# My 10g planted and Betta decor setup



## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

So after couple of weeks of gathering all i need to start my fishtanks i did this:
10g planning to have ferns and mosses tank, waiting for plants to arrive from aquaticmagic. Meanwhile i planted it with some fastgrowers that i could get from local (100km away) petstore, bettas came from there too.
So i have put in there sand from atlantic ocean, wood i found on the beach and some rock, added tap water, water prep and ferts (excel, iron, flourish) for plants, for the light i have 2 clip-on lamps with compacts 26W 6500K, one gives white light other blue-white 8 hrs a day for now, it also has night led moon light, filtration does Finnex 360 canister filter.
Water is cristal clear from day 1! Wasnt cloudy at all.
And here come the pictures

















Now Betta setup:
I bought 3 bowls - 2 round flat profile ones and small round spheric one, added decorative glass rocks and bettas, this is how it came out:

















I plan of getting little table lamp for this setup, couldnt find yet in stores what im looking for. Except that I love how it looks! Fish seems to be swimming in same bowl while they are separate of course. May be add some bamboo stems, i dont know, for me it looks to be incomplete yet.

In a week i hope ill get my plants and my 10 g will start looking more attractive.

By the way, any tips to reduce the flow from the filter? Its too strong, betta is getting blown away and the plants dont really need it that strong too. There is something like a control on the filter top but it does nothing when i twist it.

I have 4g on the waiting too, once i have enough of plants to put in ill do some nice little thing, i have found great piece of wood that looks like a Chinese house.

Im open to critic and advice, so feel free to write


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## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

oh well, seems like new people (or girls) are getting ignored on this forum... shame


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## palufreak (Mar 1, 2011)

I like it! Like you said, once you get your real plants, it'll look nicer but it already does! Also, I'm ordering plants from AquaticMagic tomorrow!!! Love the wood!! 
I'm not sure I understand what you want to do with the bowls though!


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## Paigee (Jul 25, 2010)

I like the larger tank, but am also unsure about the bowls. I hope you aren't planning on keeping the bettas in there forever?


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## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

Bettas seems to be doing fine in that bowls, at least they are way better in them then they were in the pet shop, they lived in tiny mayo bottles with 2 inches of water in them 

I change water completely once a week and add Sachem Prime in it. I like how they look in that bowls, trying to scare and get each other


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## palufreak (Mar 1, 2011)

Ok, but dont keep the betta in there foreever... Trust me, he will die!! (Learnt the hard way)...

Good luck!


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## Snowflake311 (Apr 20, 2011)

I kept bettas in 1 gal jars just fine for a few years. They do better in 5 gal- 20 gal. As long as they stay warm 70F or higher and get weekly 100% wc they will be fine. 

The planted tank I think looks good some moss on the upper branch would look great I think. Maybe a few more plants. It's off to a good start.


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## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

Snowflake311 said:


> I kept bettas in 1 gal jars just fine for a few years. They do better in 5 gal- 20 gal. As long as they stay warm 70F or higher and get weekly 100% wc they will be fine.
> 
> The planted tank I think looks good some moss on the upper branch would look great I think. Maybe a few more plants. It's off to a good start.


Thanks!
Thats what im planning to do, tie moss on that branch, make a carpet, put some pelia hills and stick anubias, fern here and there.

And its always warm here, its Dominican Republic :red_mouth


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

I don't know what happened to palufreak's bettas, but mine have been perfectly fine in a 1 gallon bowl. I have even kept a betta in a wide-mouthed mason jar, when I broke his bowl. He did fine.


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## TheCrabbyTabby (Nov 10, 2010)

Sure, a betta can survive in a bowl. However, the key word is survive. That is all that they will do and their lives WILL be cut short even with regular water changes. They thrive best in 5 gallons or more of water that is heated and filtered with a low current. I personally would never house any fish in a disgusting fish bowl as I view that as being cruel.

Remember, a healthy and happy betta that is well taken care of and housed in a proper tank with heat and a low current filter will live for 5-6 years. A betta that is kept in a bowl will live for 3 years max and most likely get fin rot from bad water parameters if the water is not changed every day.


