# Feedback on my betta setup?



## housebatbetta

Hi there!

I'm Sarah, I'm just getting into freshwater tanks. I spent about six weeks researching, and these are the specs of what I've put together since getting started:

- A super delta betta named Dean (<3)
- 5 gallon tank, with rim
- 25 watt Hydor heater
- AquaClear 20, baffled to within an inch of its life so that the flow is very gentle
- Two java ferns, one anubias variety (unsure which, it doesn't look like barteri)
- Black ceramic mug as a hide
- Currently no hood, just saran wrap with holes
- No substrate (bare bottom)

To be added soon:

- Small granite stones and shale skipping stones that I picked up from the lake (currently being washed/water tested)
- About five java fern plantlets to be attached to those stones
- Brazillian pennywort (one bunch)
- Indian almond leaf (arriving in 1-3 days in the mail)
- Java moss/craft mesh moss wall

Future plans:

- Upgrade to a heavily planted 20 gal with shrimp and/or dwarf african frogs

I'm seeking constructive criticism; confirming some things will probably work and highlighting the things that need work.


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## Kimchi24

housebatbetta said:


> Hi there!
> 
> I'm Sarah, I'm just getting into freshwater tanks. I spent about six weeks researching, and these are the specs of what I've put together since getting started:
> 
> - A super delta betta named Dean (<3)
> - 5 gallon tank, with rim
> - 25 watt Hydor heater
> - AquaClear 20, baffled to within an inch of its life so that the flow is very gentle
> - Two java ferns, one anubias variety (unsure which, it doesn't look like barteri)
> - Black ceramic mug as a hide
> - Currently no hood, just saran wrap with holes
> - No substrate (bare bottom)
> 
> To be added soon:
> 
> - Small granite stones and shale skipping stones that I picked up from the lake (currently being washed/water tested)
> - About five java fern plantlets to be attached to those stones
> - Brazillian pennywort (one bunch)
> - Indian almond leaf (arriving in 1-3 days in the mail)
> - Java moss/craft mesh moss wall
> 
> Future plans:
> 
> - Upgrade to a heavily planted 20 gal with shrimp and/or dwarf african frogs
> 
> I'm seeking constructive criticism; confirming some things will probably work and highlighting the things that need work.


What is your lighting? In reality, you don't need a whole lot of light considering you plants. Get a 6500k cfl bulb and some clip on lamp from Walmart. Awesome DIY lighting for small tanks. Also, as a person who has a shrimp tank, I advise against puttin them with any fish except Otos. They just get decimated. Looking good though, have any photos?


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## housebatbetta

I've seen shrimp tanks on reddit where the shrimp were okay cohabiting with a single betta, particularly if they have lots of greenery and other places to hide in, as well enough space. I'll do some more research into it, but worst case scenario I'll still have the five and I can transfer one or the other into it if they do not get along.

There's no light at the moment, other than natural light, so a simple/relatively affordable solution like that one is right up my alley. 

I don't have any recent pictures, but I do have a one-minute video clip up on Tumblr:

__
https://62108067776%2Fdean-exploring


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## Kimchi24

housebatbetta said:


> I've seen shrimp tanks on reddit where the shrimp were okay cohabiting with a single betta, particularly if they have lots of greenery and other places to hide in, as well enough space. I'll do some more research into it, but worst case scenario I'll still have the five and I can transfer one or the other into it if they do not get along.
> 
> There's no light at the moment, other than natural light, so a simple/relatively affordable solution like that one is right up my alley.
> 
> I don't have any recent pictures, but I do have a one-minute video clip up on Tumblr:
> 
> __
> https://62108067776%2Fdean-exploring


Yeah, that light should be 25 dollars around. It's 10 for the cfl bulb and 15 for the lamp. The shrimp will be ok with the beta but they will get killed. I just like having consistency with my betta.


