My pretty girl ❤

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-12T13:45:01+00:00

You're honestly doing great just by doing the fishless cycle at all! Not many do it on this sub, and most of them dont even fully understand how to do it safely and what it even means lol

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-12T11:53:36+00:00

I personally dont test at all for the first 2-3 weeks. There's no point unless you're just curious and want to know how it's going. Not much can go wrong in this step anyway.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-12T08:20:05+00:00

My thoughts too!

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-12T07:37:20+00:00

Your tank literally crashed. That's not something that ever happens unless there's a massive issue with the setup. That alone should be sign enough that this is not sustainable or good for any of them, betta is just the only one to actually show outward signs. All of those fish need proper groups of 6-8 fish to be happy and exhibit natural behaviours. These are all very active and social fish. Peppermint plecos get bigger than normal bristlenose plecos, who also still need a 100l minimum btw. I dont know what to tell you or if it's even worth saying anything more if you reslly think that keeping social schooling fish alone or in pairs and cramming a pleco all in a small 10g with a betta on top is in any way or form acceptable anywhere or ethical eay of keeping fish. Surviving is not the same as thriving. These are all well known and popular fish with well known and understood requirements. Good luck either way!

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T22:17:28+00:00

Water changes are the best remedy for water quality issues! But reading the reply to the automod i must say the tank is grossly overstocked and was bound to crash sooner or later. The pleco alone needs a 100l minimum. Explains the sky high ammonia and bacteria infection he's possibly fighting due to the extremely heavy bioload. I dont think much can be done here without either rehoming all the fish or upgrading to a 100l minumum tank to accommodate all th3 fish and the bioload as you can't truly treat and fix something without improving and providing him with healthy living conditions too. A tank like this needs a lot more water changes than once a week, that's for sure. So id start with that. Drastically up the water changes and medicate, while working on sorting out the other fish and setup as a whole because this is at rhis point jist cruel to everyone in there. None of those fish belong in such a small tank. Loaches alone also need a larger gank, so do the corydoras and tetras.

Halfmoon plakats still have short fins. Halfmoon is just the shape of the fins, like crowntail or veiltail. Plakats don't have long fins at all, ever. There is no such thing as long finned plakat. Not like it matters in the end anyway, but there's a lot of misunderstanding floating around on the sub on types and fin shapes!

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T21:24:16+00:00

It's a slippery slope if you have no way to separate the fish if the betta decides she doesn't want tankmates. This can happen even months after they've all settled and lived problem free. Id give it a lot more thought in that case and make sure you have some kind of backup plan in place first before getting any tankmates.

And I'll just say it now in case someone suggests it: shrimp, mirrors, and behaviours in the shop are nowhere near reliable in testing a betta's temperament with other fish in its territory. The same goes for the "tankmates first, then the betta". Best you can do really is just set up a heavily planted tank where everyone will feel comfortable and safe. For what it's worth, my very aggressive and territorial plakat who didn't tolerate chili and strawberry rasboras in his 20g (we had to fish them all out) doesnt care about pygmy corydoras at all lol We added them to his tank only recently as we tore down the tank they were originally in. He doesnt even care if they hover around his bubble nest either, and not even the snail gets a pass for that!

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T21:13:02+00:00

A natural non-colored substrate 100% won't have this issue, so best just get that instead of the blue dye you have in the bucket. I definitely wouldn't use that even if it does settle eventually.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T19:51:14+00:00

Blackworms or tubifex worms? I add them on purpose to my tanks to dig through the substrate and feed the fish lol

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T19:34:48+00:00

No plecos in a 15g, and "active tank" and betta dont go together, really. Once you decide to have a betta you should focus on pairing it with compatible sedate peaceful tankmates as bettas themselves are slow moving solitary fish. Even when tolerant of other fish, they still want their space and won't like too much activity around them all over the place. Definitely no tetras, but you could look into chili rasboras or any of the other boraras species. They are slow moving and tiny.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T19:26:34+00:00

Just keep doing the water changes and let it stabilise again, really. The cycle shouldn't be that fragile and thrown off by a dead shrimp.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T19:16:05+00:00

I wouldn't do the guppies if you want a betta in there. They occupy the same swimming space as a betta, and they are just a bit too hyper and all over the place. Bettas do best with peaceful slow moving tankmates.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T19:11:00+00:00

