help with new 2.5 gallon glass tank ?

Hello everyone I am new here and I wanted to find out some information , I just bought a 2.5 gallon all glass tank made by marine land its 12 inches long by 6 inches wide and 8 inches tall , now it came with a glass top it has no light or any hood , I wanted to know if I could buy a 8 inch florescent light from walmart to sit on top of the glass top would this light be okay for the fish, also I bought a marine land filter duetto minI 40 gph internal filter , is this filter strong enough for this tank ? now I would like to have some real plants in this tank but I am unsure if the light I buy from walmart will work for the plant growth , now as for stocking I wanted to have either 2 ghost shrimp 1 snail and 1 betta or 1 betta 1 snail and one ghost shirmp I know about the 1 inch per gallon rule but I would be happy with just 1 betta and 1 ghost shrimp and 1 small snail if I am right about the stocking please let me know if I am wrong correct me also I will be buying that bio serv stuff they sell for 20 dollars to cycle the tank and I noticed this filter didn't have a bio sponge so can I add one to it ? also I got a small 25 watt theo hydro heater along with a digital temp guage and 2 fake plants and some gravel please let me know if I am going in the right directions thanks a lot

 

Hello and welcome to fishlore.
It sounds all good... You should do fine! For that small of a set up I would just go with a small silk plant. It would be easier in the long run without having to figure out what kind of light you would need. You should try and find a hood for that tho.
~ kate

 

For a live plant, get a Java Fern or an Anubias. They will live and even grow in low light, although slowly which is good for a small tank!

Bettas seem to like to to lie on the leaves of real plants.

 

You may hhave some trouble with the betta killing the ghost shrimp when it malts its exo skeleton.

 

I wouldn't put a snail or shrimp in with a betta. the shrimp would likely become snacks and the snail would put out too much waste.

it's not 100% necessary, but i'd highly recommend flat glass marbles for the substrata instead of gravel. when we had gravel, every betta got fin rot, but since we went to marbles no bettas that we've gotten have got fin rot. The marbles do need a little more cleaning, but you don't have that gravel dust to deal with.

i'm not real familiar with that filter, but with most filters you should be able to get some sponge at the pet store that you could cut to fit into your filter. 40gph may be too strong for a betta in that size tank -- is it adjustable? If not, a filter like:

might be just right for that size tank. It's good for up to 5 gallon and is actually doing a good job on a 5 gallon here. The flow is adjustable and it has space for a sponge.

If you go with fake plants - go with silk plants. Plastic ones tear betta fins.

We get our silk plants from this brand name and our bettas love the broad leaved plants.

Best of luck with your Betta.. they are really wonderful fish who will show you a lot of character. They love to be talked to and decorations like small caves or bridges (check for anything that could snag their delicate fins) are a hit with them.

we feed our bettas:

and hikarI brand frozen bloodworm cubes. Plus 1 day a week we feed them thawed frozen peas. If you'd like to ask more about their feeding, feel free to PM us or post questions in the Betta forum and you'll get quite a few replies.