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## pyrrolin

Keep the betta in the 5 and do shrimp in the 20

+1 on lighting. I have a moving lamp over my betta tank on a desk and its handy when I need the light for something

filter and heater you have sound perfect to me, exactly what I would use myself

watch out for any rocks the betta can get fins caught on and tear, they often like to lay on the bottom and stuff.


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## housebatbetta

pyrrolin said:


> Keep the betta in the 5 and do shrimp in the 20
> 
> +1 on lighting. I have a moving lamp over my betta tank on a desk and its handy when I need the light for something
> 
> filter and heater you have sound perfect to me, exactly what I would use myself
> 
> watch out for any rocks the betta can get fins caught on and tear, they often like to lay on the bottom and stuff.


A desk lamp would fit better in the space. I'm going to have to get a power bar and/or extension cord to have enough outlets for everything!

The rocks are smooth and slightly textured, I can post pics when I get home for consensus opinions.


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## housebatbetta

Kimchi24 said:


> Get a 6500k cfl bulb


Quick question; how many watts?


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## Fishfur

Fwiw, Betta don't use hides. While they do often lie on the bottom, hiding is not really something they do or need to do. The almond leaves will be appreciated, but are also not necessary to be there all the time. Often they are used to support the fish if it is injured or not feeling well, having antibiotic properties naturally. But you can of course keep them in all the time if you like. They will colour the water dark, like wood will. 

Btw, if you use carbon in the filter, while it will remove the leaves colour, it may also remove many of the beneficial effects of the leaves along with the colour. I'd leave carbon out of the filter. It's not needed. It's main uses are to remove odour, some medications, or discolouration from water.

Bare bottom is great for ease of keeping clean, but if you find you don't like the look, a soft, smooth substrate is also quite acceptable. So long as it is smooth, without sharpish corners or coarse texture. Tahitian Moon sand, which is jet black, is super soft and smooth, and would look great. Also pretty easy to siphon poop off the top of it - with one fish there won't be that much anyway. I've had good success growing a variety of plants in this sand.

Unless your home is quite chilly, you may find the heater is unnecessary. They really don't need tropical temperatures.. I kept mine, both of whom were injured and recovering from severe fin damage, at room temperatures. In fact, none of my tanks have heaters. Most of the species I keep are those that prefer cooler water, such as Danios, Kuhli loaches, Cories, and shrimps of several species. 

Granted, this apartment tends to be on the warm side. I think I've referred to it as being hellishly hot once or twice . Being on a southwest corner and overheated in winter, mostly I have fans running to keep the water cool for much of the time. But during spring and fall when the heat is off and it's chilly, especially at night, I turn off the fans and temps don't usually drop below 70 - 72, even at night, even with the balcony door cracked open for fresh air. Fish seem to do very well, certainly the Bettas did while I had them.

I don't think it bothers most fish if the temperature in their tanks drops a degree or two overnight and then warms up in the day. In nature, water will cool a degree or two at night, possibly quite a bit more than that, particularly if there is wind, once the sun goes down, most especially in shallow water. Of course, fish can move to warmer water if they wish to, assuming warmer water is available in their locale. There is some evidence that keeping fish in slightly cooler temperatures is associated with longer life spans for the fish.


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## housebatbetta

Fishfur said:


> Fwiw, Betta don't use hides. While they do often lie on the bottom, hiding is not really something they do or need to do. The almond leaves will be appreciated, but are also not necessary to be there all the time. Often they are used to support the fish if it is injured or not feeling well, having antibiotic properties naturally. But you can of course keep them in all the time if you like. They will colour the water dark, like wood will.


The hide information is very useful. Taking it out will definitely leave more room for plants, which is more the type of tank I'm going for. He seems to enjoy hanging out underneath the handle, or on top of it by the stems of the anubias, but I'm sure he won't miss it either.

The indian almond leaf is primarily there to help with the water - our Ph is 7.4-7.6, and while betta can get used to that, I learned on r/bettafish that it can cause their fins to irreparably curl. Dean's ventral fins are already a little bit curled, and the leaves are to stop that from getting worse. I don't mind the tea colour.



