CO2 Advice

[tbetta]

Hi everyone I have a 10 gallon betta tank with amazon swordplants and I just planted dwarf hairgrass. The lighting is good and the substrate is caribsea eco-complete. I was wondering if I should use a CO2 system and, if so, what kind?

 

[Byron]

Hairgrass is not an easy plant, and I will leave that for more experienced members. I have heavily planted tanks, but my light is deliberately moderate to low so I avoid these difficult plants which I have tried without success.

One thing I would suggest though is floating plants. Betta naturally cruise among floating vegetation, and will feel less stressed if floating plants are present. This will obviously reduce the light getting to the substrate, but I am a fan of providing more what the fish needs than plants.

Byron.

 

[tbetta]

Hairgrass is not an easy plant, and I will leave that for more experienced members. I have heavily planted tanks, but my light is deliberately moderate to low so I avoid these difficult plants which I have tried without success.

One thing I would suggest though is floating plants. Betta naturally cruise among floating vegetation, and will feel less stressed if floating plants are present. This will obviously reduce the light getting to the substrate, but I am a fan of providing more what the fish needs than plants.

Byron.

Which floating plants do you recommend?

 

[tbetta]

Also, should I just uproot the hair grass?

 

[Byron]

Which floating plants do you recommend?

There are small species like duckweed, which while a true floating plant, is usually more of a nuisance than benefit from a visual perspective, though it is ideal to consume ammonia and such nutrient substances. Salvinia is more substantive, and quite pretty, but still small. The more significant plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris cornuta), Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) are three very lovely plants, as they provide dangling root masses (esp Water Sprite) which all anabantids really love to swim among, picking off bits of microscopic food. And of course some build bubble nests among such plants, and fry can easily hide among them too.

Then there are some of the stem plants which will grow fine just floating. Pennywort is one particularly good for this. Cabomba and Wisteria are two others, though these are more light requiring and sometimes don't last too long.

Edit: I wouldn't pull out the hairgrass, it might manage. But be prepared to have it slowly weaken and die. All depends upon your light and nutrient availability.

Byron.