# Sorority Start-Up



## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Seeing as it will be impossible to get a bigger sorority set up anytime soon (Dad broke the 40 gallon I got and mom will not allow a 110 gallon in the house.), I must settle for a 10 gallon. I know I could get a 20 or a 30, but, honestly, it will probably get broken on the way home. So until I can drive myself to and from the place of purchase, I do not want to risk getting a new tank. 
Anyways, back to the tank... This little 10 gallon actually made it home in one piece since it was small enough to go in the front seat. (Thank goodness) I filled it up with 1 1/3 inches of MGOCPM and a 2/3 inch cap of play sand, and put in some stems of red ludwigia and a few trimmings of water wisteria with a stalk or two of hornwort. It has a small sponge filter running, with a decoration (glass cup with gravel and wisteria) from my established 20 gallon inside, along with a 100 watt Aqueon Pro Heater. I am not too worried about the heater, seeing as it has this "glitch" which makes it unable to go beyond 80 F, but holding steady at 78 F at the moment. It may be temporary, may not be. All depends on how well it will do these next few weeks. I used the lighting from my 20 gallon (Which is a light strip made for a 10 gallon I have had for a long time! :lol: ) It has a zoo med tropic sun bulb inside. 
I am hoping for an insta-cycle with the decoration and a squirt of my established filter drippings into the sponge filter, but I am still cycling with a few of my "boring" guppies that I ended up with somehow. I also need to get more plants and let these grow out more. This gives me time to QT the girls.







I currently have 3 girls: 
Pascal, the SI derived unit for stress, because she has had stress stripes since day one, yet she is such a happy-go-lucky betta. She is a purple/pink/blue crowntail with a stunning emerald iridescence in the light. 
Next is Coulomb, SI derived unit for electric charge, because her tail is such a strong yellow color. She is a mustard gas (?) crowntail with royal blue iridescence. 
Last, but not least, is Lux, SI derived unit for illuminance. She is a cambodian veiltail with a light blue tail with splotches of diluted red/burgundy. She got her name because of the effect her iridescence gives which makes her "glow" a bright light blue. 

Girls are snoozing, so I will put up pictures tomorrow!

I plan to get at least one more girl to make the pecking order more desirable, preferably two more. I think 5 is all I want to handle now, unless some people feel I should get more. I am just scared they will become overstocked since I plan to add a school of 4 albino cories and a few dozen RCS. I would keep the cories out of the tank stocking, but Pascal would hate me. They are her pets and she freaks out when she isn't with them. I know it sounds silly, but she becomes frantic if I take them out and sulks if they do not come back within a few minutes. This is why they became deprived of a 20 gallon home, but I don't think they mind. I honestly think they love her. (I know what you are thinking, and yes I may be a little crazy.) :lol:

I know I may have rambled, but to whoever is still reading, THANKS! And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave your opinions! I value your guys suggestions! :-D


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

I know I am so late butttttt....... HERE THEY ARE~ 
My loving Pascal: 





















The stunning Coulomb:














And the radiant Lux:
















Funny thing is I got a new 20 gallon long... after everything had been set up and fully cycled.:| I decided to just stick with the 10 for now. Maybe upgrade when I have the time. 
I still need to pick out 2 more girls, but none caught my eye last weekend, so I am going to pick them out this week after volunteering.

P.S. The pictures were so big so I decided to make the words big too :lol:


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Nice fish!!


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Thank you! 

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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Update: I put the girls into the new tank and they seem to get along. But now they are starting to fight just a little bit. Funny thing is the smallest girl is actually the boss.
I could not find any other girls in the pet shop that I liked so I did not get any more. I hope that three will be fine for now but I will get at least one more next Thursday. I will also rearrange the tank when I put the next girls in. 
I will put pictures up tomorrow. I hope they settle a hierarchy soon. 

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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

Very pretty fish! They look like they had just finished eating a big meal! Looking forward to more pics =)


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

annyann said:


> Very pretty fish! They look like they had just finished eating a big meal!


I hope I am not overfeeding D: They are just that rounded. 

Update: So I woke up to a leaking tank  I had to rush everything into my other 10 gallon. I could not salvage the substrate since it got all mixed up in the process, so I have to redo that part. They seem dumbfounded by the rapid change of everything, but perked back up once I fed them. Good thing is that they stopped fighting. They do not even flare anymore, and everyone has their fins in perfect condition. 
I will get more sand to cap the dirt I managed to save. Everything should be fixed up by tomorrow. 

Now for PICTURES!! :-D
Last night: Full shot







Pascal hiding







Little boss








After the leak and move:







Best friends














Poor girl gets picked on by the other two








Pascal seems to prefer the community life, so I might pick up 3 new girls this weekend and let her go back in with her community buddies. She would be happier, IMO. She still refuses to eat pellets, so she gets tropical fish flakes anyways. 

So I was thinking of making spawn mops as cover for the girls. Maybe it could even be a fun toy. Hmm. Thoughts?