> Btw, if you use carbon in the filter, while it will remove the leaves colour, it may also remove many of the beneficial effects of the leaves along with the colour. I'd leave carbon out of the filter. It's not needed. It's main uses are to remove odour, some medications, or discolouration from water.


I should have mentioned - I already left the carbon out, for those exact reasons.  This is what I did to baffle the filter:

__
https://61905898080



> Bare bottom is great for ease of keeping clean, but if you find you don't like the look, a soft, smooth substrate is also quite acceptable. So long as it is smooth, without sharpish corners or coarse texture. Tahitian Moon sand, which is jet black, is super soft and smooth, and would look great. Also pretty easy to siphon poop off the top of it - with one fish there won't be that much anyway. I've had good success growing a variety of plants in this sand.


I'll keep that brand in mind! Any reason you prefer black to white? I feel like white would look creamy and warm in the tea-coloured water, and it would be easy to see things that need to be siphoned up.



> Granted, this apartment tends to be on the warm side. I think I've referred to it as being hellishly hot once or twice . Being on a southwest corner and overheated in winter, mostly I have fans running to keep the water cool for much of the time. But during spring and fall when the heat is off and it's chilly, especially at night, I turn off the fans and temps don't usually drop below 70 - 72, even at night, even with the balcony door cracked open for fresh air.


Our house is _freezing_. It's only going to get colder as the weather drops! The temperature outdoors is hitting lows of 9 degrees celcius now (48 degrees farenheit - I'll switch to farenheit since I assume you're American), and even with the aquarium heater set to 80 for the last week the temperature in the tank has remained a steady 75.

So yeah, I'd say the heater is necessary for us. 

Thank you for the input!


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## Fishfur

Nope, just a Canuck who started school before metrification was attempted. I tend to think in F degrees rather than Celsius, though I can translate if I have to .

Tahitian moon only comes in black. Carib Sea makes it.. I think it shows off most fish colours to the better, but it does depend somewhat on the colour of the fish. It's surprisingly easy to see poop on it, though it does not show up the way, say, lint on a dark carpet does. I prefer a dark substrate almost always.. or one that is what I think of as neutral.. browns/beige/creams.. which is not that easy to find in a natural gravel. I don't care for the ones that are coated in anything, whether it's supposed to be safe or not.

I've never heard of fins curling due to harder water.. but then, I am no kind of Betta expert. I've had two so far. Both were badly damaged.. one I rescued, one I took on because the owner asked, she was going to be away and he had ripped off his own tail, wretched fish. I called him Dipstick.. he really had an attitude.

Both of these fish lived in our local tap water and were healing beautifully with some salt and almond leaf and a bit of green tea as well. Sadly, Dipstick managed to jump one night, how he could have managed that without a tail I will never know. He was clearly not meant to live a long life.

The other grew almost a whole new pair of gill fins and substantial new growth on the ventral fin and healed a nasty split in the dorsal, and I thought he'd do very well. But somehow he injured one eye and despite my best efforts the eye did not heal. He died, poor thing. Before I got him, he'd been kept for nearly a year at 90F, on super coarse substrate that rubbed off those fins, and by the time I got him he was in pretty poor shape. I've thought the eye injury was just the last straw for him, poor guy.

But by all means, use almond leaves.. it is what they would have in their native habitat, even if virtually all of them are farm raised now, they still enjoy what they evolved to like

I'd say you need a heater. If I ever live anywhere else that is not as hot as here, I'll have to invest in heaters too. But this place makes them unnecessary, which is good since I am very limited in how much I can plug in.. only one plug anywhere near the tanks and few circults. Old building, built before we had all this stuff that plugged in.


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## Kimchi24

housebatbetta said:


> Quick question; how many watts?


i think the 6500k cfl is 23 watts?


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## Fishfur

6500 K spirals come in at least 3 wattages. 23, 11, 9, and possibly one other but I am not certain there's a fourth.


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## Ryan.Wilton

I don't think you really need the filter if you keep up with water changes. Excess surface movement (even minimal) can cause stress in bettas, and will likely prevent him from creating a nice bubble nest.

