3.5 Gallon Setup Updates And Question

Hi,
So just to give a couple updates.
I ditched my filter for a biomaxx nano HOB filter with flow control. Used some of my old media And the tank finally stabilized. Removed the lid and took the strip light and moved it up and back. Replaced heater with a Marina betta heater. Water now stays at 78 degrees.

Also Added a resident, yesterday! A blue and yellow rosetail betta.

Now my questions. How long do bettas show stress strips after being added. I don't remember? He had no stress signs when I added him. He was trying to break out of the bag when I set it in the tank. He's not darting or sitting for long periods of time on the bottom of the tank. No rapid breathing. Just two distinct lines down his side. And pale tail color.

My water was reading in the ok range after adding him. Tested it several times with the API master kit. Reading as of this morning...
pH 6.5
Ammonia .5
Nitrite 0
About Nitrate .5
Which is not as terrible as I did a fishless fish food cycle this time and know that sometimes it's not enough. Wondering if the slight spike is the reason he's stressed?
He also will not stop challenging the HOB flow which is barely strong enough to ripple the water. It just directs the current down and adds in some motion to keep the plants in ok condition. I also added on a plain filter round sponged on the intake pipe to keep him away from being stuck.
So Would you muffle it anymore? My plants are happier with this filter. I was thinking a net breeder box would keep him away from the down flow without obstruction. He does have the entire rest of the tank pretty calm and plenty of places to rest against.
My plan in the coming weeks is to order frogbit, an Amazon sword, dwarf baby tears and a banana plant. Was thinking a plant under the fliter may keep him away or break it up? Any suggestions?

Tried to take photos of the stripes but be doesn't like photos either and kept showing me his tail. Lol.

 

Just about the plants, the Amazon sword will quickly die if it stays in that tank, they need a 20 gallon to thrive but everything else seems fine! I'm sorry I don't know about the stripes but I'm sure they will disappear soon!

 

Just about the plants, the Amazon sword will quickly die if it stays in that tank, they need a 20 gallon to thrive but everything else seems fine! I'm sorry I don't know about the stripes but I'm sure they will disappear soon!

Isn't there's a smaller version? Any suggestions on rooted plants? I was hoping for some taller plants in the back that the betta could sleep and hide in. He likes to swim through the java fern and the anubias.

 

Isn't there's a smaller version? Any suggestions on rooted plants? I was hoping for some taller plants in the back that the betta could sleep and hide in. He likes to swim through the java fern and the anubias.

There are sadly no smaller versions (I wanted one for my 5 gallon but nope!) there are smaller forms of anubias though, here are the plants I want for my 5 gallon: banana plant, anubias nana x2, Java fern, and water lettuce. I don't know any rooted plants

 

Your cycling the tank. Not a good idea to have a betta in there while the tank is cycling. Do you know about the water cycle?

 

Your cycling the tank. Not a good idea to have a betta in there while the tank is cycling. Do you know about the water cycle?

My water has been steady. it only spiked day one and slowly returned to normal, which is a lesson learned on my end. It's my first time using a fishless cycling method. I used fish food. I was warned that it could not be enough and that it may spike. Now everything has stabilized. Fish is doing well and the plants are doing ok or better. So to answer your question, yes, I did cycle my tank. I never feel right adding in a fish at the very start. I've owned several tanks over the years. Some stocked heavy, some not so much. I'm really just new to the planted tanks and not a green thumb person, so I'm finding this a bit more challenging.

 

Hi,
So just to give a couple updates.
I ditched my filter for a biomaxx nano HOB filter with flow control. Used some of my old media And the tank finally stabilized. Removed the lid and took the strip light and moved it up and back. Replaced heater with a Marina betta heater. Water now stays at 78 degrees.

Also Added a resident, yesterday! A blue and yellow rosetail betta.

Now my questions. How long do bettas show stress strips after being added. I don't remember? He had no stress signs when I added him. He was trying to break out of the bag when I set it in the tank. He's not darting or sitting for long periods of time on the bottom of the tank. No rapid breathing. Just two distinct lines down his side. And pale tail color.

