I Bought My First Betta Yesterday....

[Lizzie71]

Following on from my posts about the betta I bought on impulse yesterday (Terry), and the fact that I was worried about him in a community tank, my children and I have come up with a brilliant solution (which sadly involved spending more money ).

The 34 litre (8 gallon) tank that did have our 3 platys, 1 guppy, 2 otos and 2 shrimp in, has now been divided to make a home for 2 bettas After ages of messing about trying to cut the divider to size, I have now got what seems to be a good solution with no gaps. Terry is in one half already, and his new 'friend' George is being acclimatised in the other half. Each will have one shrimp and one oto as friends, unless they start picking on them.

The 2 foot tank is now home to the platys, the guppy, and 4 new x-ray tetras. This will form my peaceful community tank.

I moved 2/3 of the filter media from the small tank to the big one, as most of the fish were moving, and left 1/3 in the small tank which will hopefully be sufficient to deal with the bettas, otos and shrimp. I will of course be doing frequent tests to see how things are doing, and water changes if necessary.

I will post pics later once all the new fish are acclimatised and settled in. The small tank is a bit cloudy right now as I stirred up all the gravel when trying to fit the divider

I hope you all agree that this will be a really good solution. 4 gallons per betta seems ample, and I can have the bigger tank for the peaceful community fish I want.

 

[liz2]

there will be no stopping you now once you have got the betta bug!

 

[hollyp0p]

nope you're in already....I still only have once since october.....but believe me i 'burn' for more

 

[Lizzie71]

You wouldn't believe how hard it was setting up the tank divider - it was a nightmare! It was the wrong size but when I cut it, I couldn't fix it to the sides. Now it is fitted on with metal clips, but the lid doesn't close properly any more

I just hope the bettas can't push it over.

 

[hollyp0p]

You wouldn't believe how hard it was setting up the tank divider - it was a nightmare! It was the wrong size but when I cut it, I couldn't fix it to the sides. Now it is fitted on with metal clips, but the lid doesn't close properly any more

I just hope the bettas can't push it over.

is it a filtered tank?
Just checking cos if it is you'll now need a filter for each side!

 

[Lizzie71]

It is filtered but I don't think I need two filters. The divider is sort of a plastic sheet with tiny holes in, so the water flows through. So I only need one heater and one filter.

The only thing is the boys will be able to see each other through the divider - I hope this won't cause problems.

 

[hollyp0p]

It is filtered but I don't think I need two filters. The divider is sort of a plastic sheet with tiny holes in, so the water flows through. So I only need one heater and one filter.

The only thing is the boys will be able to see each other through the divider - I hope this won't cause problems.

ahh thats ok then, it sounded before like you had one of those solid ones.....should be fine with that

 

[HODDY]

just like to point out that oto's prefer being in groups

 

[Lizzie71]

I know about the otos and the shrimps too. I did think I'd get two more of each so they were in pairs but maybe I'll put the otos together with one betta and the shrimps with the other. Although one shrimp is missing today......hope Terry didn't eat him

 

[Lizzie71]

Here is the newly divided tank, George is the red one on the left, Terry is the blue one on the right. The kids chose the starfish The plant on the left has an algae problem, but hopefully it will improve soon.

This is a closer shot of George - I'm a bit worried about his fins which appear a bit tattered, but he doesn't seem ill so hopefully he'll heal in time.