Bettas Unite!

[allegedhuman]

So, apparently lots of people have bettas so maybe people can just post theirs here for us to OHHH and AHHHH over. Here is my dude and his tank. He is not very photogenic. He lives in a 5gal tank with 3 Endler's Livebearer males (basically invisible or very blurry in both pics) and some random snails that snuck in with plants. Plants include Java Moss, Java fern, crinkly edged Javas fern (technical name?) and Water Lettuce. In the great tradition of the previous bettas before him I call him Sparky III. (Note, the water looks kinda off but that is just because I have some nasty yellow/cream walls behind the tank that makes it very unattractive...so please no accusations that the water needs changing)

The Whole Tank View

 

[Woodnative]

Nice coloration and nice set up. Maybe he needs a girlfriend??

 

[jimscott]

That's a beautiful Betta! Not gonna suggest a g/f. Last time I did that, it was met with some opinions to the contrary.

What is in that second picture? Is that a guppy or an endler?

 

[Trapper7]

That's a beautiful Betta! Not gonna suggest a g/f. Last time I did that, it was met with some opinions to the contrary.

LOL, that would have been in my thread

Nice Betta and tank, allegedhuman! I love the way you have those rocks! (Not the gravel). I must copy you now! Where can I find me some slate rocks like that? Pet store? Your tank looks like a 10 gallon from the pics. Now I'm going to Google what an Endler is

 

[Ant]

yah, It happened to me to, except the opposite, someone suggested getting a girl friend. Weird huh?

 

[allegedhuman]

HAham yeah I've read the whole "female betta/breeding heated debate" in Trapper's thread..gonna stay away from that...

Jim, the blurry fish in pic 2 is one of the Endler's Males...but basically they look just like guppies with slightly different colors/patterns and there is argument that they are guppies. At one time they were classified as guppies, then considered wild guppies, now still debate and I am not totally sure what they are exactly other than cute and colorful. Anyways they can breed with normal domestic guppies. Perhaps I will try to get a pic of them but the little buggers don't really ever slow down for a pic.

Trapper. Here are my best tips on how I decorated my tank for you to snatch as your own if you like. I got those rocks just from random places outside. Lots of them collected from walks, along beaches (I live near freshwater lake so no worries about salts), etc, which were just laying around decorating some gardens and walkpaths around my house until I snatched them for my tank. I don't think any of them are specifically slate but just avoid using limestone or crumbly sandstone rocks.

I used black and green thread to tie the java moss and some java ferns to the top of the flat rocks for the cave bridges. The java moss effectively grows around and up to hide the thread quickly and the java ferns have roots that can anchor them to rocks and thread later removed or the thread just kinda camouflaged as roots.

The floating bundle of java moss at the top is sitting on top of a cork, otherwise it always sinks to the bottom nearly immediately. It just sits on top of the cork and drapes over and around to hide it completely.

In the back I have a small piece of plastic needlepoint canvas that I was working on covering with java moss and java ferns tied to it with string trying to make a background of plants and to give added height since most of my plants are short but I ran out of plants to completely hide the white plastic canvas so I'll need to finish that later.

 

[jimscott]

A co-worker of mine has Endlers and has been attempting to give them away. I became a recipient of some of them, along with a fluorescent light and a few other aquarium items. I exchange, I gave her a D. capensis and D. binata. Incredibly, the Endlers are surviving in the grow rack, open tray, among the pots of utrics.

 

[Trapper7]

Thanks for the advice allegedhuman! I wonder how I can tell if the rocks I have around my pond are limestone or crumbly sandstone rocks. I wouldn't want to use those and kill my fishy

 

[jimscott]

If you have limestone or anything similar, you can apply a little vinegar to it. If it fizzes, you probably shouldn't use it for most freshwater fish. But livebearers should be okay with it.

 

[Trapper7]

Thanks jimscott

 

[Ant]

um, I say you should just go to your hardware store. usually things like terracotta pots look good to. But you MUST fill in the hole or you fish might get stuck, or if you brake it, sand it and wash it.

 

[allegedhuman]

Whole terraccotta pots seem to scream "Cichlid Breeding Setup" to me, although broken may look nice, especially if you'd get a bit of algae on it after awhile to make it look a bit more natural. But then again I like things that look more realistically furnished and natural as opposed to bare bottom breeding setups which are logically more practical but not nearly as aesthetically pleasing.

My LFS (local fish store, not Long Fiber sphagnum) does sell rocks by the pound (mostly gravel) and larger display pieces (sometimes by the piece or by the lb) so that may be a place to look if most people are not like me and tend to horde rocks they find on their own and can just pick some up easily around the house.

 

[Ant]

I personally like they look of sand, broken terracotta, and rocks but, there has to be some grass like algae in there or it looks barren.

 

[allegedhuman]

Ohhh yeah, with sand that would look quite nice...and with some hair grass, or whatever you call it, pretty cool. Although isn't sand as a substrate a bit of a PITA with any sort of current? Never tried it before.

 

[jimscott]

I like things that look more realistically furnished and natural as opposed to bare bottom breeding setups which are logically more practical but not nearly as aesthetically pleasing.

LOL, I take it that PVC piping is out of the question....

 

[Ant]

Well sand is kinda hard. I would only use regular play sand very well wash out leaving only the larger parts that would be more likely to sink. I would only suggest sand for amphibians though as gravel is not the safest substrate for them

 

[NaRnAr]

Hes a handsome betta boy! Very nice tank too, love the rock set up

Ill have to post some pics of mine, ive got a male betta as well....he will soon be sharing a divided 10g with a gourami that was voted off the current community 10g island by his fellow gourami. Let me see if I have any old pics of FishStick (aka. Mr Fish) loaded.....

Here he is:

 

[jm82792]

Hmm betta they seem sweet,what sized tank do you reccomend ?
I could silicone a 2 gallon rimless for one.

 

[Ant]

Yah, I say 2.5 is perfect for 1.

 

[MidnightSkies]

Nice bettas!
I'll share pictures of my two as well.

My male when I first got him. He has grown a lot more now and his fins are a lot bigger

And the female that won't sit still for me, and is partially flaring here

Here's the divided 10 gallon that they live in (I've never been able to keep aquarium plants alive)