First Divided Betta Tank

[Forestpisces]

Ok so after some thinking i have come up with a soloution to my recently found problem

A week or so ago i bought a second hand 54litre tank with heater filter and light system (all funtioning) for £10! yep bargin, thats why i love my regular customers So i plan to divide this into three sections to house two of my male bettas and the two new twin girls. This will be happening quite quickly starting tomorow (getting wood cut to extend my windowsill by 2 inches tomorow morning after my x ray ).
I came to this conclusion as:

1. it allows me to house the girls seperately out of the community tank which i was worried about but after just a few hours they seem to be settleing quite well, but do stick together alot.

2. It solves my problem of having too many tanks and a massive elecric bill as it allows me to take down the two seperate 5gals the 2 boys are in taking me down to 3 tank which is far more managable than 4 or 5
Now the tank in question is 24inches wide, 12 inches deep and 12inches high, i plan to make the two end sections 7inches wide and the middle section for the girls 10inches wide making the footprint for each section

7" x 12"x 12" two of these

10" x 12" x 12"


now in my opinion this should be sufficient for my two boys but would it suffice for the two girls? They are almost exactly the same and are from the same spawn, they were housed together alone in the shop before i brought them home and when they were with the breeder who brought them in and i have yet to see ANY aggression.

Sorry about the long post Any thoughts anyone?

 

[silverrabbit]

I think the compartment sizes sound fine, but my concern would be with the 2 girls - 2 isn't a great number and they might get nippy with each other after a while. Maybe if you plant it really well to provide plenty of cover?

Hope it all works out for ya

 

[Forestpisces]

oh don't worry i think i'm going to go abit mad on the plants haha and if they do get nippy i'll judge and see if i should re arrange and add more or shift one or both of them back into the 20gal

 

[loraxchick]

it sounds like a great and reasonable plan! keep us updated as to the progress. and of course pics when its all set up and running
cheers

 

[Kieren_1992]

i got my first divided tank not along ago, only have two sections though (ideal for my two VT) and it cost me a 10er came with under-gravel filter too

 

[Forestpisces]

Just got back from shopping for dividers etc on my one day off and low and behold no where sells tank dividers so stuff it i've DIYed tanks before i'm sure i can make some decent temorary ones to last me, i want to try and move the boys and girls over tonight if poss, it's guna be a long night

I'll deffo try and get pics asap when i find a camera that works

 

[BethK]

By some mesh, like this stuff;

And get a few of these black spine binder thingys;

And some masking tape...............bash it altogether and you got a divider

 

[Forestpisces]

i think i'd be hesitant to put masking tape in my tank haha and i've also heard that the fish can still nip through that mesh stuff

I'll be picking up the dividers and extention tomorow at work, i do hate having to wait around to finnish a project atm my bedroom looks like a building site

 

[Larkspur]

I haven't had any trouble with the mesh and nipping. Neither of my males has ever attempted it, but even still the holes are VERY small. I have so much algae I have to scrape my divider just so a small amount of water can actually pass through to the other end and it is still pretty stagnant on the one side.