New To Betas (progress Thread)

[littlest]

agree with bubblenester... the penn plax filter is good for little tanks because its small and neat, but with a 7 gallon you'll probably want something a bit bigger.

 

[yorkshiretyker]

Now the tank is cycling I can start thinking more about the betta/bettas. Reading through the forums it seems that it's difficult to tell, from one betta to another whether it will tolerance a tank mate, so forgive me if my first query isn't so straight forwards and more of a "how longs a piece of string type question"

Would it be possible to add some female bettas in with a male? or would even the females need separating? Also reading through the forums it seems as if many betta keepers have more than 1 male bettas either in a separate tank or in a separated tank.

Due to space and a hard time trying convince my Mother that a small betta tank will look cool downstairs, then would the 7 Gallon tank 17L 10H 10W that I'm currently cycling be suitable to separate for adding another male? Obviously if I were to separate the tank, then IHMO it might not be the best idea to add any females with the males in such small space, but I'm just thinking about the different options that I have with the 10G tank.

There's so much to think about - and it gets so exciting!

 

[azulfire24]

for me personally i would rather keep all boy or all girls on one tank of water,, i have my 2nd 10 gal partioned off but the males can still see,, and smell the female,, and i think it is irritating everybody on both sides,, ,, even with a see threw barrier my boys got used to seeing each other ,, the occasional flare but nothing magior,, now the one that i am not sure is boy or girl swims up and bugs them both... if u have a 7 gallon i would try to devide it in to 3 spaces,, and then have 3 boys,, or go the oppeset and not devide and have a hole tank of girls,, but even the ladies can get nasyt so when keeping girls togather have at least 4 so the aggression is spread out,, 5 would probally work best ,, leaves alittle more than 1 fish per gal space

 

[Amunet]

Males and females should never be put together unless you're breeding them, and even then it's not a simple, put them together and hope for the best type of thing.
So no.. NO females in with the male unless you have them all divided from eachother.

a divider in the tank would be good though. You'll have to do something about the filter flow since one betta is going to get blown around everywhere.

 

[yorkshiretyker]

So either males or females per tank and obviously no more than 1 male per tank. My heart says go for a male, and then as and when I find another male I like split the tank, but my mind is saying go for 4 or five females.

The females I have seen in the LFS are rather drab looking, however imagine that this would be very different buying from a breeder, which I intend to do.

Sorry for another silly question, but do bettas need some place to hide or go inside?

 

[stang1]

Bettas do like places to hide whether it be plants, ornaments etc. as it tends to make them feel more secure. Anubias are a great plant with broad leaves and ideal for your Betta to "rest" on. Another fairly hardy plant is Java Fern, it has longer leaves and great for your Betta to swim amongst. Both of these plants can be tied to wood, rock etc. as they don't need the substrate to help them grow. If you do decide to plant them, only bury the roots in the substrate.

 

[littlest]

I've not kept females betta, so excuse me if I'm well off here, but I thought 7 gallons was a bit small for a sorority (group of female bettas)?

I think it's a nice size to divide in two though for two males.

Agree with having plants - if you don't fancy live plants get silk ones (not plastic because it can hurt their fins). I've got quite a lot of silk plants in my betta tank and my betta Copernicus often rests on the upper leaves at night. And in the day has some fun swimming in between and around them.

 

[frostpixie]

i have bamboo in my betta bowls my guys seem to really like it and apparently, it grows nicely as well. it doesnt require all that much care either.

 

[Amunet]

I've not kept females betta, so excuse me if I'm well off here, but I thought 7 gallons was a bit small for a sorority (group of female bettas)?

I have 4 females in a 7gallon space.. and I have to say... I agree with that. I don't think it is big enough for my 4 girls which is why this setup is only temporary until we've moved and I can get another tank for my boy Rex (preferably one I can divide so he'll still have a buddy on the other side).

Although my females get along fairly well (not exactly peaceful with eachother though)... it really isn't room for them each to have a little area of their own. It's hard to explain. They're not cramped or anything and the bickering between them is only a chase here and there, but I know they'd do alot better if they had the whole 10gals.


The females you saw at the store might look drab there, but could possibly color up once they're in a healthier environment. It happens to alot of bettas once they're brought home and have their humans take good care of them

And as others have already said, yes bettas definitly like a little something they can hide in. Whether it be a cave decor type of thing or plants.

My bettas Raj, Afia, Caine, Sherbert (RIP to them all), all prefered to sleep/rest under and in their decor. While my bettas now seem to prefer the plants over the caves.

 

[betta_luvr]

Sorry for another silly question, but do bettas need some place to hide or go inside?

They're very sociable characters, but they do like a bit of a hiding place for when they're feeling anti-social. I've just got my first 15L tank, and put a live plant, and a little castle in there with lots of little grooves as hiding holes. I'm planning on getting a male Betta on his own - they look so impressive! you won't be disappointed. [: That's for sure.

If you have 4/5 females like you said, more hiding space will probably be necessary to avoid friction between them. Your tank looks great so far - those pots you have look like good enough hiding places to me.

Good luck.

 

[snoopyfrench87]

just a quickie

i use a corner bubble box filter, it keeps the tank clean, doesn't disturb the fish and provides lots of air bubbles on the surface.

also you can get cheap fish set ups from Wilkinson's in the UK,

and World of Water which is an aquarium store chain across country stocks fancy betas - i know i work there!

good luck!!

 

[betta_luvr]

You can get a mini setup from Aldi today for £19.99 [:

 

[yorkshiretyker]

You can get a mini setup from Aldi today for £19.99 [:

That would have been a good deal, however I've managed to salvage an old rena pump from the garage, and a 50W heater - the 25W heater was broken, but the 50W works fine and seems to fit quite nicely.

I've been to Pets At Home and got some air-tube, air control valve and a Penn Plax Small world filter. I guess all that's left now is to wait for the tank to cycle.

As yet for cycling, I've done nothing but let the water sit - should I start adding some food into the tank to encourage the bacteria colonize? Also the water has gone very slightly cloudy, Although the gravel was thoroughly washed I wonder if the cloudiness is coming from the gravel, and wonder if adding the new filter will deal with the cloudiness.

Not much change, but update on tank

 

[betta_luvr]

I have a 25W heater with my 3.97 gallon aquarium and everything's fine.

That sounded random.
I tried to quote the "25W heater needs a 10G" thing, but it didn't show up.

 

[littlest]

I mentioned this before, but since you bought the Smallword filter I'll mention it again... in more detail.

You know that the bottom half of the filter has foam, and the top half has carbon/zeolite? Well you don't need to the carbon/zeolite. If you were to use it you need to replace it regularly, but because of the way the filter is designed this would mean throwing away the foam too, along with all your beneficial bacteria.

so this is what I did:

got a craft knife/stanley knife and cut a squarish hole in the upper part of the filter cartridge (where the carbon/zeolite is) along the lines of the plastic.
Poured out all the carbon/zeolite
Shoved a bit of foam (cut to size) in its place. (if you have mature media to hand you can add that in the place of the carbon/zeolite)

thus doubling the area for bacteria to colonise and getting rid of the unnecessary carbon/zeolite.

Once you've added you modified filter then comes the time to start the fishless cycling, whether with fish food or ammonia. I prefer ammonia because it less messy and easy to control the amount.

I don't know if you have done a fishless cycle before? if not read here

oh and one more thing.. did you get a non-return valve for the airline? If not, get one (very cheap).