Adding a Scarlet Badis to my 6 Gallon Long River Stream

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Hey, how's it going everyone? Alex with The War of the Roses channel and we are finally back. I know it's been a long minute. Um, I was on vacation. Me and Katie were visiting family in North Carolina.

[00:00:11]And then we were at the racetrack for Gridlife, which is a car event. And we were filming a bunch of cool car stuff there. So that was super cool, but it's really good to be back and I'm also shooting on a new camera. So uh, things might look a little different. I'm still figuring some things out here and there, but yeah, super nice to be back. And if you recall in the last video, I set up this six-gallon long um, shallow, wide aquarium thing with a peace lily on the top with some plants that I had left over from my previous build that I tore down. And uh, yeah, today we're just going to visit that and see how it's going and uh, add some fish.

[00:00:53]>> [music] >> So, this was a scape that I had made.

[00:02:44]I tore down a previous scape. It was a 2-gallon cube that had a peace lily sticking out of the top of it. And I tore it down and with all the leftover plants, we ended up putting in here. So, this is basically the remnants of that previous scape just in here, everything repurposed. And uh things are finally starting to get established and things are looking really good. So, yeah, super excited about that. You can see here the micro sword is starting to breach through the leaves here.

[00:03:12]Um so yeah, the micro sword is spreading and that's super awesome. Finally getting some growth after um seeing it melt for so long. And uh yeah, you can see some of the guava leaves in here breaking down.

[00:03:27]One of my favorite things to see. I think it's so mesmerizing to look at.

[00:03:31]Real quick, I'm just going to go ahead and clear out some of this salvinia here.

[00:03:37]Looking at this peace lily here, you can see there's a ton of new growth, which is super awesome.

[00:03:43]This happened while I was gone.

[00:03:46]And uh Lendell, if you're watching this video, thank Thank so much for watching my aquariums while I was on vacation and while I was out working.

[00:03:55]You are super awesome.

[00:03:57]So, I do plan on getting the fish today, actually.

[00:03:59]Um but first order of business before we do that, I'm going to go ahead and put the heater in here.

[00:04:04]We've been running without one.

[00:04:06]And uh Yep, let's go ahead and get this water.

[00:04:10]I think we're going to get it to like 74.

[00:04:13]All right, I was able to move the heater back here, actually.

[00:04:16]And normally I'd be concerned about that because of the distribution of the heat. But because I have this Oase BioCompact doing a pretty decent job of cycling the water throughout the aquarium, I think it should be fine.

[00:04:30]So, I think all of the heated water back there is going to get sucked up by the filter.

[00:04:35]And then uh sent out to the right side of the tank and then it'll return. You can see from the flow pattern of the plants and stuff here, so we should be good.

[00:05:06]In the last video where we built this scape, I ended up asking for suggestions in the comment section. And we got a good one from Lucas Gabriel um suggesting a scarlet badis. And I think this is a great choice considering that we have so much of leaf litter in here and scarlet badis do pretty good on their own. They're fairly reclusive, especially if you have a male that's territorial. They do really well by themselves and given that this is a small tank, I think this is a great option, so Lucas Gabriel, thank you so much for the suggestion.

[00:06:43]>> All right, so the scarlet badis has been shown in here for quite some time now and I believe it's a male due to the bright coloration and yeah, when we when I first bought it I wasn't entirely sure and neither did the person at the fish shop know and that's because females are typically brown and males are typically a lot more brightly colored and because of the stress in the fish shop and you know, fish typically not being in ideal conditions, it's hard to tell sometimes.

[00:07:12]So, I think it's a male now that it's colored up and it's in warmer water and the parameters are closer to what they typically prefer.

[00:07:20]This is on the more aesthetic side. So, yeah, I believe it's a male now that it's colored up and watching this fish in here just swim around between the guava leaves and all the leaf litter in the bottom is honestly just a treat. It it's so fun to watch and because these fish are micro predators, because of all the decomposing matter in here, there's a bunch of detritus worms in here and just watching it hunt throughout the tank and having it all to itself is just such a fun thing to watch. And um yeah, we just been it's been a couple of days just watching this and documenting it from afar with a telephoto. It's been really fun. We did have a few moments where I was terrified that we had lost the fish. I couldn't find him anywhere and then I was eventually able to find him by kind of shaking the driftwood a little bit, but it turns out he really likes this dark corner here on the left side of the tank where there's no direct light.

[00:08:13]Um and originally I was going to light this part of the tank up with another light on the other side, but I think I'm going to keep it like this. I think he likes this and this will prompt him to become more comfortable with me hopefully as time goes on and as I target feed him and whatnot. So, um yeah, he really likes it in the left side for now and I do see him kind of venture out every once in a while and uh yeah, it's it's been really fun to watch.

[00:08:41]So, you might have noticed that his tail is a little bit chewed up now.

[00:08:45]Um when he was in the fish shop, it did seem like he was the odd one out and he was kind of being ganged up on.

[00:08:50]Uh these fish have a tendency to be extremely territorial, so there's not really any surprises there. Um I was worried about fin rot or columnaris or something like that because it did look like it was white when I first got him.

[00:09:03]Um and I treated it with Kanaplex and that seems to have gotten better. Um so, yeah, hopefully as we uh document this fish throughout its lifespan, we'll see the tail grow back and and for what it's worth, uh he's been exploring, he's been coloring up and he's been hunting for food. So, that's super awesome to see.

[00:09:26]All right, so what I'm doing right now is we have a Catappa leaf here. Uh a really big one actually. And it's been prepared. Um I went ahead and I boiled it.

[00:09:35]And I'm just going to tear it into a bunch of pieces cuz it is a really large piece.

[00:09:40]And uh we're going to go ahead and put those in here. For the record, there's a lot more to preparing botanicals than just boiling them. Once it's actually a whole multi-step process, and I usually just skip it because I've filmed it so many times in the channel at this point.

[00:09:51]I just want to make the video shorter.

[00:09:53]But if you want to learn more about botanicals and you want some for yourself, you can check out the link in the description below. It is an affiliate link and you'll actually save 15% off your order if you decide to buy any. And that will support both me as well as Ben over at Betta Botanicals. So if you have any interest in any of this leaf litter or all the seed pods that you see in here, definitely feel free to go check it out.

[00:11:13]All right, everyone. I think it's about time for me to wrap up this video. Um huge shout-out to Lucas Gabriel for the amazing suggestion. The scarlet badis truly does look great in here and is able to really take advantage of all the leaf litter that we have in here. And it's just a joy to watch. Um and there's so many hiding places in here. And uh yeah, it's just >> [music] >> it just works out really well. So, with all that being said, let me know if you have any feedback, things you want to see me try or perhaps do better in the next video. We're always learning and I am especially always learning, um >> [music] >> you know, putting myself out there and having the comments on my videos. I am forever a student >> [music] >> and it's great to hear from all of you.

[00:11:51]So, thank you so much and uh yeah, I'll see you all in the next one.