My Rio 180 Betta Tank Journal... Pic Heavy...

[Haych]

ok, IIRC a betta needs around 5gallons of water EACH - which is fine.

I have a rio 180, and wanted to seperate for bettas.

Now, I would LOVE to put 4 males, and a sorority of girls in the centre,kinda like this:

now, the width is: 100cm / 39.5 inches
the depth is:40cm / 16 inches
the height is: 40cm / 16 inches

if I split the tank as I want in the diagram, would it be fair on the boys to have more distance front to back then left to right? do they need more space left to right than I could offer if I have four males and sorority?

any help appreciated, as I dont wanna upset any bettas, and would like to know BEFORE I divide off

 

[MewMew42]

hmmm ive worked it out as if you do each male section at 16.5cm and the female section at 33/34cm

the males will have 6.98us g or 5.81uk g an the females 12uk g or 14.38 us g

tbh i dont think that having 16.5 cm width will be a problem as its nearly 6gs or water in there as long as they can turn round!

i guess it depends on how you want to to look!

edited to add that i think this is an awesome idea!

 

[Haych]

thanks for that

i just didnt know if it would be ok for the lads, but if it is, i may as well crack on!

oh and how many females can be kept in 12 gallons then?

 

[Rezatii]

In 12g probs 7 or so mayyybe 8, depending on what filtration you're using

-Rezz

 

[Haych]

it will be an external tetratec, 700 / 1200 , internal heater (just the 1)

 

[Honeythorn]

I have 5 girls in my 12 gallon which seems to be working fine, along with 4 male endlers. Just to give you a sense of what you could have. I'd say 5-6 is ok for a 12 gallon section.

 

[Haych]

i went out today and finally bought the stuff needed to make the dividers!

6x dividers @ £1.89 from hobby craft and 20x strips (2x10) for the sliders @ £3.39 per pack

i also managed to source a nice cheap tetratec ex700 from ebay for a tidy £20 delivered

i just added the media from my eheim to that, and just need the carbon pad thingys that it.

i also have a lovely pair of coconuts to make into houses, just gotta suss how to skin em!

i have siliconed the sliders in at one end, but as i am having to work around the half of sand i couldnt find a tempoary home to it isnt easy, so half at a time!

i'm a little unhappy with the way they look atm, as they look really untidy, but the silicone just does not want to cooperate at all, so will see tomorrow how it looks. i hope i dont have to change anything as it took me blinkin ages!

will keep you posted (with pics) when i get updates

 

[Zenandra]

Wow I think that tank is going to look fantastic! Great idea! Can't wait to see the finished product

 

[Haych]

thanks

i just hope i can tidy the silicone, it just rolls up and glues to the tube making my life really hard!!

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi,

Just to be safe, you might just want to work on the sorority first before adding in males so you can keep an eye on the girls. I tried 6 in a 10-gallon and they fought too much and I couldn't bare to watch it. If you have the dividers set up with empty compartments, it'll be easy to transfer any especially aggressive girls over there.

Good luck.

 

[Haych]

yeah i was going to do that anyway, as the boys i have being eyeing up are around £20-30 each

the other issue i have, girls are very hard to come by around here

but thanks

 

[soph_betta]

Heya
Ive just done a new lot of coconut caves myself for the girly tank and i found that cutting them in half with a hacksaw was easy enough just roll up a towel to hold around the base to keep them still or they will roll everywhere!!!(or if the partner is avalible get him to hold hehe)
once in half take a knife and score deeply into the white fleshy part than pluck out prefurably taking the thin layer of membrane with it. then if you can get hold of a fine grater that you would use for parasan chease (usualy the side that no one i know uses) and grate gentally till its to your prefurance ive left mine a lil bit rough for the girls tank to look more natural!
I will hopefully in the next day or two do a journal of the stages of the girls tanks so you could get some ideas!

 

[jasminekiddell]

Looking brillaint so far! I reckon its gonna look amazing finished!

 

[Haych]

thanks guys

am still not sure on the state of the silicone, will try and gently get some off later (if i can be bothered tonight lol)

 

[Haych]

well.. have come to do it tonight, and Kev has managed to rescue my dividers so I dont have to tear them out and start again.

Been a MAHOOSIVE stress, I managed to shout at kev, bawl and get rather hissy, throw a couple of things and pull out a divider (not the slides thankfully)

pics;

i have literally been SEWING these together, the two parts (as werent tall enough) were bowing seperatly, and the fish would have got through, so i sewed them together!

tomorrows tasks;

stitch dividers together
get dividers put in left slides,
put in sand
fix divider taken out in paddy!
put on backing