My Betta tank

[Phloxface]

I recently started switching over to live plants. Here is my 10 gallon tank and my Betta (Lava) so far. It's still a work in progress. I have all live plants except one spiky silk plant behind the pillars on the left. I still need a nice photo background and to find some large rocks or maybe a realistic looking piece of fake driftwood that is big but not too big. (It's hard to find driftwood ornaments for a 10 gallon tank. They all seem to be huge!) Once I get some big rocks and whatever else I'll rearrange my plants a little. Right now they are spread around like an underwater jungle! My Betta LOVES his live plants, especially the Water Wisteria and Cabomba. He loves to burrow inside it and take naps. At least I don't need to worry about him shredding his fins and tail on plastic plants.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Very nice I love the look of live plants over the fake ones

 

[Phloxface]

Yeah, me too! There's just no comparison. Even my Betta seems to notice a difference. He seems much happier and more lively with his live plants. I guess it feels more natural to them.

 

[Gwenz]

That is a really nice tank.

Gwenz

 

[Stradius011]

I used plastic plants when I first started this hobby, I think it is time for me to change to live plants.

 

[Phloxface]

Here is an updated photo of my tank. It's nearly complete. I'd just like to add a piece of driftwood or a large piece of lava rock that I could drill a hole through the top and put an airstone into to create a bubble volcano. (Anyone know of a place online that sells rocks, driftwood etc. for fish tanks?)

 

[Butterfly]

Really nice tank!!!! Just a word about the Lava rock- I have a piece that I attached an Anubias to and I really like it BUT... it's very rough feeling. Do You think it might be too rough for a Betta?

 

[Tumbleweed]

Nice Tank

 

[Stradius011]

Your tank looks cooler than before!!!

 

[Jim W]

I am calling fake on the betta!! He must like to pose in that spot for pics. lol

I love that thin 'grassy' looking plant. My local fish store claimed it to be very needy of high lighting but is growing very well in my underlit 10 gal setup, I can't wait to get some in my 38.

How does a betta like a tank? Do they swim around much? They just seem so content in a bowl.


Jim

 

[Phloxface]

;D He's definitely not fake! He seems to go to that corner when I approach the tank because that is the side I feed him on.
That grassy plant is called Green Mondo Grass and after I bought it I found out it is not even a real underwater plant. Everything I've read says it will die soon so I'll have to see. So far it seems to be doing alright.

As for Betta bowl vs. tank I think you will find pretty much everyone here agrees that Bettas are not happier in bowls. There is simply nothing for them to do but swim around in circles. Most just lay on the bottom most of the time. If you go to the Betta forum here on this site you will find a lot of folks who keep their Bettas in tanks of at least 5 gallons or more. All those Bettas are healthy, happy and very active. Bettas in bowls have shorter lifespans and develop finrot, ich and other health problems much easier due to living in an unfiltered, unheated and uncycled enviroment. No matter how clean you keep a bowl the fish is still better off in a real tank. They are MUCH more active in a tank where the water temp is a constant 79-80 degrees. It is difficult to keep the temp in a bowl in that range and the cooler the water, the less active they become.
Both my Bettas have their own 10 gallon tanks that are well planted with live plants and spend the day happily swimming and exploring, taking short naps in the bushy plants and begging for food. I created an enviroment that gives them lots of mental stimulation which reduces stress and boredom. I've only had them for about 6 weeks and both came to me from a pet store where they lived in small unfiltered/unheated containers and both had developed finrot. I have treated both with medication for finrot and am now treating for a suspected case of parasites just in case. These are problems caused by living in small containers, uncycled cool water and the stress of constant boredom IMO.
Bettas are so full of personality and are so much more entertaining to watch playing happily in a tank rather than sitting at the bottom of a bowl or swimming aimlessly in circles.

Here is two more of my favorite shots of my Betta Lava. Tried to photograph my other Betta but he simply won't hold still and he is a dark color so it's hard to get much detail. I have one shot of him trying to steal food from his Apple Snail.

 

[paul_219]

Your tank looks gr8. But why is the betta staring on the snail .

