# Dinky Dorm 2.5 Betta Tank + Shrimp Bowl



## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

This looks really good! You're getting some good plant growth.


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Thank you! Wake up every morning worried that evereything has melted/died. :icon_eek:

Rearranged moss/driftwood a bit to get more circulation in the tank and added one Amano shrimp! Who promptly fled and hid under the decor. Awesome. Maybe a snail would be more friendly...

On the plus (ish) side, Ghost shrimpies doesn't afraid of anything:



Marino ball a big hit with both shrimpies:



And betta, who enjoys draping himself over it to watch shrimp underneath:


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## Robotponys (Sep 7, 2011)

Looking good! But amazon swords end up like this










and are heavy root feeders. It looks great right now though! You can always return/sell it later if it gets too big or starts dying. Also, did you know about plakat bettas? They're just short finned bettas. I don't especially like bettas either that can't swim, though they can be gorgeous. Here's my baby. I can't resist a chance to show him off. 



















I've heard that veil tails are actually the least inbred and are the mutts of bettas because the droopy tail is not as desirable anymore.


OH and ghost shrimp can turn out to be huge evil monster shrimp that attack fish. Or they could just gnaw on the bettas fins while he lays down. Watch out for torn fins.


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Omg, your guy is gorgeous  Cellophane color? And looks like he can actually swim! XD Would probably get a plakat betta like that or a girl if I were doing this again. There were some at the store with perma-stuck open fins (half-moons, I think) that looked like they'd have an even worse time trying to get around, jeeze.

The swords haven't really been growing up/out so far, but are throwing out roots and new leaves like crazy--if they start getting too big, will try and foist them off on somebody and replace with...something. I bought some liquid fertilizer at the pet store with iron and potassium that they said might be needed for the plants in the substrate. Will see how it goes!

I noticed some tears in his tail around the time ghost shrimp were introduced and moved shrimpies to a fish bowl for a few days, but tail kept getting more tattered even with them gone. Caught betta sleeping nestled up against filter intake vents (why???) with his tail partially inside, so I suspect that may have been the cause. Moved shrimpies back and panty-hosed filter, everything's been good so far!


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## Knotyoureality (Aug 3, 2012)

Most swords can be co-erced into staying relatively smaller thru rigorous pruning. Periodically remove the largest leaves by sliding a pair of scissors down the inside of the stem (this puts the blades point outward, helping make sure you only cut the stem you've selected) and cut the leaf off as close to the base as possible.

If you get too thick of growth, remove a greater number of leaves--choosing those both on the outside and inside of the mass. Obviously, this is also a great time to get rid of any damaged or algae edged leaves or any that have grown to a size or in a direction that obstructs part of the tank you want to be open swimming space. 

In time, if growth is too vigorous, you can do a much harsher pruning by lifting the entire plant out and trimming off the largest, thickest roots and roughly 50% of the leaves before re-planting.


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## Sd760 (Apr 25, 2011)

Beautiful set up.


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## Robotponys (Sep 7, 2011)

Ha, my betta sleeps against the intake sometimes too! But fins don't get caught in it since they're short.  If you ever want another betta, just get a female. Petco/Petsmart usually have younger females which could be fun to raise.


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Semi-update:

Cherry shrimps alive! Well, at least a couple. Sneaky buggers are only popping out waaay late at night during bathroom visits. They are also dinky--1/2", if that. Hoping they will grow bigger!



Moved ghost shrimpies to time-out bowl as they were being naughty. A squirt of gravel vac from main tank every couple days and fill up when low:




Also, have been trying to set up dirt bowl ~3 gallons. Not working out so well! Plants wilting and covered in whiteish...gunk. Suspect that they might be diseased as the ones from the same bundle I stuck in beta tank also mushed, while moss and riccia seem to be doing ok. IDK.



Pretty gross!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

you did a really good job with your betta tank!


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## Overgrowth (Feb 19, 2012)

...Is that Nico Robin from One Piece?


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Overgrowth said:


> ...Is that Nico Robin from One Piece?


Yes it is! Friend got it for me at an anime convention. 

Anyways, small update: Lots of stuff has been growing in the big lake-muck bowl, and the ghost shrimp I tossed in seem to be doing well while eating substrate stuffs. Some tiny white worm things and tiny snails and almost invisible darting...things zipping around. Pretty neat!  Unfortunately, none of it has been plant growth except the floating riccia.  Both the sad-looking ludwigia and the wisteria stems went completely liquid, which was pretty disgusting. Leaves remained mostly ok and sprouting many roots. IDK what to make of this, so I snipped off some healthier looking leaf nodes and let them float and threw away the slimy brown stuff.

