So I Finally Got My 10 Gallon Setup.

[Dieses Madchen]

Sand is not the best substrate for tropical fish. It's great for salt water fish though. You do have too much gravel and it looks like your heater is on the left end and the filter return is on the right end. The heater is too far from the highest water current area of the tank and you will get uneven heating if I'm seeing this correctly. Try to move the heater to center or toward the side with the filter return tube. This will distribute the heat more evenly.

Other than that....Beautiful tank but even prettier Betta. He is absolutely adorable.

Thank you, I will definitely do that. I have the thermometer at the opposite side of the tank, in between the filter and the heater and it is reading 78, so hopefully that is accurate as far as the tank right now. But I will move it when I get home this afternoon.





On a lighter note, does anyone have any name suggestions for this little rockstar? I can't think of one

 

[Whisper]

The only point I have to make is that there is not enough beneficial bacteria on gravel to be of any use to a tank, it is all stored in our filters.

Personally I think a betta should be on sand for the sake of their fins. I have seen your bare bottom tank with the tiles and find it very strange indeed. I can and do keep my sand spotless and prefer it aesthetically as well.
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That's a good point but depending on the type of filters one uses they may replace the cartriages often and remove a lot of beneficial bacterial. I try to speak in generic terms here because I don't know what type of filters people use, or how much they stock their tanks. So the more beneficial bacteria the better generally speaking. In my case, it doesn't matter becaue I only keep one Betta alone in each tank and the minimum size I use is 10 gallons. I don't need a substrate to holdthe amount of beneficial bacteria I need for one fish in a ten gallon or my 20 gallon tanks.

I'm sure your tanks look great and glad you take such good care of your Bettas!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Wow, I was just posting to get tips....didn't mean for a "who's right" war to break out....But I will take all advice into consideration as I was my betta to be happy. I am going to wait a week or so before trying to remove gravel or anything as I just got him and I want him to be used to me before I go sticking my hands all up in his home and stuff. How long does it generally take for a Betta to become comfortable in a new surrounding? I am just really tip toeing on eggshells with this boy as I have lost to many recently for reasons unknown.

 

[Whisper]

Wow, I was just posting to get tips....didn't mean for a "who's right" war to break out....But I will take all advice into consideration as I was my betta to be happy. I am going to wait a week or so before trying to remove gravel or anything as I just got him and I want him to be used to me before I go sticking my hands all up in his home and stuff. How long does it generally take for a Betta to become comfortable in a new surrounding? I am just really tip toeing on eggshells with this boy as I have lost to many recently for reasons unknown.

I would say he will get comfortable as soon as he sees his environment is stable. Find a good spot away from any air vents or open windows for him where he can stay. Try to feed him at the same time every day, you can talk to him and hang near him. He'll find you just as interesting as you find him especially in that little vase. Because we don't know what the ph is in the vase and what the tap water is in your home I must again say just do small water changes. It's a lot less stressfull on the fish. If you start to see the water get cloudy then increase the amount and fequency of the water change a little.

 

[Whisper]

Sand is not the best substrate for tropical fish. It's great for salt water fish though. You do have too much gravel and it looks like your heater is on the left end and the filter return is on the right end. The heater is too far from the highest water current area of the tank and you will get uneven heating if I'm seeing this correctly. Try to move the heater to center or toward the side with the filter return tube. This will distribute the heat more evenly.

Other than that....Beautiful tank but even prettier Betta. He is absolutely adorable.

Thank you, I will definitely do that. I have the thermometer at the opposite side of the tank, in between the filter and the heater and it is reading 78, so hopefully that is accurate as far as the tank right now. But I will move it when I get home this afternoon.





On a lighter note, does anyone have any name suggestions for this little rockstar? I can't think of one

I wouldn't attempt to think of a name for him because I think names are personal. Just keep staring at him thinking about how he looks to you and a name will come to you. I named a female Christy because I bought her on Christmas eve. I named my baby boy Puppy because his two fins under his gills are thick and hang down like the paws of a puppy.

