10 gal Nano Betta Tank Journal

So a little while back I set up a 5.5 gal tank for a betta, water, decor, and a couple of plants, and then left it with only a sole ramshorn because real life got in the way. Now I'm back, cleared out all the dead plants, (only four java ferns survived, as far as I can tell,) and am finally setting up the scape and everything.

Here's what the tank looks like right now:


I'm planning on adding black diamond blasting sand to replace the gravel, and get a dwarf lily for the back, some more java fern to fill out the left side, and some anubias nana "petite" to make 'leaves' on the thinner driftwood and a 'carpet' on the right part of the larger driftwood. I'm also going to take a small piece of PVC + silicone and rocks/gravel to make a cool-looking hide that might go where there's a rock on the right currently.

I also want a black background, because this is going to be blackwater and I can already tell you that the wonderful blue of my bedroom looks horried through tannin-stained water. I have marimo moss balls which will join in at some point, and will probably get java moss to make an even more 'forest' vibe to the driftwood on the left.

Planned stocking includes a betta and ramshorns, with the possibility of a nerite instead of ramshorns. I want shrimp, but there's no guarantee that any betta I get won't kill them all.

 

UPDATE: Tank still looks exactly the same, but I've remembered I have a 10 gal on the porch that just needs to be resealed. Time to learn how to seal a tank!

 

Tank has been resealed and tested, with no leaks.

I took down the old tank, moved the new tank up, and put the black diamond blasting sand in there at around 2 inches deep. (No real reason for depth beyond 'how much sand am I willing to wash?' My hands are now stained black.)

No water has been added to the tank yet, and my snail and plants are living in a bucket in the room. I'll post pics when I'm not so tired from lugging heavy sand everywhere around the house, and tanks, and buckets of water, and why did I think this would only take a little bit to set up?

Planned plants are now: Dwarf lily, java fern, anubias nana petite, water sprite, subwassertang, cryptocoryne parva, marimo moss balls, bacopa caroliniana, and whatever else catches my eye at the pet store.

Planned stock includes: Betta, corydoras hastatus with the spare tank for if things go south, and a lot of snails, probably bladder and pond but maybe just ramshorn.

 

Okay, now the pictures.


The empty tank in place. UNSEEN: The 5.5 gal that use to be there, and who's guts got scattered around my room.



The first dose of sand, which I found out later had not been washed enough.



The sand is now smoothed out, with my new Sand Fork stuck in there for drama.

Not pictured: Me, the next day, spending two hours running water up and down stairs to wash the sand.



After a lot of ineffective sand washing, it's finally clean. Here it is half-filled, with the filter running and the Sand Fork still in the tank on the left. It was very useful for leveling out the sand.



However, once its job had been finished, Sand Fork was removed and driftwood was added. Half of the water in this tank was water from the old tank, to help with acclimation, and you can see Professor Snailious hanging off the thermometer on the left. Because this is a bigger tank, I could fit more driftwood in there. Said driftwood will probably be moved a hundred times, but it looks pretty good right now.




And a final aesthetic picture of the tank, with just the tank light on.

Also not seen is my incredibly haphazard 'lid', which is just a sheet of plastic that doesn't even fit on the tank right now. Still not certain what I'm going to use instead, but I'll make sure to have the lid before I get the fish.

 

Okay! Got the new plants in, (dwarf lily bulb, water sprite, subwassatang, crytocoryne parva, and a marimo moss ball) and everything is in the tank. I would recommend either quarantine or a bleach dip for all new plants but. I trust the seller somewhat (aquarium co-op) and am also willing to take the risk since the only livestock is my snail, who is already getting on in age for a ramshorn.

The crypt parva and moss ball are doing great, the water sprite had a little bit of browning on it but is otherwise super healthy, the dwarf lily bulb was literally just the bulb which it said would sprout in 1-3 weeks but it just looks kinda dead right now, and the subwassatang took a huge hit. I'm not sure if it will recover. Here is everything in the tank.



The java fern is glued to the driftwood - I definitely like the large driftwood more now that it's up, and the java fern looks super cool on it. The water sprite is the two large clumps of plant on either side other of the filter intake, and the crypt parva is the grassy stuff on the right by all the driftwood sticking out of the ground. It looks way better in real life, and I'm excited to see where it goes. I honestly want it to stay pretty sparse, so unless it goes completely and unexpectedly crazy and grows over the entire tank, unlike all other crypt parva ever, I probably will never need to touch it again. The dwarf lily bulb is the fuzzy white thing behind the driftwood in the center of the photo, behind the mat of mostly-dead subwassatang. We'll see how those do in the coming weeks.

I added one pump of Easy Green, which I also got from aquarium co-op, because my java fern has been looking incredibly hungry for the last few weeks. Here's hoping it's appetite will be sated.

I also bought a glass aqueon lid for my tank, which I personally like simply because it looks nice and there's almost never anyone but me in my room, so I'm far from worried it or anything else might break.

I really like how the tank looks right now, and I'm excited to see how the lily will grow in.