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

Oh no! Sorry about the tank leaking!:demented: It was looking good to. Hope you can get it all back to normal again. 
You might want to post some pics of your girls in the Betta fish care section and see what some of the folks on here think might be going on with there bellies? 

That plant in your last pic looks great, I cant get my plant like that to grow (cant think of the name right now) but my Wisteria is taking over!


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Thanks! I bought half a grocery bag full of that plant for $5. It is so soft and lush and each piece is over 40 inches. My girls love to lay on it. It was called foxtails, but it is just hornwort, I think. 

As for the bellies, I think crowntails just have it? All the crowntail girls had that rounded belly when I was picking them out. 

I will keep on updating as I go along 
I will get the sand today after work. I also wanted to pick up some bulbs for the hood, but can't seem to find good ones. Any suggestions for a good flourescent compact bulb to screw into a 10 gallon hood? 25 watt, 6500 K preferably. 

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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

WOW that was a great buy on your plants!! 
I have two 6500K 25 watt bulbs on my 25 gallon with fast plant growth (all but my hornwort). I think you will get very high light with the 25 watt on a 10 gallon or medium/high with a 13 watt 6500k. Those are the most common watts sold around here at like Lowe's.


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

What were the bulbs called? So that I could ask the store  please and thank you. 

And I know! The guy even gave my 6 RCS free for buying stuff from him (cholla wood, the plants, and $3 worth of MTS) 

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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

RainbowhLizzie said:


> What were the bulbs called? So that I could ask the store  please and thank you.
> 
> And I know! The guy even gave my 6 RCS free for buying stuff from him (cholla wood, the plants, and $3 worth of MTS)
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I took a pic of the bulbs so I could remember what I got if I ever needed to replace them


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

The making of a sorority in a 25 gallon cube tank

If the link works you can go to my journal and see the plant growth I have had in the last two months with these bulbs.
I actually just updated today, so the last pics on the last page are super current lol.


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Awesome! But my hood says to only use tubular bulbs, so would the spirals be okey?

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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

RainbowhLizzie said:


> Awesome! But my hood says to only use tubular bulbs, so would the spirals be okey?
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Really I'm not sure.. I wouldn't go over the wattage recommended.


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Finally put the substrate back in and have everything clear again! Took two days total for the water to clear up, so I am a little scared to rearrange anything right now. It is strange because this hasn't happened before in any of my dirt+sand tanks. Oh, well. Anyways, the girls are all in and reset their hierarchy. They are all happy now. 

Now pictures! 
When I just put the substrate back in









After half an hour









A few hours later









The next morning









The day after









I will snap some new pics of the girls later today. My parakeet is being needy. :lol:
Oh, I will also be getting some new girls this Saturday (If they are on sale. Strapped for cash :| )

Also, does anyone have any suggestions as to getting that dirt gunk off of the sand cap?


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

Your tank is looking good again, Lux is so pretty exploring the tank in that last pic.
Did you get the bulbs or find a lower watt version of them?


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

I couldn't find them at Lowes. I may have to ask my dad to order them online. Right now they have a 18 watt light strip.

I did a major rearrange of the tank a few days ago, but I might do another later today to add more sand. They seem to be getting along better, so I may just use the plants as background cover, so that I can see them swimming around the full front of tank. Still no nipped fins or missing scales! Hooray!
They also swarm to the feeding corner when I get up in the morning. I had to start cupping them to eat since the guppies steal all their food. (Poor slow girls)

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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

That's a lot of working having to cup them at feeding time. My girls are big pigs. Two out of my eight will jump out of the water to eat there food. I have to be careful or they will end up on the floor. I usually feed frozen and use a turkey baster. I just put the end of it in the water full of there food and they all come and snatch out there share, of course I only have one male guppy in there at the moment so they don't have much computation. I think yours will get the idea of eating quick over time.
Sorry you couldn't find the bulbs, there should be a close equivalent to them at your Lowe's if not the same ones. Even Wal-Marts around here have a version of them, you might check there.


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

I really don't mind cupping. The girls know that it means food now, so they swim right in. It's cute. :lol:
I might just get some incandescents since that is all I can seem to find. 

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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

I want a sorority, but I don't think they will survive the hour and a half drive home when the temp out side is -9*f. Maybe i can convince my parents when it gets warmer


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

My petsmart is only 7 minutes from home, but what I find most effective in keeping them warm is wrapping their cup in a warm towel 

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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

I stopped feeding to see if their bellies will get smaller, because I have yet to see Coulomb poop. All of them are worrying me with their enormous bellies. (I also just found out my betta food doubles in size once it soaks water! Dumped the whole container as soon as I found out.)
They are right next to my male DTHM, and they have so much fun just staring at him while he flares at them. Seems to me that they are making fun of him. :lol: Poor boy. 
Tank is looking good. I have some walmart replacement bulbs growing in the front. Everyone is happy. 

Now pictures!

New tank









Hungry scavengers 









Please feed us?
















I am trying my hardest not to feed them, but I feel so bad.


