# Janan's first sorority log!



## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

My girls arrived in the mail today, all healthy, although pale and colorless. 

I poured out most of the water that was in the bag they came in and put them each in their own clear cup. I've spent the afternoon slowly adding clean water treated with Stress Coat, then a little while later, pouring some out and adding more warm treated water, repeating until their water should now be clean.

Then I put the cups in the aquarium water, securing them with tape. The picture only shows those in front, but cups also line the back of the aquarium. Six females in all. Then I put a top over them all. It fit perfectly, leaving a little breathing room.

I'm off to the pet store because I need a little more plants. And I need a turkey baster. I think the way I will change the water every day will be to draw it out with the baster, then squirt the clean water back in. Sound good? :lol: 

A question for those more experienced than I. Is it too stressful to have these cups so close to each other?


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Here are the pictures of some of the girls.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Lights out in the sorority tank. All are calm and still in their little cups. Sweet sleeping babies. I love 'em all.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Trying to get a picture is hard because they won't stop chasing each other.

Sweetheart has claimed the floating log as her territory.

Dodie stops for a photo any time I have a camera.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Sapphire and Blessing

I need a name for the big ear aqua girl and the black copper. The copper girl has fins that remind me of an indian headdress.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Omg they're all so cute... I love the DT girl! And the yellow/white fancy is sooo gorgeous. I kept all 12 of my aquabid girls that close while they floated for a few days. Eventually they all escaped one by one though, lol. So I just let them go and explore  It won't be too stressful on them to keep them like that. After all once they are out of the cups they'll be face to face with no barrier between them.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Feeding time went pretty well! I was a little concerned on how it would work, but it all worked out. I was able to feed them individually and count the pellets. All were fed and none overfed. Lights out, then wafer crumbs dropped in for the coreys to find in the dark.

I do have to say it was a stressful first day. I had a long straw and tried breaking up the girls at first, then realized i was the one most stressed out. Only one is visibly stressed and that's the big ear aqua girl, Queen B. She had clamped fins when I took her out of the box and they still haven't relaxed. I hope and pray it is just stress and not an illness. And hope and pray it's not stress than turns into illness.


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

Why not take the dumbo ear girl out of the tank and let her recover in her own tank. Once she is active and happy then add her back to the big tank. That's what I would do. Shipping can be very stressful ong fish.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

This morning shows improvement in Queen B. She is not as clamped as yesterday and appears to be no more aggressive as the rest of the girls. I will watch her carefully and if I see more signs of stress, like excessive hiding and clamped fins, I'll take her out.

I don't see any signs of nipped fins or battle wounds. Pretty Bird, the copper girl, appears to have split fins, probably due to excessive flaring. I'll watch carefully for fin rot.

Sweetheart, the cute double-tail, has claimed the floating log as hers and is guarding it fiercely. She doesn't let anyone get near it. Is it ok to let them protect their territory? Or should I shoo her away.

At this moment, looking at the aquarium, no one is chasing or flaring. Sweetheart is contentedly inside her log. 

Feeding time was a bit frantic this morning. I managed to get the girls pretty well spread across the surface.

I am a lot more calmer this morning. Yesterday, I thought what in the world did I do!!! Today, I'm good. The girls are good. lol


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

Is queen b a hmpk? What was the breeder selling her as? I think mine was being sold as just a hm but I have a feeling she is a hmpk.

They say plakats are a bit more aggressive....


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

The breeder listed her as a half-moon, same as yours. Today she's not any more aggressive than the others. But she does look more to my inexperienced eye like a hmpk. I don't think hmpks should have big ears. I think it affects her swimming. I'll try to get another picture of her now that she no longer clamps her fins.


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

No my male is a hmpk with big ears he has no problems swimming I think the shorter tail helps them swim betta then if it was a long fin betta with big ears. I feel the hmpk look awesome with big ears.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Here is a picture of Queen B with her fins unclenched as well s some pictures of the group.


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

You got the one in the photo from aqua bid lucky. My females anal fin or bottom fin is not pointed like yours it is more rounded like I see on pk females . I hope mine is a pk because that is what I wanted I kind of got this girl by accident.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

I had to put the time-out net in the aquarium for one little girl that persisted in nipping. The copper girl is in the hospital tank for torn fins and my EE has one of her pectorals nipped a little. The rest of the females seem to be settling in pretty well. I think Sweetheart, my precious double-tail is going to end up being the alpha.

It's a challenge to have pretty long-finned females together. They are the most vulnerable to nipping, it seems.


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

Why don't you send the ee girl
My way


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

She is a pretty girl. I feel really bad that the breeder tricked us (you). If for any reason I have to re-home Queen B, you will be the first one to know.