 

It’s looking great! Some floating Anubias would look awesome as well!! (Anubias can be planted as well if you like to control where the plants go and it provides a good hiding spot if the betta and corys ever need a break from each other). It’s pretty cheap on Etsy for a good sized clump.

(My only note is that tailspot pygmys are better suited for 15+ gallons since they need a school of at least 6 and grow to 1.5 inches. Pygmy Corys would work as a school of 6 in a 10 gallon though! They’re slightly smaller - don’t usually exceed an inch)

 

It’s looking great! Some floating Anubias would look awesome as well!! (Anubias can be planted as well if you like to control where the plants go and it provides a good hiding spot if the betta and corys ever need a break from each other). It’s pretty cheap on Etsy for a good sized clump.

(My only note is that tailspot pygmys are better suited for 15+ gallons since they need a school of at least 6 and grow to 1.5 inches. Pygmy Corys would work as a school of 6 in a 10 gallon though! They’re slightly smaller - don’t usually exceed an inch)

Oh! I keep wavering between what cory I'll get because it's surprisingly hard to find information about each type, I'll keep that in mind! I was kinda leaning towards c. pygmeas already because they're easier to find where I am.

Anubias would look really good! The dwarf lily should get pretty big, however, so I'm waiting to see how it grows in before getting anything else. The dwarf only applies when compared to other lilies.

Thanks for the tips!

 

Update: After doing even more research I have decided to just get a betta, and wait on cories until I have a larger tank and more time to spare. I love cories, but I don't think I really 'know' bettas right now, and should wait until I know what they're like by themselves before I try and add them to a community tank. I want to give the best care to my animals, not just the best tank to look at. I'm going to be a lot more relaxed looking at a tank I'm not worrying about because I don't know if it's stable.

In other news, the plants are doing pretty good. The dwarf lily sprouted earlier then it said it would, to my joy, although it still looks kinda dead. The water sprite has some amount of growth already, which I find kinda amazing. The crypts are melting slightly, but that was to be expected. We'll see how they do in the weeks to come. The moss ball is bright and green.

My one complaint is the subwassatang. Due to shipping, all the plants were in the mail for 4 days instead of three. All the other plants handled it fine, but the subwassatang almost completely died. It's coming back, but there's only a piece about half an inch long total, which is very annoying as I had planned to wrap my driftwood in it. Unless it grows much faster than I expected, I'll have to wait a good few months before it will be at the size I wanted and expected to get.

On the other hand, it also had some free moss attached to it, which seems much hardier than the subwassatang and will serve my needs equally well, although there isn't much of it either.

 

Oh wow, I haven't updated this in almost a month! A lot has happened. The dwarf lily sprout seems to have died, but because the bulb has multiple 'bulbs' in one, I'm giving it a bit longer. If it never grows I will be pretty sad though. Because of that, I've gotten some more plants as you can see below.

I have Anubias on the back right, a banana plant on the left behind a lew piece of driftwood, and a lot more java ferns, these ones as babies. I asked for two normal large plants, but they apparently only had one so they also gave me a lot of baby plants. I'm pretty happy with this! Some free unknown moss, along with some duckweed, hitchhiked in. These plants I did quarantine because I don't really trust my local pet store to be disease free, which is sad because they're a small local store, not a chain, and I'm always torn between supporting local business and never stepping foot in there again. I think the right answer is probably somewhere between the two.

For the hardscape: As I predicted, I have moved the driftwood around a lot. For the anubias, I added a rock pile in the back for it to be stuck under without being buried, and I plan on adding more small pebbles there to smooth it out into the rest of the tank.

Also. I have snail babies!!!!!!!!!! They are incredibly cute and adorable and I love them, though we'll see if I still feel that way 6 months from now.

There's one other thing I've added to the tank. Can you spot it?

 

What type of snails did you end up with? Sorry if you already mentioned that! It's looking good! Have you thought about adding more plants in the front? Maybe dwarf hairgrass or repens? I think it would look good against the larger driftwood and contrast nicely against the substrate. Might be a bit of maintenance if you don't want a carpet though!

 

Okay, no pics rn, but since I've been gone for three (3) months I will just mention that the thing that I added was a fish. His name is Felicity. I love him.

 

Tiger lotuses will go into a stage of dormancy! They should still bloom after

 

Tiger lotuses will go into a stage of dormancy! They should still bloom after

...After three months? (I haven't been on in a while lol.)

 

...After three months? (I haven't been on in a while lol.)

How did you plant the bulbs? If a little bit of the bulb isn’t above the substrate they will rot. Other than that, they are a very easy plant to grow!

 

How did you plant the bulbs? If a little bit of the bulb isn’t above the substrate they will rot. Other than that, they are a very easy plant to grow!

I just... Put it on the substrate. It was about half-buried.

 

(...Well, I haven't been on here in a while. Tank's still doing good, lots of things have happened but uh. I'll probably make a new thread if I want to talk more. The poll on the top of this is horrid.)