Maybe I buried them to deep? Substrate is ~1" park dirt and 1" lake sand. Even the stems that I put into betta tank just slightly stuck under gravel melted, too, though. Ah well.

Bowl was looking empty, so I added a lucky bamboo stem that should be very happy. I braved the Seattle weather today and went to a non-Petco fish store nearby to get more rooting plants that grow quickly. Slightly suspicious of LFS staff that recommended anubias and java fern as good choices to hold substrate together. Aren't they mostly slow growing tie-to rock things?

Ended up buying some grassy stuff and taller red leaved potted thing with big roots that I could see--apparently dwarf saggitarius and crypto something. The crypto leaves were weak in the center and some ripped down the middle during planting. 

The dwarf sag looked very healthy and I split it up into 6 or so bunches to plant. It's very hard to plant stuff underwater. Poke a hole in dirt, sand immediately fills it up! :icon_eek: And roots were nearly as long as the leaves so they kept poking up and floating out and breaking off and omg this was stressful. They are mostly planted now. Extra bunches went into betta tank, so I can compare growth!

Water super cloudy after my planting exertions:



Can see a ghost shrimpie and a hitchhiking teeny snail on the glass.

Betta has been enjoying sleeping on his riccia mat:


Gave me a minor heart attack yesterday when he decided to go carpet surfing (probably via launching off said riccia mat), but he seems to be fine back in the water. This dumb fish.


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

Bettas can have trouble swimming due to long fins. This is part of why they sleep on the intake of the filter, less work to stay still. 
My male flares at his reflection until his tail becomes a bunch of ribbons, it's very common. 
I don't understand why they jump, I've never had a jumper, but I assume it has to do with being energetic in a small space.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

your bettas colors are really great


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Bowl's cleared up. except for a little yellow tinge to the water:


Inhabitants are 6 ghost shrimp and an unknown number of pond snails that ninja'ed their way into the bowl. Also they can slide upside down across the water surface to eat gunk. Awesome!

Been brushing off some fuzzy algae that is probably a mix of diatoms and hair from my remaining stem plants--they are looking surprisingly healthy underneath. Kinda want some of those tall bottlebrushy looking plants in the back as IIRC they are really hard to kill and grow fast.

Debating whether to get a little air pump for water movement--shrimp seem very happy, but IDK how healthy stale water is or how much O2 is getting down to the bottom. We shall see!


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Nice


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Added some elodea to the bowl to help keep water clean. Plants seem to be pretty happy, and I was able to buy some trumpet snails to help keep algae off them/mess up substrate! Also have a few little egg packets that I suspect are the pond snails enjoying themselves.





Unfortunately, shrimpies seem to be having trouble with moulting, at least I think. There were 6 total in the bowl (2 big ones and 4 smaller ones)--3 original that have been with me a month and 3 new ones I got a few days ago from the store.

Saw a molt yesterday evening after a small water change, woke up this morning to (near as I can count) 5 shrimp, then saw another molt tonight and the molter next to it moving very slowly and somewhat hazy in the body compared to the very clear non-molted ones.

Went to fix some dinner, came back see to other shrimp eating thorax of molted one! :icon_eek: I'm not sure if they are dying after molt, then getting 'cleaned up' by their fellows, or if they are just especially vulnerable at that time and unable to escape the bigger shrimps. Even not molting, they tend to be pretty aggressive towards each other. OTOH, Seattle water is apparently some of the softest in the country, and I wonder if there isn't enough calcium/whatever minerals they need in the water. May go get a cuttlebone and crumble it in the substrate to see if it helps. :fish1: Thoughts? :redface:


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

nice looking bowl


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## jarvitron (Aug 6, 2012)

What are you using for your 2x weekly water changes? RO, distilled? Tap? If anything is having problems in a tank that is getting that much water turnover, I'd have to assume it's something about the water going in and not something "in tank"; chloramine or too hard out of the tap maybe? I see you're up in WA, I think you guys have pretty soft tap (like us in Portland) but chloramined for sure.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

That light seems really close to the water.


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

jarvitron said:


> What are you using for your 2x weekly water changes? RO, distilled? Tap? If anything is having problems in a tank that is getting that much water turnover, I'd have to assume it's something about the water going in and not something "in tank"; chloramine or too hard out of the tap maybe? I see you're up in WA, I think you guys have pretty soft tap (like us in Portland) but chloramined for sure.


Hiya!

Using tap water for my water changes with the appropriate amount of Stress Coat--it says it removes both chlorine and chloramines, which I'm pretty sure we have both of in Seattle. 50% changes for fish tank, but ~25% or so for the bowl. Mostly just sucking up gunk from the bottom caused by snails and shedding plant stuff.

