First Beta

[Joshy]

Hey everyone, I have wanted a beta for quite some time but let go of the idea of having an aquarium for a while. Now however, my passion is back along with the relevant finances haha.

I have seen a really nice 1 foot cubed seamless front aquarium, with the light heater and filter in the lid. I already have it planned in my head to have a black background, and black gravel and not sure on décor or plants yet.

Basic questions:

-I know about cycling the tank, do you recommend using goldfish for the cycle or are you all swayed more too fishless cycles?

-Will a little bit of water-breakage be okay, the water that passes through the filter falls back down to the surface?

-What tank mates do you have with your betas; the tank is a bit big to have the beta on its own for my liking, although I want the beta to be the main centre piece?

-Do any of you know a good source for quality betas? The LFS have poorly looked after and tatty.

Thanks for your time people, glad I came back to this forum

 

[marlie]

Fishless cycle! Using goldfish is very very cruel... and they might survive it, what would you do then if you want it as a trop tank?

Water breakage will be fine from the filter.

If youre wanting a betta, you are immediately cutting down your choice of tankmates to almost nothing. You could have some corydoras, bottom feeding catfish (tank may be a little small for most plecs) some otos and possibly loaches...

Also possible tank mates are shrimp, snails and frogs (be careful with the shrimp though, betta might eat it)

For good quality betta try dpfishways.com. Brilliant UK seller, and any of his bettas would look gorgeous on his own in a a lovely planted up tank!

 

[devon_charm]

You can cycle you tank with your betta in it. Allot of my boys live in unfiltered tanks, as ln as te water is changed regular he will be fine while it cycles. a number of people do this.

As long as the water curent is not too strong then water breakage is fine

Finding tank mates for betas is hard as these fish prefer to live alone. However as ha been mentined you can get away with cory and i think a group of pygmy cory would work well in your tank size.

There are several good quality online shops for bettas so have a look around and see thats avliable.

My shop is thebettalady.co.uk but i wont have any thing in for a week or so.

You might wan to try Ebay as sometimes you can grab a looker on there.

Then you have KG Bettas, SQ bettas and KP Aquatics, all woth a look. Just promise you will show us pics of him once you get him

 

[Deefus]

I put my Alfie in an uncycled tank, after a few people here said it should be fine, with regular partial water changes. So that's what I've been doing.. daily partial water changes. Also testing the water daily, to make sure everything's ok.

He's been with me for two weeks now, and seems a very happy chappy (gawd, I hope I haven't jinxed him now!)

Dee

 

[nataliabeds]

Yeah, you dont need to cycle your tank for betta. Just keep an eye on water stats. If you want a quality fish you can pm Netty or Bronzecat on here, cause they have some lovely bettas on sale right now. Good luck