 

[Isabella]

Phloxface ... what a BEAUTIFUL Betta and a great tank! The fish must be very happy in your tank, compared to what conditions it lived in at the fish store. I love it when people give Bettas large tanks to live in

 

[chickadee]

sells some very beautiful driftwood in many sizes and shapes for tiny tanks and tiny budgets to great big tanks and folks with bucks.  The pieces I have had from them have been beautiful and I just do not happen to be using them right now and because my pictures are a gone with my old computer you will need to look in the Fish and Tank Photos for some pictures of my tanks for perhaps when I had some of their smaller pieces in.  They have nice small pieces where the pet stores have nice big pieces but the little ones all look terribly plain.

Your fish are absolutely beautiful and the tank is a lovely tank.  I love the pillars and the live plants.  Your little one does too!!



Rose

 

[lokky.funky]

HI Phloxface

Bettas are always great... and yours is stunning..

 

[Phloxface]

Thanks everyone!

Butterfly: You're right, the lava rock is probably too rough. Too bad. It looks so cool.

Rose: Thanks for the link. I've bookmarked it for future use. It may be too expensive for me right now as I am in Canada and with the exchange rate and shipping it may be too much. They are beautiful pieces though...

I checked around at some other fish stores and finally found a really nice tree root piece and it was only $8. It forms a bit of a cave and has lots of arches for him to swim through. It's made of plastic but the texture and color looks absolutely real. It was hollow on the inside and I was worried Lava would go inside and get stuck so I stuffed it with filter floss for now. I'd like to find some Java Moss and put that inside on the top. Lava seems to think he has a new nest and he sleeps inside the hollow part on top (it goes down 1/2 inch) and lies on the filter floss. Sometime he peeks his face out and his tail billows up behind him. He looks like a little bird in there. ;D

Here's a pic of the tank with the new piece:

 

[chickadee]

It is so unique and so lovely and Lava seems to love it. It does indeed look very realistic. VERY Nice!!! You need to enter that photo into the November contest.

Rose

 

[Phloxface]

Thanks Rose!

Now to fix up my other tank...

Here is Phlox's tank as it was last week (before I started his Coppersafe treatment) I had tried 4 other background papers on the tank and Phlox STRONGLY objected to all of them! He flared and bit the glass until I removed the offending paper! Finally I tried the one you see in the pic. He backed up a little, turned his head from side to side examining it, and then calmly went about his business. This was his way of letting me know he approves of this scene. Oddly enough it matches his pillars theme perfectly...

;D Bettas! You gotta love em!

He has a bucketful of new live plants waiting to be put in when his treatment is done. I'll remove the few remaining silk plants he has now and try to landscape the tank in a way that meets with his approval. I'll post his "after" tank shot when I get everything set up.

 

[gammerus]

I love the white rubble

 

[Stradius011]

Thanks Rose!

Now to fix up my other tank...

Here is Phlox's tank as it was last week (before I started his Coppersafe treatment) I had tried 4 other background papers on the tank and Phlox STRONGLY objected to all of them! He flared and bit the glass until I removed the offending paper! Finally I tried the one you see in the pic. He backed up a little, turned his head from side to side examining it, and then calmly went about his business. This was his way of letting me know he approves of this scene. Oddly enough it matches his pillars theme perfectly...

;D Bettas! You gotta love em!

He has a bucketful of new live plants waiting to be put in when his treatment is done. I'll remove the few remaining silk plants he has now and try to landscape the tank in a way that meets with his approval.  I'll post his "after" tank shot when I get everything set up.

Phlox has such a unique personality!

 

[smillermom]

You are making me jealous! I love your tanks!

 

[FishFyer]

WOW I'm surprised that u found that good looking of an ornament in Canada... a very small plant at my LFS is like 5-8 dollars I'm from Canada too and ive never seen ornaments like that for that cheap ur lucky

Jordan

 

[0morrokh]

Your tanks and fishies are beautiful!!  I especially love Phlox's tank.  (I think that's the one, the one with the driftwood)

edit: oh I guess it is Lava's tank.