 

[lilfishie]

On a lighter note, does anyone have any name suggestions for this little rockstar ? I can't think of one

I think you have a perfect name for your lil man right there

To stop the argueing substrate holds very little bacteria (Gravel or Sand!), i have sand in all 8 of my tanks, the filter media gets cleaned but not replaced therefore i don't loose and bacteria, i always have a few spares running too just incase of 1 breaking etc


I personally have found my live plants to grow better in sand than gravel and 1 of my divided tanks is mixed and the bettas tend to rest on the sand rather than the gravel

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Wow, I was just posting to get tips....didn't mean for a "who's right" war to break out....But I will take all advice into consideration as I was my betta to be happy. I am going to wait a week or so before trying to remove gravel or anything as I just got him and I want him to be used to me before I go sticking my hands all up in his home and stuff. How long does it generally take for a Betta to become comfortable in a new surrounding? I am just really tip toeing on eggshells with this boy as I have lost to many recently for reasons unknown.

I would say he will get comfortable as soon as he sees his environment is stable. Find a good spot away from any air vents or open windows for him where he can stay. Try to feed him at the same time every day, you can talk to him and hang near him. He'll find you just as interesting as you find him especially in that little vase. Because we don't know what the ph is in the vase and what the tap water is in your home I must again say just do small water changes. It's a lot less stressfull on the fish. If you start to see the water get cloudy then increase the amount and fequency of the water change a little.

Ummm, I think you posted to the wrong topic, because my betta is in a 10gallon tank, not a little vase, and the pH is stable at 7.6 And he isn't my first betta, I have just never had one in a filtered tank before

On a lighter note, does anyone have any name suggestions for this little rockstar ? I can't think of one

I think you have a perfect name for your lil man right there

To stop the argueing substrate holds very little bacteria (Gravel or Sand!), i have sand in all 8 of my tanks, the filter media gets cleaned but not replaced therefore i don't loose and bacteria, i always have a few spares running too just incase of 1 breaking etc


I personally have found my live plants to grow better in sand than gravel and 1 of my divided tanks is mixed and the bettas tend to rest on the sand rather than the gravel

The gravel in my tank is actually a substrate made for plants, and has beneficial bacteria in it to help convert fish waste to plant food. It's better than gravel. I bought it for the real plant that I have in there, and for the ones I will have in the future that will replace the plastic ones that are in there. The filter on the tank is cycled, as I pulled some media from my extablish tank, 1/5 of the media to be exact, which is equipped to handle the load of 6 adult platys/swordtail, a pleco, and 9 platy babies.

 

[catfish4ever]

Way too much gravel and I'd swap it for sand.

Other than that looks good, but will look better once you've gotten rid of the plastic.

I think the gravel looks fine but agreed that there could be a bit less

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Way too much gravel and I'd swap it for sand.

Other than that looks good, but will look better once you've gotten rid of the plastic.

I think the gravel looks fine but agreed that there could be a bit less

I'm going to take that advice, but I am going to wait about a week before I go sticking my hands in his home. He is still getting used to not living in a jar

 

[Dieses Madchen]

So I added 4 Rasboras and to Albino Cories. ( I know that 4 is a little small for a rasbora school, but they only had 4 at my LFS.) But the fish are getting along so well. They Betta will swim peacefully with the rasboras and the albinos are soooo neat to watch. The cories are juvenile, only about and inch long and I think the rasboras are adults. They are only meant to get about 1 inch according to the LFS. It is so nice to watch my tank now, seeing how all the fish mesh so well together.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

What kind of Rasboras are these? They were just labeled as "Rasbora"

 

[lilfishie]

Harliquins gernerally very peacful so should be ideal with your betta

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Harliquins gernerally very peacful so should be ideal with your betta

Oh and they do. They all swim peacefully together. I haven't seen my betta act agressive at all. In fact, the betta and the cories tend to chase each other playfully. It's so funny. And I know its for their entertainment because I haven't seen the betta nip or anything. He will chase them, then they will turn and chase him back lol

 

[Jinty McGinty]

Corries should be kept on sand!!

And schools of 6.

 

[lilfishie]

they may be ok on the substrate, it doesn't look too sharp to me, i do agree they need a group of 6 but in a 10 gal they wouldn't fit fully grown