# choosing my final fish!



## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

with new tank and new bigger filter im allowed more fish! and i'd like some help to decide what to choose 

I lost a few fish in my first tank (  ) which were group fishies so im going to bring those groups back up to their minium amount so what I intend to end up with is:

3 yamato shrimp
5 zebra danios
5 cloudy white mountain minnows
2 platys
1 bristle nose pleco (friend breeds them and is giving me one as a tank caretaker)

aqavisor says with those my stocking level for new tank is 74% and filtration is at 112.

what I wanted was one more fish, prefably a bit bigger and "prettier" than the others as sort of a "pride of tank" fish. I clicked the button to tell aqavisor to show only fish suitable for my tank and to my surprise it listed beta's! but that doesnt seem right. ..does it? I mean I'd LOVE a female beta as my last fish and if i put it in the only warning aqavisor gives me is "betas have different temperments, be sure to monitor yours" basically. if i put a male instead of female theres warnings about it being with my danios (then why is it listed as suitable for my tank?) but it doesnt say that for a female..

but i was under the impression betas wouldnt work with my current fish.

can anyone either confirm the ok for a female beta or suggest a different fish? thank you


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

a pearl gourami would be a center piece indeed.Larger colorful,not as "rowdy" as other gouramis.
The "champagne" of gouramis IMO.


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

certainly something i would consider! but if I add the fish to aqavisor it instantly takes my filtration capacity down to 92% and tells me i need another filter  if i add a beta instead of the pearl then my filtration capacity is 112% so i can only assume the pearl is a very messy fish!


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

I have(successfully) kept a male Betta in/w guppies and the AqaVisor says no to that one. I'll admit he had a couple of tattered fins
and I didn't see them chasing him but did see him running them off from the food when I'd put it in there till it spread enough that
he couldn't horde it all...LOL...
I'm saying I think you may be all right/w a female Betta. Just watch closely for the first few days. Petco will take it back though they may
not give you the money back. They keep an isolation tank in the back to put "donated" fish in so people won't flush them. They call it
an "adoption" fish. I think they have the best selection of Betta's for chain stores...more if not better. The first time I saw one of the ones
which have those fins which are split up looking, to myself I was asking "so who put the fish in the blender" ?
I have no actual data or articles on this but I don't know if the AqaVisor takes into account the fact that Pleco's are notorious for having
a bio-load that is said to be at least double that of other fish of the same size. A thought that may come in handy if you have
problems/w ammonia levels later or perhaps unexplained nitrate levels as the bio-filter will grow to meet the ammonia but will
give off more than normal levels of nitrates/w that fish in there so you might watch that.
Still I'm glad to see your using the AqaVisor for stocking...

If you want to you can increase your bio capacity quite a bit by adding one of these and just put bio-media in it as it does not
add a great deal of current to the tank. This is the large one and looking around will find you more of them on here and e-bay.
Amazon.com: Finnex External Refugium/Breeder Hang-On Box/Air Pump and Air Tubes, 1-Gallon: Pet Supplies
Good bio-media for this type of filter:
Seachem Matrix Bio-Media Aquarium Filter Bio Media
Hagen Fluval Pre-Filter Media 750 grams Aquarium Filter Bio Media
I use both(in 2 separate tanks) and can't say one works better than the other.


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## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

i have to say i saw a pearl gourami in the LFS today and in person it was alot prettier than in photos online! but Aqavisor does still warn me i would need an extra filter if i wanted one :/

thanks for your suggestions raymond! I also saw some bettas in the LFS but they only had male. The owner told me they tend to get them in every week on a tuesday and are availible for purchasing on fridays (which is also my half day every week at work.. so i could nip in and grab one before they sell out which they seem to do every week!) so maybe I can find a nice female to try in the tank 

Aqavisor also listed a betta imbellis.. it has NO warnings for adding it at all. not one. and google image search shows they are very pretty also! but i've never seen one in LFS :/ I'm in the UK so petco doesnt exist for us (i dont think? not near me anyway!)


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Being overstocked with too many fish ,as opposed to fish that are too large for tank is remedied by increasing waterchanges.I have gone to aqavisor and will say it is a good tool,but will say that it is conservative.According to them my 180gl is 212% stocked but still has ample filtration.
I would go for the pearl,espescially if you saw a good one.Up your waterchanges to compensate.You can never go wrong with changing water.


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