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## palufreak (Mar 1, 2011)

Thank you TheCrabbyTabby!! You just proved my point!

Mine was in a 0.5G AT FIRST!! I did water change every week and he SEEMED happy but still died!

Then I got a 1G with plastic plants!! Again, I did wc once a week, and again, he SEEMED happy but died after 6-7months!


Also, I agree with CrabbyTabby that it is cruel, but I wasn't registered on this forum and I never even though about doing some research! I just listened to what employees at PetSmart had to say and did that!
Now, I probably never will put anything in there unless it's shrimps and snails!!!

I don't know why stores don't just say the truth about Bettas... They would make more money if people had to buy bigger tanks, heaters, filters and everythimg else they need instead of the little 10$ kits!!!!

Back on topic now!


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

Oh, right. I always forget that I do cleanings differently than everyone else. That might be why. My bad!  

edit: I agree about putting them in a larger space if you can. It is better for them to have more space and the fish will love it. I have had mine in a bowl, because that was all I could do at the time.


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## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

And this is fish im trying to grow for my 10g - Notobranchius, i got eggs from ebay, there were 50 eggs of different N., i succeeded to get 8 fishes that are growing, i feed them artemia


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## demonr6 (Mar 14, 2011)

anyone with more experience care to comment on the use of actual beach sand? I was strongly advised not to use beach sand in my tanks because of the natural salt not playing nice with freshwater fish. Please inquire about this more and get some responses from people who know their stuff because this may be a bad thing..


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## TheCrabbyTabby (Nov 10, 2010)

Yeah, I would tend to agree with you, demonr6. Beach sand is loaded with marine salt and that can spell bad things for fish and inverts who are sensitive to the slightest bit of salt in their water. Also, who knows what kind of bacteria and such are living in it? If I had a marine tank set up, I would bake the sand first and then use it, though I simply wouldn't risk using such sand for any fresh water fish or invert. 

I would also caution against using driftwood from the beach unless you bake/nuke them to remove any parasites. bacteria and small critters calling it home. Wouldn't want to introduce anything bad into the tank water. That and they are loaded with marine salt and beach sand. 

If I were doing this, I would have bought my driftwood from a store so I know that its been cleaned properly and then used aquarium gravel or a sand I know is safe for the substrate.


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## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

aww that are not nice news... I hope i washed as much as possible out of the sand and wood, it all was laying in buckets with water for a week or two, with water change of course.

upd.
Made little research - salt is actually good for betta and for Notobranchius too, so nothing to worry about.

Plants started to grow and one even put out a flower, i guess its all good!


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## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

little updates.

Tanks are doing good, had little issue with green-blue algae, but little antibiotics helped.

Sad news from post office - customs didnt let my plants from Aquatic Magic to come through ( They destroyed the package and sent me a letter... buttheads


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## limeslide (Jan 27, 2010)

PrincessBurundy said:


> Sad news from post office - customs didnt let my plants from Aquatic Magic to come through ( They destroyed the package and sent me a letter... buttheads


_I'd be all up in their grill_ if they did that to my package LOL.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

I just thought I'd chime in that just because a betta _can_ be kept in a bowl, doesn't mean they _should_ be kept in a small bowl. I hope you don't have a betta in that tiny looking round bowl that looks like it barely holds 1 cup of water (unless the picture is extremely deceiving, it doesn't look any better than what they are kept in at the pet stores). 

I agree with others, if space is extremely limited, a betta can do ok in a 1g minimum container, though even in that i'd put at minimum a small air-powered filter (like this) but if space allows, Bettas are much happier and more active in 2.5, or even better 5g tanks. Even those are hard to keep good water parameters in (I have a 5g, so I know). You'll be amazed at how much more lively, energetic and fun bettas are when they are happy and have room to move around roud:


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## PrincessBurundy (Apr 25, 2011)

limeslide said:


> _I'd be all up in their grill_ if they did that to my package LOL.


I dont know why it happened, im really pissed off but too far unfortunately to do something. AM says they will re-ship but im afrade same thing will happen. Probably they just dont allow plants to enter Dominican Republic....

So sad. Seems like my idea of nice moss tank is dieing


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