Inherited A Betta In Tiny Tank - How Do I Switch To Bigger?

[Miss Wiggle]

what colour sponge do i need to use? i have black, green, blue and white. all do diff things apparently.

erm unless they've had something specific added to them to make them do something else i can't see it. i've always thought that's a bit of a marketing con

some filters will have different coloured ones that are different thickness and density to go in different places in the filter, this is to catch most of the waste at the start so the sponges afterwards can just be used to house the bacteria colony.

for just 1 betta it really doesn't matter cos he won't produce that much waste. just get one of them that's been in the filter a reasonable amount of time but isn't really old, chop it up and get it in the new filter. just remember it needs to be kept moist with tank water all the time so you've gotta do it fairly quickly to stop the bacteria dying off. but as long as you have everything prepared before, take it out, cut it, put it in and plug the filter back in you'll be fine. just don't go make a cuppa in the middle of it

 

[jenny6165]

well ive moved him over to his new tank and hes alot more active, and hes eating
he seems quite happy, so im happy

the tank is still a little bit cloudy, but its gradually clearing up. The temp is 25 degrees centigrade.

What sort of fish will be able to live with him? would it be a good idea to put a pleco is there to 'clean up' or will that just cause more waste. i have a piece of driftwood in there, so a pleco would like that. although i understand plecos get to about 10cm so it would have to be moved to a bigger tank when it got older.

What other fish can live in there peacefully? i will have the tropical tank as a backup if it goes pear shaped.

 

[zoekin8yg]

you can put some pigmy cories in with him, a pleco can egt way bigger than 10cm depending on species, some get up to 2ft! The will eat bloodworms/daphnia/special betta food and so on

 

[jenny6165]

i was thinking maybe a bristlenose, they get to 10 cms. u can buy them from the lfs at just 2cm. so figure i can upgrade the pleco when he gets too big, which i imagine will take a while?

heres piccies of the betta and his tank. as u can see its just a bit cloudy now.

suggestions welcome. so far its just got gravel, plants and a piece of driftwood.

 

[lisa_perry75]

Wow, the tank looks really good!

The cloudiness is probably from not cleaning the gravel enough, darned stuff takes forever to clean! It will eventually clear To make it happen faster you could put some poly wool into the filter.

A bristlenose would be good, but not very responsible to be thinking when can you get rid of it

How about some ottos? They will eat the algae, appreciate the bogwood and not get too big for the tank They are quite sweet too!

Or maybe some algae shrimp? They look pretty cool, and armoured shrimp? Maybe think about some apple snails? You can get them in all kinds of colours www.snailshop.co.uk

For tank mates think about some pygmy cories

 

[Miss Wiggle]

awwww pretty betta and tank sure he'll be loads happier in there.

personally i'd leave him by himself, plec's are big poop machines and will mess the tank up more than they'll clean it.

you need to be careful with shrimp some betta's will attack them, in fact some bettas will attack anything and simply not tolerate any companions. if you want to try him by all means do but make sure you have a back up plan incase it doesn't work out.

 

[jenny6165]

well the tank finally cleared

i didnt mean getting rid of the pleco in a nasty way, i meant moving him to a bigger tank if he got too big.
would a pleco that when adult grows to 10cm be too big for a 5 gallon? i have a soft spot for plecos they are like one of my fave fish of course im not planning on adding anything yet, i want to wait for him to settle in and make sure the tank stats stay spot on.

anyway, the betta has settled in well, he comes to say hello when im on the computer
We havent named him yet, really rubbish with names.

heres a new piccie of him

 

[Glod]

Personally I wouldn't put anything the size of a Bristlenose (5-6") in anything under 20 gallons. If I recall your tank is pretty square, so there really wouldn't be much room for him once he grew up.

Otocinculus stay under 2 inches and are pretty good as algae cleaners, if it's something to keep the bottom clear you could maybe look at some of the smaller loaches too. The other advantage of Otos is they are pretty drab coloured, so unlikely to upset your betta from a "competitor" point of view. We all know they don't like brightly coloured companions Pygmy Corys would also be an option if your Betta will tolerate "friends" at all.