My water was reading in the ok range after adding him. Tested it several times with the API master kit. Reading as of this morning...
pH 6.5
Ammonia .5
Nitrite 0
About Nitrate .5
Which is not as terrible as I did a fishless fish food cycle this time and know that sometimes it's not enough. Wondering if the slight spike is the reason he's stressed?
He also will not stop challenging the HOB flow which is barely strong enough to ripple the water. It just directs the current down and adds in some motion to keep the plants in ok condition. I also added on a plain filter round sponged on the intake pipe to keep him away from being stuck.
So Would you muffle it anymore? My plants are happier with this filter. I was thinking a net breeder box would keep him away from the down flow without obstruction. He does have the entire rest of the tank pretty calm and plenty of places to rest against.
My plan in the coming weeks is to order frogbit, an Amazon sword, dwarf baby tears and a banana plant. Was thinking a plant under the fliter may keep him away or break it up? Any suggestions?

Tried to take photos of the stripes but be doesn't like photos either and kept showing me his tail. Lol.

Hi! My half moon Betta had stripes for the first week I added him, even though I was extremely careful acclimating him and his water parameters were perfect. They went away with time. You can add some Prime to the water to help with that ammonia spike. It binds 1ppm of
Ammonia and Nitrite combined for 24hrs. I did a fishless cycle as well with pure ammonia and had the same thing happen when I added my fish. Using prime got me through the spike. For my most recent fishless cycle I added a dose a of tetra safestart upon adding fish and didn’t have a spike, though I know not everybody has had the same kind of experiences with bottled bacteria. For the filter, if you wanted damper it more you could cut/wrap a fish net around the intake. I had amazon sword in 3.5 gallon before. I just used root tabs for it and it did fine, they do outgrow most tanks though. You’d have to cut it back a lot. Anubias is good, depending on your lighting you could try bacopa, it’s nice and tall and gets flowers on it when breaches the surface. Here’s one of my threads where people offered lots of suggestions on sword plants that don’t get quite as big as standard amazon sword. Question - Seeing Mixed Advice On Amazon Swords
Hope this helps!

 

You could perhaps try adding an Indian almond leaf to the water. As these leaves decompose, they release tannins in the water that provide health benefits to the betta but also can have a stress reducing effect as well. The tannins will turn the water a yellowish/light brown color though.

 

You could perhaps try adding an Indian almond leaf to the water. As these leaves decompose, they release tannins in the water that provide health benefits to the betta but also can have a stress reducing effect as well. The tannins will turn the water a yellowish/light brown color though.

I am going to buy some this week. My last betta tank back in 2010 I used betta safe almond extract to create a comfortable environment. They love it. Haven't found it here but Aqua Forest in San Francisco used to carry it when I live there. Anyone have suggestions on where to find a true Japanese moss ball? My lps Petco or PetSmart has really ugly "betta moss balls" usually covered in other algae or nasty looking film. Their fish at petcos around here look well but those dont.. My tap has ammonia in it and doing water changes is problematic even with prime. For some reason I can't get the ammonia down below .25 which prolonged exposure can cause problems and infections. It also causes my nitrate to be higher then normal. Don't have money for expensive equipment like an RO system. Especially just for a single tank.
Also I bought rotala which I started a new thread in the planted aquarium thread here. So far the pants help with the ammonia but it's slow of course. I wanted hornwort but the guy insisted rotala would be better. Seattleroy said to wait it out and see.

 

Wonderful looking tank!

 

Ahh one of the many high quality 3.5 gallon kits from Petsmart. I had this one as I love the shape. Good move changing the filter the one it comes with is utterly useless for mechanical and biological filtration. I would move the swords out as they most likely will struggle in a tank that small and deteriorate. Maybe some small subulata? How about a large snail?

 

Wonderful looking tank!

Thank you! Added two new plants. Rotala and a banana plant. Betta likes it. Light is off for photo.

Ahh one of the many high quality 3.5 gallon kits from Petsmart. I had this one as I love the shape. Good move changing the filter the one it comes with is utterly useless for mechanical and biological filtration. I would move the swords out as they most likely will struggle in a tank that small and deteriorate. Maybe some small subulata? How about a large snail?

