Little Brother's Birthday Betta Tank

In January I got a little Betta from my LFS (where I live, I'll buy 1,000 bettas and I'm always happy to support the stores as they have betta racks with divided filtered and heated 5 gallons. Not ideal, but better than a cup) while picking up some stuff for my new Axolotls as I just couldn't resist him! I had a spare QT tank, so why not? Everyone else had absolutely beautiful colours, and he was dull and had pretty bad fin rot. Now he's this pretty light blue colour and has such a friendly personality!

In the past weeks, my little brother has been hinting that he wants a betta. It was his 4th birthday not too long ago, and I thought that he would absolutely love the opportunity to have a betta of his own He's absolutely gorgeous, and goes up to random people and tells them why you can't keep fish in bowls, and all that stuff I've taught him well! I told him my plan, and my was he over the moon! He's been helping me out with water changes and he's been feeding his little guy. I know that I'll need to take primary care of the betta, but I'm perfectly fine with that as I did originally get him for me.

Anyway, enough stories, the point of this thread is to document setting up this tank... I'm going to give him free rein on decorations ("But not bright gravel, because that will hurt my bettas eyes!" - My little brother)

I'll try update it daily, and I'm hoping to get it set up by next weekend.

Day 1: Ordered a 5.5Gallon Tank, Filter and heater. Should be here around Wednesday, if not sooner. Little Plankton Bettie The Betta (odd choice of name, I know! Toddler's minds ) has been chilling in his bare bottom QT with his silk plants and little rock cave and will continue to be in there until next weekend.

 

keep me up dated on this please I think your little bro will love the betta I done the same with my sis kid

 

Awesome, it sounds like it’s going to be a nice setup. Make sure to post some pics!

 

Awesome, it sounds like it’s going to be a nice setup. Make sure to post some pics!

Thanks! I sure will

 

I'll be excited to see how this turns out! Your little brother sounds adorable. My sister's just a couple years younger than me, and doesn't care for the actual caring of fish, but she 100% will help me protect my own fish and snails. No harm will come to the innocent.

 

I'll be excited to see how this turns out! Your little brother sounds adorable. My sister's just a couple years younger than me, and doesn't care for the actual caring of fish, but she 100% will help me protect my own fish and snails. No harm will come to the innocent.

Thanks He really is! Aw sweet! My little brother is also a sworn protector of all fish, but my sister hates water changes and it's almost impossible to get her to help with at least some of the maintenance on our shared tanks

 

Update:

Haven't been able to do too much as my country is now in lockdown but good thing I have most of the parts my brother wants to use in his tank. The tank should arrive soon but is taking longer due to the current circumstances...

He's decided he wants:

White/Greyish Gravel
A barrel hide
His betta's favourite rock cave
Still deciding between silk plants or some java and christmas moss
A hammock (we made a little diy one out of a leaf from a silk plant, a ziptie and a thermometer suction cup )

Getting there, ever so slowly!

 

Thanks He really is! Aw sweet! My little brother is also a sworn protector of all fish, but my sister hates water changes and it's almost impossible to get her to help with at least some of the maintenance on our shared tanks

My sister is the same way. I had a guppy tank in her room and the most she would do was feed them.. she loved them but she’s just really grossed out by fish water and touching fish

 

Update:

Haven't been able to do too much as my country is now in lockdown but good thing I have most of the parts my brother wants to use in his tank. The tank should arrive soon but is taking longer due to the current circumstances...

He's decided he wants:

White/Greyish Gravel
A barrel hide
His betta's favourite rock cave
Still deciding between silk plants or some java and christmas moss
A hammock (we made a little diy one out of a leaf from a silk plant, a ziptie and a thermometer suction cup )

Getting there, ever so slowly!

Update:

The tank arrived today, after much anticipation and man was he over the moon! We set it up with the gravel (he decided to mix the grey and white with brown. Big change to me as I prefer sand in all my tanks, but hey, it's his gift ), the filter, his hides and the background. Tomorrow we move across the cycled media, silk plants, hammock, heater and betta. Not looking too glamorous at the moment, and looking pretty bare; but I'm excited for the result!

 

nice!

 

Update:

The tank arrived today, after much anticipation and man was he over the moon! We set it up with the gravel (he decided to mix the grey and white with brown. Big change to me as I prefer sand in all my tanks, but hey, it's his gift ), the filter, his hides and the background. Tomorrow we move across the cycled media, silk plants, hammock, heater and betta. Not looking too glamorous at the moment, and looking pretty bare; but I'm excited for the result!

View attachment 679657

I was also wondering what you guys all thought would be more effective:

Moving the entire filter (cycled) across to his new tank and keeping the new one for my QT/Hospital or just the filter media and cartridges?

Thanks for everyone's support and ideas! His little face always lights up at the mention of the tank, and I'm so excited to get it finished

 

I was also wondering what you guys all thought would be more effective:

Moving the entire filter (cycled) across to his new tank and keeping the new one for my QT/Hospital or just the filter media and cartridges?

Thanks for everyone's support and ideas! His little face always lights up at the mention of the tank, and I'm so excited to get it finished

It's really up to you. If there currently isn't anything in your hospital, then I would move the entire filter, and then move the new filter to the hospital. Just wait before you put anything in the hospital so it has time to cycle! This sounds kind of gross, but a REALLY fast way to cycle a tank is to squeeze in the brown gunk from the filter cartridges. That's where most of the BB lives. I was just suggesting that for the hospital. Moving an entire filter over is even better!

So ik what I said is kind of confusing, but I hope you get the gist of it. You seem like an experienced fish keeper anyway! I will be watching and following along with you and your lil bro. Good luck!

 

love the tank really nice u have done great one of the best set ups I have seen for ages for a betta nicely done

 

Very nice can’t wait to see the finished set up

 

It's really up to you. If there currently isn't anything in your hospital, then I would move the entire filter, and then move the new filter to the hospital. Just wait before you put anything in the hospital so it has time to cycle! This sounds kind of gross, but a REALLY fast way to cycle a tank is to squeeze in the brown gunk from the filter cartridges. That's where most of the BB lives. I was just suggesting that for the hospital. Moving an entire filter over is even better!

So ik what I said is kind of confusing, but I hope you get the gist of it. You seem like an experienced fish keeper anyway! I will be watching and following along with you and your lil bro. Good luck!

Thanks

I decided to move the whole filter across just to be safe

 

love the tank really nice u have done great one of the best set ups I have seen for ages for a betta nicely done

Thank you

 

Very nice can’t wait to see the finished set up

Thank you

 

UPDATE:

So I have moved the little guy across after moving across his cycled filter, heater, and ornaments (more BB surface area, and Bettie The Betta would hate it if I took away his prized rock!) I've been keeping a super close eye on the parameters.

He seems far more stimulated and is enjoying his tank. My little brother is over the moon with the end result, and although it isn't my style of scaping, I quite like it I'll keep updating on here about how everything's going, and I hope we gave this little guy a good home!

 

And, ARGH the app isn't working on my phone so I have to use my computer and I can't upload any photos! I promise I will when it starts working again!

EDIT: Whoops, sorry, spam Next time I'll reply all in one post

Edit: Worked my magic, here's a picture of the tank:

(Excuse the quality)

 

Thanks

your welcome