10 gallon Betta tank build in progress

So this process is starting sooner than I expected.

This is what I have:

-10 gallon tank (Only filled about 80% or so)

- Waterproof bathroom cabinet (not for the bathroom) as a stand that holds more than the weight capacity of the tank with water in it.

- A divider if it is eventually needed.

- Azalea wood ( boiling right now )
I read this was ok, but I wanted to double check with others here.

- A cycled sponge I'm going to be converting into a 10 gallon sponge filter. Also a ten gallon pump and all that's needed for that.

- A heater. (I will eventually want to upgrade to one better.)

- Frogbit I was originally going to use for my Goldie tank, but the current is too strong with all the filters in it so I'm putting them in this.

- A few very small bladder snails I've been finding with my frogbit, but not sure about adding them just yet.

- A piece of java fern from my Goldie tank.

- Some sand/pebbles, river stones, colored glass, a fake piece of drift wood I had left over with plastic plants that i ripped out and threw away, a led desk light and a hide. I also used colored tissue paper for the background.

This is what I'm getting soon:

- Digital Thermometer

- Golden anubias nana x2

- Hornwort (for my goldies, but I'm not sure they are ok for bettas too)

- Baby gold mystery snails x4 (can be divided with the tank divider if there is aggression towards them)

- A beautiful girl plakat nemo (next week)

This is what I'll still need eventually or before the week is out:

- New life spectrum Betta pellets.

- Indian almond leaves

- Cuttle bone

- More driftwood?

- A lid eventually. For now this is why I'm keeping the water level low.

- Upgraded Heater

Attached a photo of what it looks like so far.

Tips, advice, suggestions, of any kind and on what I should do or can use for this and information are all welcomed and much appreciated.

Thank you!

 

Scratch the thermometer, I only got digital because I couldn't find what I usually use. Returning it since I was able to find these: (first picture) No one near me had the Betta pellets I wanted to get, but I found these. I've known Hikari to be a good brand so I'm hoping these are ok for Betta. Any one else use them?

I'm still scrubbing the bark off the azalea (last picture) after boiling it. Trying to remove the soft stuff out of the roots too. Going to try to prop it up like a tree and put the anubias on it. Not sure how to prop it up yet though!

 

Back when I kept bettas, I fed a mix of frozen foods and Fluval Bug Bites. I like the protein content on the Bug Bites as compared to a lot of other shelf-stable foods.

 

Back when I kept bettas, I fed a mix of frozen foods and Fluval Bug Bites. I like the protein content on the Bug Bites as compared to a lot of other shelf-stable foods.

Thank you! I will have to look for those. ^_^

Here's an updated photo for tonight. Haven't put the filter together just yet. Playing around with the scape trying to figure out where to put everything. I read somewhere on here not to add Hornwort with Bettas, but I don't know if that's true. Added a tiny bit for now though.

 

Photo from last night. The theme atm seems to be mermaid water dragon's lair, and Groot is just there. Lol Going to have natural elements and very not so natural elements, but will be good stimulants for my occupants.

Very soon this is going to explode with new plants. ^_^

Still not sure about the layout and azalea wood is not yet secure, but I think I'm going to tie it to a rock if i can find one, or the fake piece of drift wood.

Some plants and snails arrived early and are stuck at the post office until tomorrow morning. Very nerve wracking! Trying not to worry, since it was early and at least they are in a safe place, plus no longer on a moving vehicle.

Going to be putting the filter together tonight. =D

 

Got some things done on this so far. Still a WIP.

The filter is put together and running smoothly.

Baby gold mysteries were added and instantly active and doing well, so very happy about that.

If I end up needing to keep them separate from the Betta I'm going to section off a quarter to a third of the tank on the Groot side for them with a divider. If my Betta turns out to be a witch and can't coexist that's it - she loses the Groot. I'll still love her though. Lol

Glued some gold anubias and azalea wood to the fake wood. There was a spot on the fake wood that stuck out and the azalea fit on it perfectly.

I tried looking up some aquascaping ideas and found some really pretty pictures where people used light colored stones in a dirt or planted substrate tank to give the appearance of a walk way. Got inspired to do something like that, but instead of a walk way it's a river. This was my first attempt so maybe I can make it look better over time. Probably make another "stream" to connect to the other hide.

More plants on the way! =D
Edit: Just a side note, really wished I got the scape settled before getting the snails. I don't want to move them around and stress them out so if they're in my way I just stop and have to walk away for a time to wait for them to not be in the way. Lol

 

Got some things done on this so far. Still a WIP.

The filter is put together and running smoothly.

Baby gold mysteries were added and instantly active and doing well, so very happy about that.

If I end up needing to keep them separate from the Betta I'm going to section off a quarter to a third of the tank on the Groot side for them with a divider. If my Betta turns out to be a witch and can't coexist that's it - she loses the Groot. I'll still love her though. Lol

Glued some gold anubias and azalea wood to the fake wood. There was a spot on the fake wood that stuck out and the azalea fit on it perfectly.

I tried looking up some aquascaping ideas and found some really pretty pictures where people used light colored stones in a dirt or planted substrate tank to give the appearance of a walk way. Got inspired to do something like that, but instead of a walk way it's a river. This was my first attempt so maybe I can make it look better over time. Probably make another "stream" to connect to the other hide.