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

EE plakats can actually be quite speedy. I have picked a EE plakat at Walmart of all places. Even though she is quite spunkly I am afraid to put her in a the sorority she has tiny white fins that look like angel wings. It would only take on good nip to take out one of her fins and she would not be able to move well. While they won't be as gorgeous I am mostly going with small finned girls so here will be less to nip. Thanks for sharing your experiences it will help me when I finally let my fish go.


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## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

Your girls are gorgeous! I love the look of your tank as well! Beautiful!
Your DT girl is my favourite xD


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Thank you, Mar. The DT, (Sweetheart) is my favorite, too.

I just released the troublemaker back in the tank and she and Queen B immediately went at it again. Fortunately, they responded to my wiggling fingers separating them and the sorority is currently rather peaceful.

If squabbles continue, I'm taking out Queen B. She may need to be by herself with some aquarium salt anyway. I don't want her pectorals to be attacked any more than they already have.

Jadablu, thanks for the encouragement. Wise choice to go with shorter finned girls.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

My longer finned girls definitely have more torn up fins but I think my filter did some of the damage honestly. I didn't have any nylon over it for a while because it kept falling off. I finally have it on there now (I hope). All my plakat girls have perfect fins besides some tears in the caudal.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Trouble is in her time-out cup again. She and Queen B just don't get along at all. The rest of the girls are doing well. Just exploring the tank and occasionally a quick spurt chase and then going their own way. One or two more tries with Trouble and then she will get the honor of having her own tank.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

This is the girl I named Trouble. She looks like a shark, doesn't she? Little stinker.


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## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

She is so adorable!!! Hard to believe she's the cause of sorority uproar xD


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

That's one very cool fish and so cute. You have good taste in fish.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Trouble is beautiful. I really wanted a blue dragon for my sorority but didn't find any at the time I got my other AB girls.The name Trouble suits her.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Trouble now has the honor of having her own home. She had a fixation on Queen B, swimming next to her constantly, flaring and nipping at her pectorals. It was stressing me big time so no telling what it was doing for Queen B.

With her out, the sorority has a better chance of co-existing without doing each other in. There are enough hiding places and exploring places to keep them entertained and safe. 

Now I can concentrate on the water quality. I'm pushing it to keep the corey cats. Experienced people please weigh in to the wisdom of keeping them. Do they provide enough benefit as cleaners? Right now, they are very young so they are small. I know according to AqAdvisor, they will eventually be too big for a 12 gallon tank. Should I return them to the LFS and get a mystery snail instead? Return them and get nothing?

Your advice will be appreciated.


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

Janan said:


> Trouble now has the honor of having her own home. She had a fixation on Queen B, swimming next to her constantly, flaring and nipping at her pectorals. It was stressing me big time so no telling what it was doing for Queen B.
> 
> With her out, the sorority has a better chance of co-existing without doing each other in. There are enough hiding places and exploring places to keep them entertained and safe.
> 
> ...


What kind of Cory cats and how many do you? The tank is a 10gal right? Pygmy Cory cats are so cute and might be better for your tanks. 

I have been keep and even bred Cory cats in a 10gal but with no other fish. They don't get too big but do need to be in grounds . 3 or 4 would be fine in a 10gal but will all the bettas you are getting a little over stocked.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

My aquarium is a tall 10 gallon, so it is actually very close to 12 gallons. Now that I've taken Trouble out, there are 7 female betta and 4 cory cats, 3 are albino and 1 is a panda. My LFS would let me bring them back and exchange them for pigmies if I needed to.

Oh, and by the way, one of my albino cories leapt out of the aquarium today! He was swimming up and down, each time breaking the surface of the water. Then, he suddenly flew right out of the aquarium. I'm so glad I just happened to be watching!


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Since corys like to be in groups of four i'd get four of the same type. Different species of corydoras usually won't shoal together so it could be very stressful to the lone panda. I believe albino corydoras are bronze corydoras which are different than the panda species. Pygmy corys stay in the middle of the tank rather than the bottom so i'd say another albino instead of the panda would be the best. I heard panda corys are a little less hardy than bronze/green corys.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

That makes sense. I originally bought 3 pandas and two died. I'll take the panda back and trade for an albino.

So you think the tank will be ok with 4 albinos and 7 female bettas?


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

From experience you might need to remove one or the other girls that is fighting to be the alpha of the tank, some girls just are not cut out for it if they are too aggressive they fight tooooooo much if too passive they are always stress striped and being picked on it is a fine balance, our alpha girl and 2 of the toher top girls had settled down for a few months but one morning when it was lights on time all 3 of them must have been fighting all night and well long story short they all died due to their injuries, we did all we could to save them, the alpha girl was the female we have had the longest so it was a heartbreaking loss, she was a crowntail and in my experience crowntails are usually the most aggressive, so that brought us down to10 girls in a 29 gallon tank, one of our newest girls we picked up at walmart like 3 months ago, a dragonscale metalic silver/purple girl is the new tank boss, she is the smallest girl in the tank but she is built like a little tank, her name is shimmer, the second in command from what I can tell is sunshine a yellow veiltail that always has perfect fins, she must be really fast or the others must never challenge her lol, the new pecking order seems to be set which is good


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

Janan said:


> That makes sense. I originally bought 3 pandas and two died. I'll take the panda back and trade for an albino.
> 
> So you think the tank will be ok with 4 albinos and 7 female bettas?


thats in a 10 gallon tank? might be pushing the bioload a bit, just keep up on water changes or have tons of live plants and good filtration


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Thanks, Stone!

