live plants in betta tank or no?

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Bettapuppy

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Hi all. I have a 6.7 gallon tank with one betta in it and I was wondering if that would be too small for a live plant or two. I tried planting some of those betta bulbs and they they just molded.
 
Hi all. I have a 6.7 gallon tank with one betta in it and I was wondering if that would be too small for a live plant or two. I tried planting some of those betta bulbs and they they just molded.
Hi and welcome to the forum :hi:

Your tank is big enough to have live plants. Bettas love heavily planted aquariums.

Plants need a lot of light through, 8-12 hours is recommended.

Good luck!
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :hi:

Your tank is big enough to have live plants. Bettas love heavily planted aquariums.

Plants need a lot of light through, 8-12 hours is recommended.

Good luck!

Oh good! My betta is currently be treated for some very stubborn fin rot, but once he is better and I have beneficial bacteria back in my tank I’d like to get one for him. I just have regular aquarium gravel and the LED light that came with my tank, will that be enough? What plant species do you recommend for a beginner?
 
I think this is one for @Byron he’s very good with plants.

Byron can you help here?
 
Fin rot is caused by a dirty environment that allows bacteria and other disease organisms to infect the fish.

The easiest way to treat fin rot is by doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a couple of weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. Try having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.

If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it.
If you get a small amount of algae then the lighting time is about right.

Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.

Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.
I use Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.

Do not bother adding carbon fertiliser to the tank because they are not necessary.
 
Bettas love marimo moss balls. They need almost no care at all, so they are great for a beginner. Anacharis is also good. Bettas like to rest on anubias plants, and there all sorts of varieties.
 
Floating plants (Colin mentioned some) are ideal as they are native to Betta habitats. And they are generally the easiest plants to keep healthy.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :hi:

Your tank is big enough to have live plants. Bettas love heavily planted aquariums.

Plants need a lot of light through, 8-12 hours is recommended.

Good luck!
I agree! Betta’s Love to rest on plants.
 

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