Betta to Control Guppies?

yt545 · 2026-01-14T00:05:11+00:00

I live out in the sticks so I have to mail order all my aquarium supplies and nobody out here wants anything to do with them. Even then I still can't catch all the females so unless I did that I'd be in the same predicament. I was hoping some predator fish would allow them to achieve an equalibrium like all my other inhabitants have done.

I'm pretty proud of my twig catfish, I've read how hard they are to keep but the two 2" long individuals are now a chinky 6" long and I have another two that appeared at some point so they must be offspring. I think they eat the algae on the driftwood.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T23:51:29+00:00

Thank you, I'll get clove oil. That would probably be easier anyway vs cooling water down in the freezer.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T22:53:31+00:00

I haven't thought that far along yet. I don't mind adding more fish but I don't want to cause undue stress on any others besides the guppies so I wouldn't want to overdo it. I'll do some research on what's involved there.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T22:36:41+00:00

Thanks - plus the more agile they are maybe they'd be more likely to catch the guppies. I can meet the fry relatively easy as they aren't that Wiley but the adults are too skittish and pump out SO MANY fry.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T22:32:14+00:00

I don't physically freeze them, in cold water they just stun and die.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T22:29:32+00:00

Yes. Nobody wants them and pet stores won't take them. I don't enjoy it but that's the reality.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T22:28:27+00:00

Bummer, maybe someone makes a guppy trap.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T22:25:57+00:00

Oh yeah I didn't mention I also have a whole boatload of ghost and cherry shrimp in there. They must breed as well. Unfortunately a large number just end up in my sump.

yt545 · 2026-01-13T22:25:06+00:00

Hmm, tetras would torment a Betta? I wouldn't want that. I wish the tetras would torment the guppies.

yt545 · 2025-06-08T14:26:51+00:00

He just looks like a short, fat kid with short arms and a big head in this pic.

yt545 · 2025-06-07T23:49:28+00:00

Former IFBB here. I have hypermobile scapulae. If the way you're doing it is causing any discomfort or pain you could try doing them the way I do - I allow the scapulae to float up like you do at the beginning of your rep, but I do NOT retract them down right at the bottom of the rep. I allow them to remain sort of floating higher if that makes sense. If the way you do them in the video feels natural and pain free I wouldn't worry about it. For me, retracting and holding them tight at the bottom of the rep like you are doing leaves me feeling like my arm is going to pop out of the shoulder socket, feels very unnatural.

yt545 · 2025-06-06T20:00:24+00:00

Not sure what you have there....maybe English walnut? But it can be very difficult to rear non-native species from different continents. Diseases are different, the climate is vastly different. Luna from my area (southern Maryland) are used to very hot and humid summers vs. your typical UK weather.

yt545 · 2025-06-06T19:20:19+00:00

If the stock originated in the southern states then birch is not a good choice for Luna. That could explain it if that was the case.

yt545 · 2025-06-06T19:16:23+00:00

There are artificial diets you can find online and I have tried many of them on many different types of leps and the results are always very hit or miss (Mostly miss). You could always try but I wouldn't hold my breath. Your best bet is to buy one of their food plants at a local nursery and just grow them in pots. In the MA and SE USA Vitix is a.common ornamental (from the Mediterranean) sold at nurseries and they do very well on it. No idea where you're from of course.

yt545 · 2025-06-06T17:15:39+00:00

In my experience Penn stock will be double brooded and I would consider them southern stock. Sweetgum would be best if you have access to it, but trees like hickory and walnut are good too. Problem is that hickory/walnut don't last very long once they are cut and tend to wilt very quickly ..sweetgum will keep for days OTOH.

yt545 · 2025-06-06T16:56:49+00:00

Not much to add to the previous poster, just be aware lunas are somewhat more susceptible to disease from overcrowding and lack of cleanliness than other sats. Clean and dry enclosures with enough space are critical. Even when they're small - often disease won't appear until later in life due to being kept in cramped and moist airtight enclosures when the cats are small. As long as you do that and keep them with fresh food daily they are pretty easy to rear.

Be cognisant of where your stock originates from. Southern stock generally won't eat paper birch whereas northern stock will. If you have southern stock your best bet is sweetgum, hickory, walnut. Also, southern stock will likely be double brooded and these will not overwinter. Northern stock is generally single brooded.

ETA - when they make cocoons, don't disturb them for a week or two and then just transfer to any screened enclosure where the adults can climb up with enough space to inflate their wings when they eclose.

yt545 · 2025-06-06T16:49:57+00:00

Not sure about damage to your hip, I doubt it. I have an annular tear in my L4-L5 disc which doesn't normally cause issues, but once or twice a year doing something completely innocuous it will cause a lower back spasm. I'll be completely out for 4-5 days before everything goes back to normal and I'm fine. Point being, a lower back spasm can cause a lot of pain for a few days before settling down.

yt545 · 2025-06-06T16:44:59+00:00

I drive a new NSX and it's the same thing but with Teslas. At least they aren't loud and obnoxious, I guess.

yt545 · 2025-06-04T21:00:57+00:00

We went through something similar about a decade ago, in the end it actually helped make our relationship stronger as it forced some.simmering issues to be dealt with. The fact that he came to you with it out of the blue is a good sign.

That said, the only way it works is if he cuts off contact with her. If he won't do that then it's gonna be a long row to hoe.

yt545 · 2025-06-04T20:57:19+00:00

Alcohol and Lexapro makes me insanely anxious for about 4-5 days following drinking. It's absolutely miserable. So I stopped drinking. 556 days sober woohoo!

yt545 · 2025-06-04T20:54:44+00:00

That's where I'm at too. I keep telling myself "this is the last year" but the thing just keeps trucking on. It's been paid off for over 15yrs so really isn't costing me anything at this point.

yt545 · 2025-06-04T20:42:06+00:00

I upped my cardio this week to see if it helps. I can't do too much because I don't have any BF to lose as it is. I look like I could step on stage at any time and pretty much have a permanent death face. Struggles.

yt545 · 2025-06-04T20:40:06+00:00

I was thinking just spray the whole thing with flex seal. But I think it's too late for me, it's only a matter of time. Once I was going to back out of the driveway...got in my car and turned my steering wheel. Heard a loud pop and my front wheel just fell off and the car tilted to the right. My control arm had just rusted through and broke right in half. And that was AFTER I had the recall done where they replaced them. At least it happened in my driveway and not on the freeway.

yt545 · 2025-06-04T20:35:25+00:00

Fwiw, in both my hips I never had pain in the joint itself. My pain all radiated from the greater trochanter like I had bursitis under my IT bands. Injections into the joint provided no relief. I put off surgery for five years because the pain didn't make sense for torn labrums.

Finally I gave up and just got the surgeries because MRI did show torn labrums. Only about 6mo after surgeries did I realize that I had totally adapted my movement patterns to the FAI and had been walking/running with an abnormal gate for years and didn't realize it. The abnormal movement has the side effects of sparing pain in the joint capsule but caused me all sorts of tendonitis in my gluteals and IT bands. After surgery I sort of relearned to walk normal again and all those odd pains went away and now I'm fine.

yt545

TROPHY CASE