# 2 Gal betta bucket



## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I can't stop!

My youngest son got a betta for the holidays. It is currently in a tiny (maybe half gallon?) bowl. I'm taking the opportunity to give him some more space and more plants.

The first layer is organic potting soil (brown bag). Nothing I had was the right size to sift this stuff to get out the wood... so it stayed in. 

The cap is course black sand from the local pet store. Rinsed and laid on pretty thick. 

I would like to try to get a couple shrimp in there with the betta, so I'm going to be giving TONS of hiding spots. Hopefully I can get some plants this weekend. I really don't have much in terms of availability here except petco.

Hopefully I'll be able to find some Nana and some Valesneria.


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## pagemee (Nov 29, 2011)

My betta did fine with a large ghost shrimp. But as soon as the stand off would be over the ghost shrimp didn't go into hiding or seem too fearful but that was in a 10 gallon, 2 gallon might be different.


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## fishyspots (Sep 29, 2011)

I have ghost shrimp in with most of my betta with no issues. Occasionally, a betta will snag a small one when they are first introduced but after that have never seen any aggression at all. Would assume they would be the same with other similar sized shrimp.


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## Wicket_lfe (Aug 21, 2008)

Yeah just avoid any small shrimp, I tried that once and my Betta hunted them down. the crunching I heard was a little disturbing too.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

So what is the proper preparation for a tank this small? Do I do a fish-less cycle like a larger tank?


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

Are you going to be running filtration? I'd assume the breakdown of the potting soil would release dangerous amounts of ammonia unless the tank was heavily planted from the start.

Also IME, bettas will eat shrimp. If they can't eat them whole, they will harrass and nip at them until they die from stress or jump out. I think decent plant cover might mitigate this though.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Monster Fish said:


> Are you going to be running filtration? I'd assume the breakdown of the potting soil would release dangerous amounts of ammonia unless the tank was heavily planted from the start.
> 
> Also IME, bettas will eat shrimp. If they can't eat them whole, they will harrass and nip at them until they die from stress or jump out. I think decent plant cover might mitigate this though.


I think I'll pick up a tiny filter for it. 

as far as cover goes, I plan on doing TONS of anubias (or similar depending on availability). I pretty much want the ground covered with nice hiding places.


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

calebkraft said:


> I think I'll pick up a tiny filter for it.
> 
> as far as cover goes, I plan on doing TONS of anubias (or similar depending on availability). I pretty much want the ground covered with nice hiding places.


Moss is good for cover. It also gives something for the shrimp to graze on. You can check out the SnS/Power sellers forums and see what's availabe.

Btw, what kind of betta is it?


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Not totally sure. is that a crowntail? He's pretty much completely blue. My 6 year old named him "Ocean"


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

Yup, that's a crowntail. Nice looking double-forked fins as well.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Planted some dwarf hair grass and some Crypt Wendtii. The crypt is behind those rocks. 

Not sure if I did the hair grass right, I guess I'll see.










How soon can I drop some shrimp into that sucker? I have some ghost shrimp around that could frolic in there.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

He's settled in. So far he hasn't messed with the two ghost shrimp that are in there at all. I'll be adding a couple cherry shrimp (maybe) later this week.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

I wouldn't do cherry. Both the Betta and the ghost shrimps will attack them. Also keep an eye on the ghost, some may be aggressive and slash at the Betta's fins even if the Betta can't see them. You could add a couple snails to help with algae and substrate debris.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

yeah, I just read that today! I had no idea ghosts were aggressive.


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## II Knucklez II (Oct 31, 2011)

very nice


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## Jayme (Nov 27, 2011)

xenxes said:


> Also keep an eye on the ghost, some may be aggressive and slash at the Betta's fins even if the Betta can't see them.


+1 to this. I just had to remove a ghost shrimp from my betta tank after they had been together for over a month with few issues (sometimes during feeding the shrimp would grab at the betta's fins trying to get to food). Came in one day after work and Cleatus (the betta) had shredded fins all over the place. I looked all around in the tank and the filter to see if he had gotten caught somewhere but all I found was a shrimp with a full tummy and not a shred of fin anywhere in the tank. Since I have removed the evil shrimp and exiled it to the spare snail tank Cleatus is healing nicely. I felt absolutely horrible about his poor fins.


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## Hondataeg6 (Mar 15, 2011)

Any updates on this set-up? I plan on doing something similar for my desk at work.


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