emanluke

I'm sorry I've not been on in a while, but I took a hit when my guppy Gealach died. I've kept a close eye on Emie (betta girl) and Dreamsicle (orange shrimp) since then. A couple of days ago I picked up some of the smaller clay pots from Lowes and added one to my small tank that holds Emie. It really changed the whole look of the tank, and I couldn't help but post some pics.

I'll give you some before and after:

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alicem

OOH, nice, she's pretty!
I bet Emie and Dreamsicle would like more plants
You could put them in front of (or along side) Emie's clay pot cave to give her some "cover"
for privacy.
alicem

Shawnie

shes a beauty!! sorry for the loss of your Gealach..its amazing how attached we can get to them....

love the new addition ...sometimes the smaller things make a ton of differences and that pot does

if you are going to add a wallpaper for your back of your tank, check out all kinds of different wrapping paper at your dollar store..you wold be amazed at how much that will change a tank also..and its cheap and you can change it constantly!!

emanluke

Thanks Shawnie, that's a great idea!

Alice, the only reason I don't have more plants is the size of the tank. Do you have any suggestions on smaller plants I could get? Right now I've just got the java fern.

alicem

Java fern are fine for little tanks. Yours is nice small plant. Watch that you don't plant the rhizome in the gravel.
Only plant the thin roots in the gravel.

Java fern will eventually grow sets of babies on the tips of the leaves.
If you think they are getting too large, you can pick those larger leaves (with the baby sets) and
use them to help hold the sets by sticking them under rocks or tie to decor, etc.
The larger leaves will deteriorate, but that's ok, just remove them when the roots grow in well on the baby sets.

Another small low light plant is anubia nana.
I have both in my 5G, along with some java moss, but it can be a messy plant.

hth,
alicem

Lucy

Welcome back! Cute tank. What size is the tank? It looks little compared to the pot, but big compared to your little beauty Emie.

emanluke

Yeah, I've had this java fern for about a year now (or rather the original one). I now have four daughter plants. The other three are in my 10 gallon. I'll look into the anubia nana though, thanks!

edit: Sorry Lucy, we posted pretty close together. It is a 2.5 - 3 gallon tank.

Lucy

I like the size. Where did you get it? Is that a whisper filter?
Does it have a hood?
I have to down size Cami from her 10g. Poor girl has a tumor and a smaller tank would be less stressful for her.

emanluke

Lucy, I found the tank at Petsmart for a little over $10. It came with a glass hood. I picked up the 3i Tetra Whisper Filter to round it all out. No light unfortunately, but I just make sure it is in a well lit area (I've got a full spectrum lamp that sits over it when I'm in my dorm room). Sorry to hear about Cami. I hope the smaller tank works out!

Nutter

She's beautiful. Lovely colours for a female.

For your plants, you could put the lamp on a timer & just leave the switch in the on position. I do that with one of my tanks & the light is enough for me to grow duckweed on the surface, (which bettas love), Java Moss & surprisingly Hygrophila Polysperma 'Sunset'.

Lucy

Thanks!

rae64

Beautiful! I too have seen this little tank Some micro sword would look beautiful across the bottom of your tank if you have enough light. Plus, its max size is only 4 inches. A yellow background (not electric) would bring out the colors in your little betta very well

konstargirl

It looks pretty big for a 3 gallon. Looks like more like a 10 gallon. Well at least your betta looks happy and not in a container. ^^

You should try fake plants. I have at least 5-6 fake ones and my fish do find without real ones.

emanluke

I started out with live plants when I started the hobby, and they've been great. I've just done the java fern, but I enjoy keeping plants anyway, so having some aquatic ones was a must!

Nutter and Rae, thanks for the plant ideas. I have heard about the java moss but not the duckweed or micro sword. I don't know if I have enough light though... my full-spectrum lamp is 13 watts. Lighting is why I've just done java fern so far. It grows slowly, but surely!

Tbarb101

how much in total did that all cost cause i was thinkin about breeding some guppies in a 3-5 gallon?

emanluke

Well, I don't remember an exact amount, but here is a general price guide:

Tank - about 13-14 dollars
Tetra 3i Whisper Filter - about 10 dollars

So just for the tank and filter it would be about 25 dollars. Substrate would be more, but if your breeding you may be thinking about going bare-bottom anyway. Plus, I recently bought a heater for it. I paid about 15 dollars for a Marineland Stealth Pro-Heater 10W mini. It's not the best heater, but it keeps the tank at around 78 degrees.

GoGreen

What great colour your betta has, I didn't think the females could be so pretty!

emanluke

Thanks GoGreen! I was looking at the bettas (thinking about getting a male) when I saw her. I thought she looked nicer than most of the males they had.

rileyrk190

Nice tank!

Tbarb101

k thanks so about 39 dollars plus guppy's and shrimp (cause they will be feeder guppy's for my pictus and my bros JD and convict) so it comes out to about 47 dollars plus decerations