 

[giz23mo]

cool tank ur betta lloks happy and confused of rock that moves..lol

 

[Phloxface]

cool tank ur betta lloks happy and confused of rock that moves..lol

;D the "rock that moves" has become a monster! He's twice the size he was when I bought him and his antennae are a mile long!

I bought a Hex 5 gallon tank a while ago and got it set up for a new Betta. I've been wanting a female and had my eye on a tiny little white female at Petsmart. I never knew they would even sell a fish that young! She was only 5 weeks old and was nothing more than a tiny speck in the cup with great big sad black eyes. She looked more like a tadpole than a fish. I fell in love with her but was wary of buying a fish that young for fear she would die. I went back regularly to check on her and no one would buy her and she was shoved behind 4 rows of Betta cups where no one would see her. She grew a bit bigger but always had her fins clenched up from the cold and just lay on the bottom looking lonely, bored and depressed. My new tank was finally ready for a fish so I went to buy her and bring her home. She is now 8 weeks old and barely 1/2 inch in length including her tail! After floating her in the tank for an hour I released her and immediately she unclenched her fins and did a funny little "happy dance" in the middle of the tank before racing off to explore. She has barely stopped moving since! She seems so happy and healthy now and full of personality! She seems lost in such a big tank but she will grow into it. The difference between the sad little fish in the cup and the happy girl in the 5 gallon heated filtered tank is like day and night!

Some photos of my baby girl and her tank (her name is Aenara)

 

[atmmachine816]

Cool fish and tank, I lilke it though what's the red buddha guy ???

 

[Phloxface]

Cool fish and tank, I lilke it though what's the red buddha guy ???

It's a "Betta Buddha".    They have them at Petsmart.  It's supposed to be a Betta bowl decoration for luck.  Any Betta stuck in a bowl needs all the luck he can get...   I just thought it was cute. She sleeps on his belly sometimes. It's hilarious!

 

[atmmachine816]

haha that's funny

 

[0morrokh]

Aenara is so beautiful!! Looks a bit like Misty did (one of Rose's old Bettas). She is so lucky to have been rescued from her torture chamber by you. I'm so glad one more Betta will have a good home...in a TANK not a tiny cup. Congrats on the new fishie and welcome to the forum Aenara!!!!

Oh, just wondering, how'd you know how old she is?

 

[Phloxface]

I confirmed her age two ways... First I asked the associate at Petsmart how old the females were when I saw the new shipment a few weeks ago. I thought they looked awfully small to be sold. She agreed and said the supplier said they were about 5-6 weeks. (They had some tiny males as well) I thought fish that young shouldn't be sold as they require special care and food and most customers would not have the experience to properly care for them. I guess their supplier only wants to ship them out faster to make more money...
Customers weren't really interested in fish that small anyways as you could really not tell what they would look like or what colors they would be. I think most (if not all) stayed in their cups at the store. Females don't sell fast anyways... I started cycling a tank and waited until the females got bigger so I'd have a better chance of having her survive. I chose Aenara when I first saw her. It was love at first sight you could say. All of them were cute but she had the biggest, saddest looking eyes I've ever seen! She just stared at me whenever I came in and picked up her cup. We just connected. I was finally ready to bring her home a couple weeks after I met her and she had grown so fast! She's still very tiny and needs special care. Her mouth is far too small for regular Betta pellets. I feed her chopped up frozen bloodworms and am growing some brine shrimp for her. She has a good appetite and is constantly looking for food. (She even blew a huge bubble nest the first day in the tank)
When she was home I searched online for any info on determining Betta age by size. I found this excellent page which confirmed what the Petsmart associate told me. She is about 8 weeks old. The chart only works for Bettas under 11 weeks of age and unfortunately most Bettas in fish stores are older than that so it may never be possible to determine their ages exactly.
I'm hoping that because I was able to get a fish so young that I'll be able to keep her healthy. Most Bettas who have been in the cups for a long time seem to develop finrot. Both my boys had mild cases of it when I got them. Lucky they were treated in time. Aenara and her fins are very healthy so far and I'm keeping a close eye on her to see she stays that way. She's feisty, curious and happy!  She's not quite as tame and trusting as the boys are but she's still new so we are working on that. It shouldn't take long. I talk to her a lot and she listens and watches me.