It is loaded with live plants and has two filters. I'm also keeping up with water changes and testing, especially since I added all the fish at once.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Yeah I think you will be fine as long as you maintain good husbandry. Live plants definitely help A LOT!


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

On the whole, the girls are doing very well. The two most aggressive girls are Sweetheart, the double-tail and Sapphire, the crown-tail. They don't stalk like Trouble did, but the have occasional bursts of chasing. Mostly after my beautiful copper girl, Pretty Bird. She is the only one that is ever stress-stripped. I don't see any nipped fins anymore, now that Trouble is out.

Sould I let them continue to work it out for awhile longer? If I have to take anyone else out, I would like it to be Pretty Bird, because the others are pretty well balanced when it comes to aggression.

Sweetheart is definitely the alpha and my favorite.

And I can't go without saying how sorry I was to read that you lost three of your girls to fighting. How devastating that must have been.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

I heard it can take a few weeks before the establish a pecking order. Mine have settled down a lot but now that I've changed the scenery around they have started chasing each other again.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

I have a friend visiting this week that has experience keeping fish. I'm going to give her Pretty Bird. I watched and she was stressed the whole day, poor thing. I just can't stand it when one is heavily outnumbered.

I believe the rest are pretty equal in temperament and can take care of themselves. I learned short-finned tend to be less tempting.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Awww  My long finned girl is obsessed with the filter intake and keeps getting herself stuck to it, lol! I've watched her do it like 5 times in a row. She just stares at it then slowly its bringing her closer and she all of a sudden gets her entire side stuck to it then she swims off! Then she comes back to do it again...lol. Needless to say her fins are pretty scraggly right now until I can figure out a way to put a mesh over the intake without it clogging it.

I'm sure Pretty Bird will do fine in her new home.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Trying out my new camera on the girls.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

I just got home from a two week vacation. My son took care of the fish and dogs while I was gone and I only lost one, Blaze, a Petco male.

The sorority tank was in urgent need of cleaning, do I did a water change, cleaned the walls, and rearranged the decorations. 

I thought this might be a good time to reintroduce Trouble to the tank, in hopes being the new girl might make her a little humble. Wrong. She flared at everybody all day long and eventually she and Queen B were at it again. I completely believe it would have been to the death if I hadn't taken Trouble out again. I would have filmed it to show you, but they would have inflicted too much damage to each other. They were vicious. I'm still shaking from the trauma it caused me!

The rest of the girls have adapted to each other very well, so I guess I'm really lucky. I guess Trouble will permanently be by herself.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

How was the vacation? Sorry to hear about Blaze. Trouble must be a very feisty girl, I've never witnessed too much aggression from my girls thankfully. I have the opposite scenario where one of my girls gets picked on by all the others


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

I would take trouble if you want. She is so cute she is a hmpk right? I have a really nice male for her.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

That would be great, Snowflake. Yes, she is a hmpk. I believe she is a marble, because some of her blue has increased. I got her from Profish Farm. I'll post another picture and pm you.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Heeeerrrrrrsssss, Trouble!


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Viva,

Vacation was great. Over 5,000 travel miles and 9 states! Primarily, Seattle; Victoria, Canada; Yellowstone; Moab, UT and Arches National Park. We had another couple traveling with us and we had a blast.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Nice, sounds like a lot of fun! Trouble is so pretty! Too bad she's a little vicious girl! Hahahhaa


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

I just pm you. 

She is a plakat they are feisty crazy fish. She would be so perfect for my male.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

I answered your pm. I will contact the lady I know in the betta club and see if she can help me with shipping. I wish I had saved the packing supplies she came in! Oh well, I'm glad Trouble is going to a good home.


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

I have peppered cories and they mostly hide. I like the mystery snail better. I named mine Eureka because she or he is like a little vaccumn moving back and forth across the tank. They are really interesting to watch. The do poop alot but if you have live plants then it's fertilizer.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

I have a gold mystery snail. Love it!


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## annyann (Oct 28, 2013)

I found your journal!! Wow your girls are so beautiful! Im glad trouble found a good home. She was a beauty. 
Im looking forward to updates.


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## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

Janan said:


> Trying out my new camera on the girls.


TY for the sorority updates! Love reading these sorts of threads.

btw, what camera are you using? They came out great


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

Thanks! It's a Canon T3i. I'm still in the learning phase.


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