6.6 "Bookshelf" tank

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westwood08

AC Members
Dec 28, 2008
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I got this tank from petco... it's 24" long - downside is that it's acrylic :/

It does, however, make a great planted tank!

This is what I have so far... I was going to use it as a Threadfin Rainbow species tank, but my lfs doesn't carry females and the males I purchased where so aggressive they were killing each other :/ Soooo, I decided to try my hand at setting it up as a betta sorority tank...

Specs:
Tank: 6.6 Gallon 24" long bowfront
Lighting: 15 Watt 10,000K
Heater: Hydor 50Watt
Substrate: Seachem Flourite + black gravel
Hardscape: Rocks & driftwood
Ferts/Dosing: Flourish 2x week
Filtration: Aquaclear 20
CO2: Hagen CO2 Natural Plant System

Flora: Dwarf Sagittaria, Cryptocoryne, Anubias Nana, red ludwigia, Bacopa, anacharis
Fauna: 3 female bettas, 1 otocinclus cat, 3 or 4 ghost shrimp

It started out like this:

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and ended up like this:

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Surprisingly the betta girls get along ten times better than the supposedly 'peaceful' threadfin boys.
 
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It looks very nice! I'm surprised by the behavior of your threadfins...I have 3 males and 2 females and they get along perfectly!
 
why do you look at acrylic as a downside? I acctually prefer acrylic tanks-- easier to move around and less likely to leak.. and look just as nice

nice tank-- I might go pick one up for my guppies if my petco has one
 
You've done a great job with it (I have one of those tanks myself), it's hard to put anything in there and still have room for fish... :)

I just have 3 danio and a snail in that one for now, the danio like the length of that tank for racing back and forth. I've just started planting mine ... two java fern.


Edit: It's good you went with the 50w heater, the temps seem to dip down to much with my 25w even though it's rated for up to 8g.
 
I think my threadfins were aggressive because they were all males and no females. My intentions were to get females, but that was kind of hindered by my lfs not getting any in several weeks in a row :/

As far as why I'm not to fond of acrylic... it scratches way to easily :( I've owned a couple acrylic tanks, and even using a damp cloth on it can scratch it... just the other day my husband was looking at the tank and pointed and his nail slide across the tank side leaving a scratch. I hear that such scratches can be gotten rid of but I'm not sure how and I really dislike having to be so careful with it :(

I tried the 25watt heater in this tank, and even though I had it set for 78 degress, the tank never seemed to get above 72... the 50watt does a much better job!

All in all, I really like the design of the tank. It's long and low which means the plants get plenty of light and the footprint of the tank allows for a nice amount of oxygen exchange.

I also think, because of the way I have it set up, the female bettas will be able to coexist peacefully. It's almost been a week and I often see all three of them in the center swimming right next to each other... no flaring, no chasing... that isn't to say there aren't minor chases... all in all I think those might actually be good as they force them to exercise :p
 
Your tank looks awesome! I can hardly believe it's so small. It really does look a lot larger with the way it is scaped. Why can't I have another tank :)
 
westwood08 said:
I think my threadfins were aggressive because they were all males and no females. My intentions were to get females, but that was kind of hindered by my lfs not getting any in several weeks in a row :/

As far as why I'm not to fond of acrylic... it scratches way to easily :( I've owned a couple acrylic tanks, and even using a damp cloth on it can scratch it... just the other day my husband was looking at the tank and pointed and his nail slide across the tank side leaving a scratch. I hear that such scratches can be gotten rid of but I'm not sure how and I really dislike having to be so careful with it :(

I tried the 25watt heater in this tank, and even though I had it set for 78 degress, the tank never seemed to get above 72... the 50watt does a much better job!

All in all, I really like the design of the tank. It's long and low which means the plants get plenty of light and the footprint of the tank allows for a nice amount of oxygen exchange.

I also think, because of the way I have it set up, the female bettas will be able to coexist peacefully. It's almost been a week and I often see all three of them in the center swimming right next to each other... no flaring, no chasing... that isn't to say there aren't minor chases... all in all I think those might actually be good as they force them to exercise :p
Click to expand...


dont let that get you down on acrylic.. though this may be cheap/low quality acrylic (must be if its doing that)

Good acrylice is amazing.. and superior to glass IMO-- give it a shot and dont let the cheap stuff make you think acrylic is all bad :-)
 
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