Hi everyone,

I've recently set up a small tank in my house, 25l, no heater, 10 (ish) plants, 6 Danios. Also have just got hold of a 90l tank which I intend to set up shortly...

Plan: I intend to buy 2 heaters and slowly warm up my 25l tank, whilst cycling my new tank (also with a heater). I would like to (after both tanks are ready) get a Siamese fighter and was wondering if my small tank is big enough for the fighter if I move the danio to the larger tank (because I read they don't play well together)?

If the 25l is big enough for the fighter, are there any other fish that could keep him company in there? would I be able to breed with him if I got a female also?

Or am I better off keeping the Danio where they are and starting a new community in the large tank, with a fighter as a centrepiece? If so what are some nice playmates for the fighter?

Lastly, I (of course) had some unwanted stowaways on my plants bought from animates... Snails. Now, not only do I have 10+snails roaming around, but the leaves of my plants are covered in a clear jelly with lots of white dots in, which I can only assume are snail eggs. I don't mind the snails I have in there already as they are quite small and interesting to watch (1cm max), but the thought of all the eggs I can see hatching is a little disturbing. If my initial plan of moving the danio into the large tank is suitable I intend to move the plants aswell, giving them a quick stopover in a snail (egg) killing solution.... If the tanks stay as they are is there any way to rid my tanks of the snails?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance for the help.

Are the danios currently in cold water?

Breeding fighters needs multiple tanks.

To get rid of snails buy some loaches. Animates currently has a snail on a loach that will remove snails.

25L is enough for one fighter yeah. A small school of tetras with them will be ok.

Having a fighter as the centerpiece limits choices with the other fish. Tetras, cory's, bristlenose plecos. loaches. No fin nippers

25L should be big enough for a male fighter on its own, I wouldnt keep anything else with a male, esp in a tank that size. but female fighters are perfect community fishes granted no one nips it's fins.

If you still have lots of snail eggs on the plants, get them out fast and either kill them with chemicals (not sure what would be best) or just scrape off the eggs and/or remove the leaves with the eggs on. snails are next to impossible to completely get rid of the best you can hope for is to control the population.

I keep my male fighter with a couple of platys and a whiptail.

I have a female fighter in my community tank , she occasionally gets a bit bossy with the female guppies.

I haven't tried to breed the two fighters as it's a lot of work required.

I keep my male fighter with a couple of platys and a whiptail.

well i suppose every rule has an exception!

Are the danios currently in cold water?

Yes they are.

Breeding fighters needs multiple tanks.

I haven't tried to breed the two fighters as it's a lot of work required.

I'll put the breeding on hold then, but really want a Fighter to watch...

So..... My plan of slowly acclimatising the Danio up to tropical will work? and the Siamese fighter will fit in my small tank, but I wouldn't be able to have any other fish in with it?

Thanks again

BikBok wrote:

I keep my male fighter with a couple of platys and a whiptail.

well i suppose every rule has an exception!

well i suppose every rule has an exception!

BikBok, what size tank d you have the fighter + friends in?

So..... My plan of slowly acclimatising the Danio up to tropical will work?

yeah just do 1-2 degrees a week or so.

the Siamese fighter will fit in my small tank, but I wouldn't be able to have any other fish in with it?

yup my brother has one in a tank about that size for couple of years.

BikBok, what size tank do you have the fighter + friends in?

It's about 25L as well but I do make sure it gets frequent good water changes. Have had them all together for a year and a half. The whiptail is one of the smaller ones but I'm thinking of putting him in the community tank soon.

How many loaches would you guys suggest I get? Keepinig in mind that for the first couple of weeks (until i get the large tank set up and cycled they will have to share the 25l tank with the 6 danio....

personally i would have a male fighter and 4-6 females in the larger tank and maybe a small number of corys or skunk loaches. and leave the dannios in the 25l.

others will disagree with putting male and female fighters in the same tank as the male can harass the female too much but if theres 4-6 then the pressure from the male advances will be spread out amongst the girls.

but there are some rules to doing this.

get all female fighters from the same person, shop, tank. as if they have been seperated they can be agressive towards each other.

have a long finned fighter as having longer fins makes him slower so the girls can run away faster.

and plant it, so that there is a bit of cover for everyone so that line of sight can be broken between the fish.

and have low water current

when i first started fish keeping this is how i had my first setup and was great as you always get to see the male flaring to the girls

others will disagree with putting male and female fighters in the same tank as the male can harass the female too much but if theres 4-6 then the pressure from the male advances will be spread out amongst the girls.