Other than the filter your setup sounds great! I'm glad to see you giving the betta 5 gallons opposed to the usual half gallon most people keep them in. I can't stand to use anything smaller than 1 gallon personally lol. Even that seems small to me.


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## housebatbetta

> Nope, just a Canuck who started school before metrification was attempted. I tend to think in F degrees rather than Celsius, though I can translate if I have to .


Haha, fair enough!

I'll keep an eye out for soft freshwater sand that isn't chock-full of chemical crap.

I'm sorry about Dipstick and the other boy. That's a helluva way to go.



Ryan.Wilton said:


> I don't think you really need the filter if you keep up with water changes. Excess surface movement (even minimal) can cause stress in bettas, and will likely prevent him from creating a nice bubble nest.


Stress is a good point, and it's something I'm definitely keeping an eye out for. The noticeable stress stripes he had the first night we got him went away within a day or so, but occasionally it looks like it reappears briefly or lightly. Usually right after water changes, or when the lights are causing him to see his reflection - hence why we're doing a slight redesign this weekend to hide the glass on three sides of the tank.

I'm looking at the filter as an investment that I can use when I upgrade to a twenty. Especially if I can get a good bacterial colony established beforehand. I plan on keeping the 5 gallon going when that happens, though it hasn't been decided for what livestock yet.



> Other than the filter your setup sounds great! I'm glad to see you giving the betta 5 gallons opposed to the usual half gallon most people keep them in. I can't stand to use anything smaller than 1 gallon personally lol. Even that seems small to me.


It totally does. Dean is constantly exploring every nook and cranny, patrolling the borders of his territory, flaring at things that come near like the little badass he is. He investigates everything that enters his tank, thoroughly, to see if he can fight or eat it or use it like a hammock.

He's just so engaged in his surroundings that I can't imagine keeping him in anything smaller, even though I know that experienced betta owners can create planted 1.5 gallon jars and that sort of thing.

Here are some pictures I took on the second day I had Dean:



















Full tank: http://31.media.tumblr.com/e68e55360c03b9454e24447b14c4be65/tumblr_mtfa23xnOJ1rsnyq9o1_r2_1280.jpg

The two mystery rocks have since been removed from the tank, leaving only the granite one. This was also before we had the filter.


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## Ryan.Wilton

Beauty  if you want, use a small mirror to give him some exercise every other day. It's actually a stress relief lol


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## housebatbetta

Ryan.Wilton said:


> Beauty  if you want, use a small mirror to give him some exercise every other day. It's actually a stress relief lol


I've seen the little floating ones! They're adorable! For now he's been getting his exercise flaring at us, I think.  None of us in the house can get close to the tank without Dean getting all up in arms on the other side of the glass. (At least at first, and then he calms down and starts looking for food at the surface.)


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## Fishfur

That's good actually. It's better for them if they get the exercise of flaring the fins. Breeders will keep a piece of paper between tanks, which they remove a few times a day for a few minutes so the fish can see each other and get all gnarly about it. It stretches and exercises their fins and attached muscles. All good, it's only stressful if the fish is in a position where it feels the need to flare constantly. I don't think I'd want a mirror where he'd see if often. Maybe just give him one to look at a couple times a day, if he stops flaring at you guys when he gets used to things.


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## pyrrolin

I disagree with not using a filter.

I have used an ac 20 on both a 5.5 and 2.5 for bettas, I just turn it down all the way.

If you have a filter, you only have to change some of the water and it helps keep things more consistant with temp, ammonia and nitrite levels and you don't have to move the fish causing even more stress.

Also, if the water is too still, it will become stagnant.

And finally, BGA has been a problem for me at times in both the 5.5 and 2.5 due to lower water movement of a turned down ac 20 and it would be even worse with no filter.