 

[cherryrose]

HI Phloxface. Your Betta, Lava, looks just like my Barney before he got his fins amputated by some danios! He is currently in a hospital tank recovering. He is soon going to have a large tank to himself with a few cory buddies. I love the way your tank is set up. Its beautiful!

CherryRose

 

[atmmachine816]

I saw three different types of those buddha guys at my lfs, cute.

 

[chickadee]

Congratulations, she is a very beautiful little one. And she does indeed look a lot like Misty.

When I got Misty she was just 6 weeks old and needed special sized food.  There are small pellets by Ocean Nutrition under the name of Atison's Betta Pro.  They are about the size of a period at the end of the sentence (.) and easily handled by baby bettas who are too big for First Foods.  (powder)




Rose

 

[Phloxface]

I picked up some of the baby betta food on Sunday after calling around to several LFS.  The first few days with her were frustating because she was so hungry and she either couldn't eat or wouldn't eat anything I gave her. Because she was so new she still hadn't learned to come up to the feeding door when I opened it. Most of the food sank and she wasn't paying attention.  She was still a little shy and hiding at the back of the tank most of the time. The first day I picked out the smallest Betta Bio-Gold pellet, soaked it to make it soft and gave it to her. She grabbed it and carried it around for awhile like a big ball and then spat it, opened her mouth as wide as she could and ate it, although she nearly choked trying to swallow it!    I didn't try that again as I don't want to do a fishy Heimlich manuever. She loves the baby pellets and constantly dances around the front of the tank now begging for more food.

cherryrose: Don't worry, Barney's fins will come back although it may take about 3 months before you notice. Phlox had finrot and lost most of his fringes 3 months ago. For awhile it looked like they weren't coming back but now they are longer than before and even more beautiful! His fringes were kind of stringy before but now they are wider, longer and tapered towards the ends. His deep red color came back too. The regrowth looked white at first but changed to his normal color.
Post a photo of Barney if you can. I'd love to see Lava's look-alike. 

 

[chickadee]

Since she is such a tiny baby, (I was not aware she was so very young) you may want to feed her 3 or even 4 meals a day since her tummy is so very tiny. She is probably needing the extra nutrition to grow. If you want to cut the pellets to 4 or so per meal then she can get along but she is still doing a lot of internal organ formation and may really be getting very hungry. They are so new to the business of selling the tiny babies in the fishstores that it is hard to keep up with the things that people need for the care and raising of them. Good luck with her, I can definitely relate to the baby fish Heimlich.

Rose

 

[Phloxface]

At first I was feeding her twice a day but noticed she would get lethargic in the middle of the day. I thought maybe she was burning too much energy and without extra fuel she would "run out of gas" between feedings. I started feeding her 4 times a day, smaller meals and since then she has been zipping around the tank non-stop all day long!
She is very tiny indeed! That Buddha figure is only 2 inches tall and looks giant next to her!

 

[chickadee]

I do not want to hijack your post, but I just thought you might like to see the comparison to the little girl I had. She was about the size of yours when I got her. She looked so much like Aenara that it makes me miss her all the more.

Rose

 

[0morrokh]

We'll all miss Misty won't we Rose :'( They do look awfully similar. the only white female Bettas I think I've ever seem.

 

[chickadee]

Nope Sara was REALLY white, even had white eyes.

 

[Phloxface]

Aaawww! She is so cute! She does look a lot like my baby. 

 

[chickadee]

Unfortunately, she was killed by her big sister and did not get much bigger so I do miss her.

Rose

 

[0morrokh]

Sara was white too?? Wow where has my brain been all this time?!! I'm sure I saw pics of all of them but it never registered that Sara was white. I dunno why. :

 

[chickadee]

Yes she even had white eyes. I believe there is a picture of her in the Memorial Section. She was as close to being an albino betta as I have ever seen.

Rose