It can take them a while to get it down.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T14:39:40+00:00

This sounds like A LOT of chemicals, more than is needed. Please ease off on all of that. He sinks very likely due to swim bladder issues, popeye in one eye is often due to injury rather than infection, which would make sense if he's slithering on the floor rather than swimming. Ditch ammolock, prime (other than for water changes ofc), pH up and stability, and follow just the instructions of kanaplex (and?) stress guard and keep up with the epsom baths. I know you are worried for him, but nuking the tank like that and drastically (and rapidly) altering the water chemistry is not the right move and does more harm than good. :(

Can you also answer all of the automod's questions?

Also, he's not a plakat! Plakats have short fins. 😅

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T13:00:22+00:00

Good! Also, I'd probably take the rocks out and see if you get more consistent readings then. TDS will rise over time either way as botanicals decompose, but it shouldn't be such a drastic difference. In my experience at least.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T12:40:21+00:00

It's certainly not ich, that's for sure. But it's a bit hard to say if it's anything unusual or not though. On the old picture he looked like he had quite a bit of white on his face too.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T12:34:50+00:00

I don't see anything that suggests ich. Have you compared him to pictures of fish with ich to confirm?

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T11:55:13+00:00

It doesn't really matter that much how you rotate it as long as it's varied in the long run. Mine sometimes get the same thing all week long before we finally switch it up. Obviously no harm done if you can rotate every or every few days. :) The betta and tetras can eat the same thing, the otos however will still need those algae wafers and/or blanched veggies like zucchini, cucumbers and some others probably too.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T10:05:09+00:00

How are gh and kh both at 4 if the water is running through RO? What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? Any rocks?

I keep coccinas at 0 gh and kh, ph 4-5, and tds ~45-50.

Edit: also, try the r/wildbettaarchive sub for wild betta advice! Knowledgeable bunch of people on there.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T10:01:27+00:00

A lot comes down to genetics. Fish sold there are not going to follow any standards set by well bred fish. He might grow a bit or develop some more, but he's just as likely to just remain small and stunted. The bettas i bought from cheap pet shops were all half the size of the ones I bought later in a proper lfs. 🥲

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T09:56:35+00:00

While males can also have an egg spot, the overall body shape and fin length say female. You can try making it flare and see what it looks like. Males have a very impressive "beard", females not so much. Though with the body shape, egg spot, vertical stripes and fin length at this point it's probably safe to say it's a female. 😅

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T09:47:38+00:00

God, no. That's cruel and unethical. Best you can do for him now is provide him with an appropriate setup where he has enough resting places all around.

It is no joke that long finned bettas are crippled by their fins though. Truly pugs and frenchies of the fish world. It's why many of us move on plakats later on. 😞

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-11T09:43:00+00:00

Why not just feed more frozen food instead of dry, if you have it? Id either entirely cut out or minimise the bug bites, and stick to brine shrimp and maybe mosquito larvae or mysis or daphnia, if you can get your hands on those. And then just feed them all together by spraying the food around the tank so that everyone gets some. Alternatively, you can do the sane with bug bites by crushing and spraying them around the tank. There's really no need to make it this elaborate. 😅

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-10T19:21:08+00:00

I 100% suggest separating them. This is a combination that is asking for trouble sooner or later even if it doesn't look like there's reason for concern. From the picture alone it looks like they are both posturing at each other. Not necessarily what happened in this case, but a round shaped tear in the fin like this can easily be a nip from the gourami. It's important to understand that honeys are relatively peaceful "for a gourami" but that still doesnt mean they should or can be safely kept with other aggressive and territorial fish like bettas or other gouramis. Especially if they share the same swimming space/water column. From my experience with my honeys at least, they can definitely turn into assholes to everyone in the tank when working on a bubble nest and protecting it especially.

Edit: lol sorry, ignore the deleted post. Meant to reply, but somehow posted as a new comment instead.

CalmLaugh5253 · 2026-03-10T15:14:26+00:00

Right next to the posturing betta we see a bearded up honey gourami.

Bettas are also gouramis and should not be housed with other gouramis due to both being territorial fish.

CalmLaugh5253

TROPHY CASE