GKat250000

Cool to go bare instead of river rocks? Seems like (as a beginner fish keeper) I could go bare bottom and suction-cup silk plants and save myself a bit of work/trouble/cleaning/heartache.

I've always had bad luck with non-aquatic plants and am a little afraid of snails, etc.

New hex-5 coming in a day or two and I'm concerned about planting stuff. Whaddya think?

mlinden84

I believe some members don't have any substrate in their betta tanks.
Personally I have a handful of natural rock in my bettas tank, and thats it (purely for looks) It's easier to clean without a lot of gravel trapping the dirt. "Betta" hasn't had finrot since I've taken out most of the gravel.

leafgirl115

Does not matter Its what you like.

COBettaCouple

I think it would be fine to have a bare bottom tank.

chickadee

When I set up my last hospital tank for Triton I did not have any substrate in it and I found it much easier to clean although needing cleaning with the turkey baster more often and he did not like it but he is a feisty one. I think they are cleaner tanks without substrate but do take a bit more care to keep them looking nice. Daily turkey baster care is the best for really clean looking tanks but they are very nice looking.

The substrate is generally just for looks and to hold the plants and decor in place, but I did know of one person who put baggies of gravel around the roots of their plants and let them just be held down with those baggies and the rest of the floor was bare and it looked so cool ... it was amazing!

I think the baggies were actually made of some sort of mesh instead of plastic and the plants were thriving. It was tied loosely about the stems of the plants. WOW it was so nice looking and the fish seemed to love it.

Rose

0morrokh

If you decide to go bare bottom make sure the bottom of the tank is a dark color. If it's sitting on a white table or on an open bottomed stand over a light colored rug then you'll want to either paint the bottom dark (black or brown is good) or tape dark tagboard to the bottom (that works good for backgrounds too btw). If the bottom is too light it can cause fish to lose color and feel less secure.

I've used gravel with all my bettas and no problems...you just have to make sure it's too big for them to swallow, smooth, and kept clean. However there's nothing wrong with a bare bottom and it definately is a lot easier to keep clean.

GKat250000

thanks guys!

LuvaBetta

I like the gravel because it can house some of your bacteria, which makes it easy to seed another tank. But the gravel-in-a-mesh-bag idea is wonderful. All you'd have to do is rinse it in some discarded water!