Christmas 5g planted betta tank

ValRasbora

ValRasbora

Superstar Fish
#1
May 2, 2009
1,202
0
0
Atlantic Canada
#1
my brother has been asking for an upgrade for his betta, sparky, who currrently resides in about 0.9g He wanted some cherry shrimp as well.
So, I bought a second-hand 5g. For $5. Woot! Now I need input.
Substrate- playsand or topsoil? Or a mixture? Or topsoil capped with sand?
Filter- elite5, maybe a sponge filter, or the perpetual motion machine diy.. There is no space on the lid where an HOB (ellite5) could hang, tho...
lighting- 9w florescent.
ferts/co2- whatever I dose the paludarium with (plantgro or someting like that) and a mini cdiy yeast co2.
Flora- mostly clippings from my tank... java moss, hygrophila polysperma, willow-leaf hygro, and a bunch of unidentified ones, which I should identify soon. And I'll probably get some more in the next week or 2.
Fauna- Sparky the red doubletail betta and a couple cherry shrimp. Sparky is a sweet little guy, about 1.5". What else? He can't have adf's because he is ****horrified*** of worms (bloodWORMS:rolleyes:) and therefor wouldn't be able to feed him. His fave color is red, so something with red on it would probably be welcome.

I'll be "assembling" this on christmas eve, as it'll be his christmas present, with a mature filter and sand.
Thankyou! Now I have to go scrub some algae from my 20g......*twirlysmi
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#2
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#2
I'd do just play sand.

Not sure about needing CO2 in that small of a tank unless you want the plants to fill it. As long as you don't run your light too long, I think you could get away with no CO2 or ferts, TBH. I run 10W over my 6gal and don't dose with anything and the plant growth in there is pretty decent.

As for what else you could put in the tank other than the betta and the ADFs. Nothing. A 5gal is basically enough to support a betta (since they grow to be 3-4") and a few shrimp or a snail. I guess you could get him a ruby nerite if you really wanted.
 

ValRasbora

ValRasbora

Superstar Fish
#3
May 2, 2009
1,202
0
0
Atlantic Canada
#3
yeah, I'd feel safer with just playsand... I don't want my (oops... my brother's) tank to turn into a mud puddle! I'll probably just make a diy co2 thingy, they only take a few minutes. And I don't mind dropping a bit of fertilizer every now and then...
I'm still debating tankmates.
 

T

Thyra

Superstar Fish
#4
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
0
0
Yelm, WA
#4
I am almost afraid to mention this, but I have a 2 1/2g tank for my betta in the kitchen. Due to excess light I have no control over, I do get a lot of algae. So I put an oto in the tank. They have been together about 2 months and being in the kitchen I do watch them a lot. The betta will chase the oto for short spurts, but then the oto stops and attaches and the betta never touches him. I have never seen the betta get closer than like an inch of the oto. It is like they are playing. This is definitely not a constant thing so I am sure there is no stress involved. For this pair it seem like the right combination.
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#5
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#5
My betta ate all the cherry shrimp I put in with him. I've got plenty of cherry shrimp, so it wasn't an issue. Of course, all bettas are different, and your brother's fish may be fine with shrimp.

You could think about an apple snail or other ornamental snail.
 

ValRasbora

ValRasbora

Superstar Fish
#6
May 2, 2009
1,202
0
0
Atlantic Canada
#6
I'm going to get cherry shrimp for my guppy tank as well, so I'll pick out the bigger ones.
As for otos, they never seem to last for me. It must be the water or something.. I woudn't want him to be discouraged, seeing as he is a newbie and all...
He has a bug-phobia, but he can handle little snails like a pond snail or a neritie. He's pretty freaked out by apple snails :(

Maybe I should just stick with the shrimp?
 

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