Month Update:

Yup they are all alive and well.

The Sorority is doing great, all the girls get along (to an extent). There are a couple of minor torn/bit fins here and there but nothing bad enough to quarantine the culprit.

I have stuck to my to my twice a week Frozen Bloodworm and every other day NLS schedule. The girls eat atleast every two days and this is going great. Blondie has grown fast and is almost at full size like the rest of the girls now. Scarlet still has light black stripes, confirming she has natural colouring.

I also added 3 new Members to the cleanup crew, 3 Yellow/Black Lyretail Mollies. I also stopped my Seachem dosing schedule (only excel and flourish now) because I ran out. No negative effects on the plants, in fact everything is doing great. (No BBA outbreaks either)


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

1 year update:

Sadly this tank has been torn down.

The only surviving Betta is the Blue one. It reigned supreme and killed all her sisters. 

Despite my tank being heavily planted I've failed in this sorority and had to tear the tank down cuz I couldn't find half of the bodies and the tank exploded in algae.

Stay tuned to a new post when this tank comes back someday as a Shell dweller only tank.


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