I don't have an Amazon sword just java fern which got burned with my original light. I switched to the fluval desktop nano salt and fresh water light. And moved it up. But yes, I'm considering reducing the fern to one on a rock. The husk is falling apart already. It already has a baby floating around in the water. I bought a zebra nerite snail but it's in a quarantine cup as it came out of a tank with fish and other stuff. Doing 100% water changes on that for the month. So probably next month about this time I will put it into the water. Don't trust the tank it came from as it had something crawling and I couldn't tell if it was a new baby snail or something else. Rather not risk it. My Betta is a rose tail and they can be a bit more sensitive or so my research has said.

 

I don't have an Amazon sword just java fern which got burned with my original light. I switched to the fluval desktop nano salt and fresh water light. And moved it up. But yes, I'm considering reducing the fern to one on a rock. The husk is falling apart already. It already has a baby floating around in the water. I bought a zebra nerite snail but it's in a quarantine cup as it came out of a tank with fish and other stuff. Doing 100% water changes on that for the month. So probably next month about this time I will put it into the water. Don't trust the tank it came from as it had something crawling and I couldn't tell if it was a new baby snail or something else. Rather not risk it. My Betta is a rose tail and they can be a bit more sensitive or so my research has said.

My mistake at first glance I thought I saw a sword.. Awesome dedication qt'ing a snail! Not many people (myself included) usually take the time to do that. I have no doubt you will have a stunning nano tank when you are done tinkering!

 

Hi! My half moon Betta had stripes for the first week I added him, even though I was extremely careful acclimating him and his water parameters were perfect. They went away with time. You can add some Prime to the water to help with that ammonia spike. It binds 1ppm of
Ammonia and Nitrite combined for 24hrs. I did a fishless cycle as well with pure ammonia and had the same thing happen when I added my fish. Using prime got me through the spike. For my most recent fishless cycle I added a dose a of tetra safestart upon adding fish and didn’t have a spike, though I know not everybody has had the same kind of experiences with bottled bacteria. For the filter, if you wanted damper it more you could cut/wrap a fish net around the intake. I had amazon sword in 3.5 gallon before. I just used root tabs for it and it did fine, they do outgrow most tanks though. You’d have to cut it back a lot. Anubias is good, depending on your lighting you could try bacopa, it’s nice and tall and gets flowers on it when breaches the surface. Here’s one of my threads where people offered lots of suggestions on sword plants that don’t get quite as big as standard amazon sword. Question - Seeing Mixed Advice On Amazon Swords
Hope this helps!

Thank for the information! Some people said it would not do well, some say it will. I don't see how it wouldn't because I have my dosing down pat. 3 to 5 drops Excel daily and a full shot of thrive S once a week. My plants actually strip my water faster than I originally thought when setting this up.
. That said, I had planned on adding in apI and fluval root tabs for the rooted plants even though I have fluval stratum as a substrate. Still figuring out which would be better for the banana plant or rotala.
However, all my plants seem to be recovering slowly but time will tell. The rotala looks sort of iffy right now but that's probably because of the harsh bleach dip. It came out of fish tank that I didn't trust so it got a serious washing... as for The fern, it is probably the hardest to tell how it's responding because it got cooked by the stock light, which at first, I didn't think was that bad. Now I see how terrible it was. Going to wait it out as suggested by SeattleRoy in my other thread.

 

Update: well the rotala, is still pretty much missing leaves on the lower part. However, the top has new growth. I'm not sure the bunch was all the same plant as a couple stems have broad leaves and some are thin.
Banana plant has really grown. Probably one of the best looking plants in my tank. Can just sit here and it grows. One day I watched a root grow at least 2cm! Crazy!
Java is also doing good. Getting darker and the spots look better. New leaves also coming in. The only plant I can't tell much difference in is the anubais. No new leaves but lots of green roots.

Betta has/had a swim bladder problem. Which maybe just genetic but I can't say. I starved him a for two days and gave him pea. He still doesn't like swimming to long but he's slowly recovering from it and sinking less.

Also I took the top fin lid and had it cut out and replaced it with screen. Hopefully the snail doesn't escape when it's done with quarantine.
Below some update photos.

 

One edit on my part. He fertilizer using is not excel but flourish.

 

Hey guys! Heres an updated photo if anyone is following this still. A lot of battles have happened, got rid of hydra, fish had some white spots but it cleared up. I'm now battling algae and it stressing out my fish. Its got a little fin rot which I'm monitoring and doing water changes as the water quality is been on a roller coaster. But heres how the tank changed this month!