I like this idea .....

If anyone else has an opinion on the matter I'd love to hear it, also is my small tank big enough to keep the danio in and add a couple of loaches to control the snails?

Any suggestions of places in Auckland to buy a whole heap of plants and some female fighters?

Thanks everyone, I'm really loving this forum and can't wait to get started!!!

I prefer the female fighters. Some of them are absolutely stunning and have very nice colours. For a 25l tank you could put 3 or 4 of them in there or you could put more in your bigger tank. As someone else said the females make good community fish and get along with most other fish. I like the males but their big tail limits what can go with them and they are harder to look after.

What we have had females with:

Tetras

Black ghost knife (he ate a couple of small ones but was good with the bigger girls)

Angle

Sliver shark

Platys

Clown loaches

Yoyo loaches (one of them liked the taste of fighter but the other was ok with them)

Plecos

Guppies

Some of the fish listed do need a bigger tank so when you upgrade to a bigger tank it will give you some ideas.

wOuld my danio get along with the female fighters?

I have not tried it before but I am sure someone here will be able to tell you

To get rid of snails buy some loaches. Animates currently has a snail on a loach that will remove snails.

Hope your not referring to a Clown Loach. Clown Loaches which are one of the most commonly known and sold loaches will get too small for your 90 litre tank as they grow to 20-25 cm. A better snail eating loach for your size tank would be Zebra Loaches, which only grow to about 10-12 cm. Its generally recommended they be kept in groups of at least five but I had just two for several years and they did just fine.

I think Zebra Loaches are more suited to a community tank. I currently have both Yoyo's and Zebras in a community tank with tetras and a bristlenose and find that the Yoyo's are a bit nippier than the Zebras. I've had siamese fighter fish in with loaches and I suspect that the loaches may have nipped at the fighters fins.

How many loaches would you guys suggest I get? Keepinig in mind that for the first couple of weeks (until i get the large tank set up and cycled they will have to share the 25l tank with the 6 danio....

Can you not just wait until the tank is all set up to get the fish? 25 litres isn't a lot..

Ok, so the new plan is to move the acclimatised danio into my larger tank and get some small (zebra?) loaches and female fighters (maybe 4?) in there with lots of plants, and get a male fighter fir my 25l....

Any comments, suggestions, "don't do that"'s, help with finding the fish?

i ment to say a special on loaches. Striata Loach.

Get a fighter off HFF or a private breeder =]

Forgive my ignorance.... HFF?

hollywood fish farm.

i was at the albany one not long ago and they had a few halfmoon females that looked alright. they where marbles too, unsure if thats your thing as they change colour throughout their lives, start as a drap coloured guy with a bit of spotting then turning into a georgus blue butterfly then back again.

WOw, they sound amazing

I'll definately go check them out!!

Thanks heaps to everyone who has helped, I'll post some pictures when it's all set up

Any suggestions of places in Auckland to buy a whole heap of plants and some female fighters?

You are very close to hff Mt Roskill. I remember seeing a few female fighters in the last weekend. On sale too. But i may be wrong, would pay to check it out though

theres a HFF in mt roskill too, a lot closer to you. not sure what fighters they have in at the moment though.

A fighter's level of aggressiveness really varies from one to the other. If you have currently a have one with your danios in the 25L and they aren't being bullied, then it'll probably fine with other fish provided that they aren't aggressive/nippy, colourful, or long finned. As for snails and smail eggs, it's probably best to just manually remove them from what I heard. Things that kill snails are generally not great for fish either, and most snails don't do much harm. I'd recommend getting against putting females with the male though, not so much for the fishie's sake, but I know if it were me I'd be tempted to breed them and further fuel this MTS (Multiple tank syndrome) that I've heard so much about .