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

Your tank looks great!! I really like the way you have it now. :-D
I do agree something is going on with your fishes bellies. I'm not sure what, it could be constipation, I have read you can use epsom salt to treat constipation in fish. Other than their tummies they look really good. 

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of dry pellets very often. Can you get some frozen blood worms or brine shrimp? I have found frozen and live food to be a great healers of all kind of problems fish get.


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

I been thinking of getting some of those bulb plants at Wal-Mart! I'll be watching to see how yours do ;-)


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

I have freeze dried blood worms, but was going to get them some frozen soon. 
As for the bulbs, I got 5 aponageton and 1 lily but they were all duds. So I sent them back and they sent me back twice the amount. Some even had sprouts already. 


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Just found out that my local Petsmart that I volunteer at does not sell frozen bloodworms. Bummer. 

Well I picked them up a new food. Aqueon betta pellets. I love that they break apart easily and do not expand too much. Plus my finicky male betta is actually eating! For the first time since I got him, he seems eager to eat! The girls are loving it too. 

Plus, say hello to Joule! She is a crowntail baby, but someone (probably a troublesome customer) put a veiltail cap on her cup. I let the cashier know and he just chuckled and said, "Let's just say she is a veiltail, shall we?" Saved me 3 bucks! Hahah best guy ever. 























And here is a blurry size comparison!









And here is Lux! I finally got a good shot of her color!










ALSO! AN IMPORTANT UPDATE!
I got a new tank! A 29 gallon! I will be taking down my 20 gallon community and rehoming some of my larger fish. The remaining fish will transfer over to the new 29 gallon as well as the girls for a community+sorority tank! My male DTHM betta shall inherit this beautiful 10 gallon. Crossing my fingers that things work out! 


Now this is completely off topic, (Or is it?) but while I was volunteering today, I was able to offer help to someone trying to start up a betta sorority! 
A little backstory: I have made really good friends with one of the employees at the Petsmart I volunteer at for cat adoptions. (I guess you could say I have a silly high school girl crush *slaps myself*) Well we basically talk about our pets whenever he isn't on shift, and he knows I have a betta sorority. He is one of the main fish guys, so when a lady walked in asking about how to go about starting a sorority, he came straight to me. I offered some general info and helped the store get a really good sale! She wanted to start one in a 5.5 gallon (eek!) and I told him there was no way she could do that with pet store bettas. Not the ones that were left anyways. They were all aggressive besides little Joule. So they bought a 10 gallon, the last 4 females, and a ton of plants and decorations! One of my co-volunteers said that I am the fish girl, and he laughed. I blushed. (back to the crush *sigh*) I really must stick to men my age. If only they weren't all drug addicts and swaggies and pretty boys and potheads and perverts. :lol:


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

Hey your new girl Joule looks almost the same as my new girl Ruby! Next on my wish list is a girl that looks like your Lux LOL! I only have two stores around here that even sale female Betta so there isn't much verity.
I use the Aqueon betta pellets to, they are soft and my fish seem to like them. I only feed them probably three or four times a week, with frozen and live being more often.
Oh I re-read! You have a new tank, that's great! Cant wait for you to post pics of your new set up.

AND good luck with dude at the pet store LOL! ;-)


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

At least you have two! I only get mine from petsmart since the petco isn't very healthy as far as fish go. 
And you shall find a Lux someday. She has really grown out her color so much. Almost twice the size and twice the brightness. Haha. 

And what a coinkydink, where did you get your new girl? They could be sisters 

By the way, the bulbs are doing good. One lily has sprouted soooo many stalks. I will post pictures tomorrow. 

The tank will be set up Saturday after volunteering. (I get to see the guy again ^.^) Again, it is just a high school girl crush. His personality comingles with mine so easily that we could talk about anything and we never have an awkward moment. But alas, he is an adult (around 20-21, in college) and I am a junior in high school. :lol: "jailbait"

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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

Pictures as I had promised! 

Lux decided to pose a lot that day, so I took advantage of it! 
















The bulb has sprouted so much! And it is twice the size today!









Joule is getting along with everybody perfectly!


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

RainbowhLizzie said:


> At least you have two! I only get mine from petsmart since the petco isn't very healthy as far as fish go.
> And you shall find a Lux someday. She has really grown out her color so much. Almost twice the size and twice the brightness. Haha.
> 
> And what a coinkydink, where did you get your new girl? They could be sisters
> ...


I got Ruby from Petco. She's a baby to, like Joule. =)


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

Yup! I want me a Lux, she is so pretty. *.*
How are your other girls bellies looking? Any improvement since the food switch?

Keep posting pics of those bulbs as they grow, I was looking at the bulbs again the other day and they were all dried up. I bet if I get a pack I'll end up having to send them in for replacements like you did.


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## RainbowhLizzie (Sep 15, 2013)

The bellies still look the same. I think that is just how they look. 
Perhaps our little baby girls are related! :lol:

So the 29 gallon has chipping silicone! So I have to peel it all off and re-silicone. Yay....

As for the bulbs, check out this lily!
















I can't wait for it to fully form leaves!


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