Substrate for Bettas

I've been thinking of changing the gravel in Spartacus's tank for some time now. I never did really like it, but it was free with the tank my sis in law gave me and it was all I had. However, there's not enough gravel in the tank. I have some kind of live plant bunch in it and it's really hard to get it to stay securely with so little gravel to bury it with.

I'm already in the process of updating my 55 gallon. Since it will be an African Cichlid MalawI tank, I've decided on using black sand and rock to duplicate my fish's natural habitat, so it wouldn't be too hard to order an extra bag or two for my little 5 gallon. I'm also thinking that the small, fine sand would be a boost to my beneficial bacteria too? Would Betta's be ok with a sand substrate? Or is the one specifically designed for them? I was originally thinking about getting some Eco Complete, since I'd like to add more live plants in his tank, but it only comes in a 20 lb bag and, I'd only need about, what, 10 lbs of substrate? (2 lbs of gravel for every gallon of water right?)

 

I've read a number of places saying silica sand for bettas, but i'd think black sand should be ok.

 

NEVER use sand for Bettas. Rose lost a fish once when she ate some of the sand and the fish died a horrible death because she couldn't digest the sand. Bettas are like babies. Anything that will fit in their mouths will be tasted. Best substrate for Bettas is any smooth coated gravel or polished river stones. It should be sized big enough that the fish can't swallow it.

 

EcoComplete was what I was using when my Betta ate some and got stuffed with it and died a horrible death. NO please do not put anything like that size in any tank that a betta will be put into. Nothing smaller than regular aquarium gravel, preferably epoxy coated, should be used.

Rose

 

Do you have a Dollar Tree store? The one here has smaller smooth river rocks at 50 cents per pound. It's going to be our new substrata in all of the tanks.. no gravel dust, no easy sliding down of debris like with marbles, no dirt to worry about the bettas eating..

 

I've got polished river rocks (each piece about the size of half a pea) in two of my tanks and am putting the same in Lava's tank. I like it because it looks natural, is smooth and polished so won't tear Betta fins and has no artificial coatings. I'll eventually change my two divided tanks to this gravel too. Right now they have white smooth coated gravel and I worry about the chemicals used to coat it (they say it's safe but who really knows?) plus the algae really is noticeable on it.
The brand I used is Top Fin and was about $5 for a 5 lb bag. The natural color also doesn't reflect color onto your Betta, drowning out his own natural color.

 

I wish we'd gone with the river rocks first.. spent a fortune on all those flat marbles. No petsmart in town for us, so the small polished river rocks at the dollar tree are what we have to pick from if we want that substrata. I'll be glad when all the tanks have rocks in long enough that I can feel they've built up some good bacteria and take the marbles out.