I would stick to using the ac 20


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## housebatbetta

pyrrolin said:


> If you have a filter, you only have to change some of the water and it helps keep things more consistant with temp, ammonia and nitrite levels and you don't have to move the fish causing even more stress.
> 
> Also, if the water is too still, it will become stagnant.
> 
> And finally, BGA has been a problem for me at times in both the 5.5 and 2.5 due to lower water movement of a turned down ac 20 and it would be even worse with no filter.
> 
> I would stick to using the ac 20


For the foreseeable future that's what I'm going to do. Especially since I'm trying to build a healthy bacterial culture in there. I'm going to a trade show on the 5th that, hopefully, will include some good deals on a filter we can use for the bigger tank we're planning.

Also, here are some tank pictures from this morning:

Full tank -- http://31.media.tumblr.com/444628e0b9d770532841f17c794b2b25/tumblr_mtsfsn2dIa1rsnyq9o1_1280.jpg

Closeup of Dean -- http://31.media.tumblr.com/93291f3849b511a0d344c8327e7b3808/tumblr_mtsf6fuqVI1rsnyq9o1_1280.jpg

Poor guy is looking kind of stressed from last night's changes. I added an indian almond leaf, one bunch of brazillian pennywort, a small ball of java moss, and a teaspoon and a half of Big Al's bio-support to help the tank to cycle. It looks like a mess right now, but it'll be organized in a couple of weeks.

I'll be doing a water test tonight, so we'll see how it goes.


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## Kimchi24

I agree with pyrrolin. The filter helps out. Regardless of the betta's hatred towards flow, the filter has too many benefits to even consider taking it out. An ac20 is a tad large for a 5 gallon in my opinion. I'd use something smaller. I use the stock filter from a tetra 10 gallon kit. I dampen the flow by placing the ac sponge on the outflow.


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## housebatbetta

What are small filters that are well-reviewed for betta tanks?

EDIT: I found a thing on lighting.



> 4.2 Lighting
> 
> Lights play an extremely important role in any planted tank. It is the driving force behind photosynthesis in plants. In the case of low-tech, non CO2 tanks, you need to make sure that you do not go overboard with your lights. Don't make the mistake of assuming that more lights, kept on for longer periods will make your plants grow better or faster. You will most likely be encouraging algae growth and doing nothing else. Although the Watts per gallon rule is a very general one, it still works well as a basic guideline. For this technique make sure to never go above 2 Watts per gallon, 1.5 WPG being an ideal target. Also remember that we are talking about Wattage of fluorescent bulbs (do not use incandescents&#8230;ever! And do not use the "Effective" wattage of fluorescent bulbs for this calculation). Remember that Spiral CFLs are more inefficient so you could lean towards the 2-2.5 WPG regime in their case. On the other hand T5 tubes can be extremely efficient and intense and you should definitely stick to 1-1.2 WPG with T5 tubes. For planted tanks, you should ideally look to have bulbs that are rated between 5500K-8000K. 6500K is a very popular choice.
> 
> It is usually advised that when you first setup your tank you should have a photoperiod of only around 6 hours. After a couple of weeks you can bump it up to around 8-9 hours. You probably shouldn't push it any higher than that. It's a good idea to buy an automatic light timer (6-7 bucks in walmart) to make sure that your plants are getting the same duration of lighting every day. If you go 10 hours on some days and 6 on others then it could lead to algae issues and also throw the plants off of their "routine".


Source: http://www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/#lighting


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## Fishfur

I had one that worked really nicely, but I can't recall the name. Quite small, impeller at the top, and you can either have a tiny spray bar or an upright fountain effect for output. They're kind of expensive for the size.. I've only seen them at BA in Scarborough, and I did see them once at the Miss. store.

See if I can find a name for you, might have to wait 'til I go to the store again. But they are very low flow, and I took the wretched little cartridge out it came with and cut some sponge to fit instead, and it worked really well that way. Sticks to the side of the tank with suction cups.

Fwiw, I always had a filter running for the Bettas I had, simply to save water changes. Some flow does not seem to disturb them, so long as it is not too strong.