I've been looking up stuff about the local water and apparently it is extremely soft, so I'm wondering if they might not have enough minerals to make a hard enough exoskeleton shell right after molting.

Here is our water report:
http://www.seattle.gov/util/groups/public/@spu/@water/documents/webcontent/01_017803.pdf

If I converted the hardness correctly, it gives a dH of 1.

And the light is about an inch off the water. XD IDK why it looks so close in the photos.


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Ok, so Winter Break meant that I had to leave my apartment for almost 4 weeks! No top-offs, no feedings, etc. (though I did keep the light and filter on). I gave the betta back to Petco before leaving as I was reasonably sure keeping him would not be a responsible pet owner thing to do. Sadly, he was gone by the time I got back frown, so I got a purple one!



Meet Mr. Luthor, who does not seem to get caught in the filter intake. Huzzah!

The tank sides were a bit slimy with algae, but nothing a water change and some scrubbing couldn't fix. Ms. Nerite and a cherry shrimp also seem to have survived fine.



The shrimp bowl (all 3 ghost shrimpies survived wow) had evaporated to maybe half and the dwarf sag seems to be starting to take over. No light on this one, but I put it in the window and it mostly seems fine. Crypts seem to have melted into nothingness woes. Probably the (lack of) Seattle sun. Lots of baby snails have kept the algae down to nothingness.


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Now have 3 White Cloud Minnows in shrimp bowl! They are adorable. Can't really tell what gender they are, though--one is bigger and slender, the other two are smaller and a littler...dumpier? IDK! They have been chasing down tiny thingies, probably copepods. Shrimpies and fish have mutual ignore policy, yay.


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Update after a couple months! Shrimp/minnow bowl is doing very well, stuff is overgrowing:



Fish are happy:


Was hoping maybe for little fishy fry, but so far nothing. They may be all males, can't really tell.

Betta tank sadly battling off blue-green algae, but still puttering on.


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## cjyhc4 (Dec 18, 2006)

Love your shrimp/minnow bowl  The minnows look so happy!


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Thank you I try  They chased each other like crazy the first few days, but now have settled down quite well. Next project will be making some window powered plant bowls like yours!


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Good looking fish!


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## CPDzeke (Jan 4, 2013)

A bit late I guess, but in the first post you asked if twice a week was too much. You can never have too many water changes!

PS: 300th post! I am now planted tank obsessed!


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## assasin6547 (Feb 6, 2013)

This thread is funny


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## raulfd4 (Dec 20, 2012)

Sorry to hear you weren't able to get your old betta back. It seemed like he had some character. The new one is pretty handsome, though.

I really like the look of your shrimp/minnow bowl. It has a nice shape. Did you get it at Michael's or something?

It's fun reading your journal, btw - you have a good "voice."


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Thanks guys! I got the bowl at a thrift store for $4 while looking for a birthday vase. It was a good find IMHO. So far no leaks which is awesome as I am in a carpeted apartment.

And I do miss Davy Jones he was a spirited little bugger with an endless pit of a tummy. But Mr. Luthor is quite nice as well, bit more heavy set and impressive of fin. At least to my un-discerning human eyes. Who knows what girl bettas like? 

Added cherry shrimp to shrimp-minnow bowl!

I fear that shrimpies in betta bowl have gone to a better place. At least for the betta. :angel:

They seem to be going fabulously, immediately fond of the overgrowth of duckweed. So far have not bothered fish nor fish bothered shrimpies. Remaining ghost shrimp have remained in seclusion towards to back somewhere.

See:




Yes they are super washed out looking but maybe if they eat the orange-y looking fish food they too will get orange-y! Maybe.:confused1:

Mr. Luthor inspecting the (dirty) algae patch before weekly cleaning. Is slave driver, that guy :angryfire:


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## nantuko (Feb 13, 2012)

Amazing Bowls! Keep up the good work and keep posting pics!


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## Meganne (Sep 3, 2012)

both these bowls are just wonderfully done! nice work roud:


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## vashnic (Oct 6, 2012)

Thank you for your support peeps!

Ah yeah, I borrowed a macro lens from school! Besides taking close ups of my roommate's nose, I peppered my bowl with them, too. Prepare for close up fishy and invert pores they would rather have airbrushed out roud::


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## Sharpchick (Feb 17, 2013)

What a hoot! I love this journal.

You are inspiring me to go get a bowl. For someone with the *other* MTS already, this may or may not be a good thing...


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## mosspearl (Jan 30, 2013)

Reading about your bowl has been great fun.


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