More plants on the way! =D
Edit: Just a side note, really wished I got the scape settled before getting the snails. I don't want to move them around and stress them out so if they're in my way I just stop and have to walk away for a time to wait for them to not be in the way. Lol

I doubt the fish will bother the snails ‘til they grow a fair bit but once their tentacles are long enough, bettas are wont to bite them off and eat them. Tentacles grow back but it’s very stressful for the snail of course and if the betta happens to take an eye with the tentacle, the eye does not grow back.

Snails are messy and have a fair size bioload thanks to being messy - so eventually one or two would the limit for the tank with a fish, assuming the fish doesn’t eat their tentacles.

 

That's a relief, I hope she doesn't bother them. I've read from others though that their bettas go after the baby mysteries only so I'm still going to keep an eye out.

I had a large one with a Betta before and it luckily worked out, no antenna or eye eating. I'll keep an eye out for that too though as they get bigger.

I've got the divider on hand so it'll be short work to stick it in and separate. I figured 4 in a 10 gallon with one fish would be manageable though. I'll keep an eye on the parameters as they grow.

 

Miss Sunset arrived today. Did some touch ups, added the last of the plants. Got a final theme for this tank decided: Underwater Pond.

I've got Java Fern, Hornwort, Frogbit, one free piece of Water Lettuce that keeps losing leaves from getting wet - maybe now that it's settled it'll grow (just wanting to see what will happen with it, even if it's too big in the long run, I didn't buy it any how lol), Gold Anubias, White Anubias, Creeping Jenny - with plenty of room behind everything for it to creep, and Java Moss - had no idea how to use the Java Moss, but I hope it will take to the Azalea wood. I'd like to see it droop down like a weeping willow, but I have no idea if it can do that.

Still waiting on IAL and a lid to arrive in a few days. When it does I'll do a little light vac and wc then fill it up. I'm excited to see how it will look with the tea color too.

I'd say this is almost done!

Our little nemo girl took right to her surroundings. She wasted no time to start exploring and she is no timid lady. She looks like she's wearing red lipstick and a blue gem tiara. Definitely Queen of the tank she is. She's super small though, I'd think still a baby, but I'm not sure how many months old she is.

It does look like she may have been nipped in the tail, either by her stressing during transport, or by fellow juveniles, but with how active and happy she seems I'm not too worried. I will keep an eye on it though.

 

I love the underwater pond! Looks like the perfect place for your betta to lay back and relax.

 

Just a water change and added the lid so I could fill it up all the way. I basically just removed 20% and then added 50% new water.
Should be getting IAL tomorrow and algae wafers for the snails.
^_^

 

Got the IAL set up finally! I love how I have this big space in the back of the tank that's open and has space for leaves.

I also took a suction cup I had, cut a piece of airline tubing, and used that to clip a leaf in place for a little hammock. The idea for the java moss tree was to be a resting tree top for her, but it's still settling and growing. I have not seen her try to lay on it at all, so for now there's now a homemade natural leaf hammock. I put some leaf pieces in her hides as well as "bedding" for her.

The tannins are slowly leeching out. You can see the color changing better in person than I could get on the camera.

There was some concern about Sunset's fins since she arrived and I noticed it seemed to get slightly worse, so I started using seachem stressguard. That definitely put a stop to them getting worse and now I'm just looking out for new growth. Once I see that I'll be sure it's going to be ok.

So that's that.

Underwater Betta Pond!

I'll continue on in a tank journal to document my Betta's growth, possible color changes, and fins. Also my mystery snail's growth. Maybe I'll be able to tell them apart better when they get older and give them some names. I also want to document the plant growth!

I so love and had missed having a little planted betta tank, and while it wasn't part of the plan to get one so soon, I'm so glad I did.

So I'll link the journal on a comment here when I make it.

Other than growing out, the build is complete!

Attached pictures below of all the angles.
I actually had trouble deciding where to keep the heater for a bit, but ultimately decided to keep it in the back above the sponge filter. I didn't want it on the side blocking the view of the tank from that side of the room and just wanted to make sure it was near the moving water.

Thanks everyone who followed along!

Had to edit in one more picture of one of the baby snails. ^_^

 

Just got done making a journal for this tank. I'll continue recording the journey from there.

Thread 'Underwater Betta Pond Journal' Underwater Betta Pond Journal | Freshwater Aquarium Journals Forum

 

I wanted to hop back on over here to get some advice instead of making a new thread.

Wow has this tank gone through a lot of mishaps and changes.

I want to order more plants for this setup and hopefully have better results.

Attached a picture of what it looks like right now. I figured I ought to add more plants to the front too to make it fuller. Thinking about adding and mixing up Ludwigia and Moneywort. I've had those before and they did really well in the past.

I'm also thinking I need to change the lighting, but I'm not too sure. Should I get an LED desk light? That's what I used before and had better results with that as well. Either that or an aquarium light with a way to control light intensity.

If this was your tank, what plants would you add? What else would you add/change/do?

 

I like using desk led lights instead of aquarium lights, too. You can move it around as needed, and put it on a low or medium setting.

If you want to add something more, you could add a couple of cryptocoryne wendtii plants. They have a kind of bush like appearance with rippled leaves, and are easy to grow plants that need low to medium light. I think they come in green, brown, or red. I really like the red.