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## housebatbetta

It can't be bothering him that much - he made a bubble nest underneath it!

Here: http://31.media.tumblr.com/f95638662670d0ae3beb0fac9832b939/tumblr_mtuatg2L6Z1rsnyq9o1_1280.jpg

And also he made one in the corner: http://tinypic.com/r/10eg7kw/5

I may have to start a "pictures of Dean" thread somewhere. XD


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## housebatbetta

Update: I found a 15 watt 6500k cfl bulb and desk lamp stand at wal-mart. The current setup looks pretty nice, imo.


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## Kimchi24

Looking good! I prefer the clip on ones. That are the same price and you can have it right over the tank instead of angled. That may turn into a problem but mainly have low light plants anywho. That's one lucky betta!


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## housebatbetta

Kimchi24 said:


> Looking good! I prefer the clip on ones. That are the same price and you can have it right over the tank instead of angled. That may turn into a problem but mainly have low light plants anywho. That's one lucky betta!


Thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing him flourish. ^_^

I looked at the clip-on lights, but the selling point with this one is that it has a single outlet in the base. I plugged my heater into that, and it removed the need for an extension cord or power bar (which would not have fit on that counter).


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## Kimchi24

housebatbetta said:


> Thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing him flourish. ^_^
> 
> I looked at the clip-on lights, but the selling point with this one is that it has a single outlet in the base. I plugged my heater into that, and it removed the need for an extension cord or power bar (which would not have fit on that counter).


The clip on had more than one outlet?


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## housebatbetta

The clip on didn't have any outlets. Which means it would have been competing for space with the wall outlet. 

In other words, right now I have the filter plugged into the wall, the lamp plugged into the wall, and the heater plugged into the lamp base.


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## Kimchi24

housebatbetta said:


> The clip on didn't have any outlets. Which means it would have been competing for space with the wall outlet.
> 
> In other words, right now I have the filter plugged into the wall, the lamp plugged into the wall, and the heater plugged into the lamp base.


OH! The lamp has an actual outlet? Dayyyum, I see why you got it  u have power bars everywhere.


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## malajulinka

If you're looking for a more permanent "hood", my local Home Hardware cut me two pieces of window glass to overlap over my 30 gallon for, like $7. I just made sure to cut them narrow enough to allow for the machinery at the back, and epoxied an aluminum ruler from the dollar store in the middle of the tank to keep them from caving in. You could probably get away with just one pane with that tank size.

The most important part, though: I edged them in black duct tape because I am hella klassy like that.


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## housebatbetta

malajulinka said:


> The most important part, though: I edged them in black duct tape because I am hella klassy like that.


Bahaha XD

If there are 1-inch or 3/4-inch gaps at the front and back of the tank, is that enough room for the filter/heater cord and air to get at the surface while still discouraging jumping? Or is it kind of a cross your fingers and hope it works out fine type of thing?


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## malajulinka

Mine comes all the way to the front, but is 2" narrower than the tank so all the hardware just fits in the back 2" gap. I feed through the back gap too - the fish don't seem to care. 

I've never had any jumpers, but I keep neons, pencilfish, rams, and plecos, and have lots of floating plants. I kind of figure they'd have to have *really* good aim to make it through the gap specifically.


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## housebatbetta

malajulinka said:


> Mine comes all the way to the front, but is 2" narrower than the tank so all the hardware just fits in the back 2" gap. I feed through the back gap too - the fish don't seem to care.
> 
> I've never had any jumpers, but I keep neons, pencilfish, rams, and plecos, and have lots of floating plants. I kind of figure they'd have to have *really* good aim to make it through the gap specifically.


When I get a bit of time I'm definitely looking into this kind of lid for both my tanks.

I'll probably remove the lids to feed so that I don't accidentally train my betta to have aim that good.


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## malajulinka

Yeah, with your light set-up it would be easy to just lift the glass off. I've got two ten-gallon light hoods sitting on top of mine on the 30 gallon - ghetto all the way, baby. I mean, DIY of course.


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