Betta questions

[Nottingham]

Yesterday I 'rescued' my first betta from a local pet store, I will get some pictures up as soon as I can get my bloody camera to work, but here is a physical description of my new boy. He is a crowntail with a whitish/see thruish body and some super sparkly turquoise at the base of his tail. He also has black eyes and black gills. I'm hoping with some TCL that his body color will solidy more and the turquoise sparkliness will spread. He has been named "Bowie" because he is pale and sparkly! I promise pics are forthcoming.

Anyhow, and now for my questions. My BF is upgrading to a 55G from his 10G, and his son will be inheriting the old 10G. Thereby, I will be getting the son's old 5G, a really nice Eclipse hex. It's only 3 months old, and he has been keeping goldfish in it. My question is, since goldfish are such dirty fish, is there anything special I need to do to clean it before I move Bowie in? I plan on scouring it pretty good, I'm torn on whether to put in a new filter since the old one has established bacteria, but it's FILTHY. I also have a heater to put in, so that's taken care of.

Second question, what are good tankmates for a male betta? I'm considering putting in 3 harlequin rasbora and perhaps a snail of some sort. If Bowie takes a personal objection to the rasbora they will be donated to my mother's 29G community. I don't know if 5 G will be enough for this though? What about ottos? Any other suggestions? I've also heard good things about pygmy corys. My only concern is that this is a hex tank, so will there be enough bottom area for them?

Third question is sort of a personal taste question and may be a little difficult to answer without pics yet. I am trying to decide on a 'scheme' for the tank. I either want to go all natural with beach gravel, tall leafy live plants and driftwood, or play up Bowie's color with turquoise gravel and then probably some greek-style ruin ornaments and live plants of some sort. Do bettas thrive particularly in an all-natural set up? The tank is going to be next to my bed, so will the turquoise start to wear on my nerves after a while? Personal opinions are greatly welcomed.

Thank you so much for reading my novel. I'm very excited to get Bowie comfortable and happy and perhaps get to see a bubblenest! Any other suggestions/advice for a newbie are appreciated as well.

 

[yodafett]

Well, congrats on rescuing a betta. We rescued 6 about a year ago. My wife and I currently have one in an eclipse 5 hex ourselves. As to your questions:

Bettas are fairly hardy fish, but that doesn't mean they're happy in all conditions. I would suggest using that filter for a few days, to try and help bac. growth.

I've heard cories are good. We tried it, and he chased them a bit, but never hurt any of them. We moved them out, but again, no harm done. Most likely was a personality thing, because he hasn't liked anyone we've put in there.

I would reccommend live plants. Bettas thrive and love plants, especally Java, IIRC, so definiitely go that way if you can. I like both ideas, actually, but if I had to choose one, I'd go with the second. Our favorite Betta setup is a white guy with pink highlights, and we have black gravel in the tank with a sprinkle of white and pink mixed in, for his colorings.

 

[klfvilla]

Hi and congrats on your new betta. I got one 3 weeks ago and am new here but have maybe a tiny bit of advice to offer. As for decor, I think its up to you to decide. I prefer more natural but thats just me! Look in the gallery section here to see other people's small tank photos and maybe you'll find inspiration. My guy is in a half hex 5 US gallon. I had to rig up the filter because the flow was too strong for him. If you have trouble with that, let me know and I'll send you a link on how to easily fix it. I have just added some live plants and a little cave which he seems to like. Bettas apparently can rip their fins on plastic plants so they are a no-no. As for tank-mates, I think we are very limited because of tank size. My boy is all alone for now but I've heard people suggest golden mystery snail (although Betta might hurt it) or ghost shrimp or cherry shrimp which I have yet to see for sale locally and I think they look like insects so I don't think I'll bother with them. Good luck and enjoy your new betta. He sounds beautiful!

Karen

 

[Kyohti]

FILTER: As far as using the filter... just rinse it off really good with some old tank water, cut a piece of the filter floss off the cartridge, throw the cartridge away and put the piece of floss in your filter's reservoire with the new filter and run it for a few days. The bacteria colonies in the old piece of floss will distribute themselves into the new filter eventually.

TANKMATES: From what I've seen, as long as a betta's tankmates look nothing like a male or female betta, they should receive no more than curious or playful attention from your betta. I've heard mixed results with adding snails or shrimp. Some bettas will eat shrimp and bite the eye-stalks of snails... others won't pay them any mind... I'd say add invertebrates at your own discretion and be prepared to remove them if your betta decides he likes escargots with shrimp scampi on the side!! ^__^;;

DECORATION: Do what you like. Bettas aren't terribly picky about their surroundings as long as the water current is fairly gentle. I always added a touch of blackwater extract or almond leaves to my water as it simulated their natural water conditions and they really seemed to enjoy that.

So it's really up to your own likes and dislikes on the decorations... and the habits of the other fish you add, if they happen to be picky!

 

[platytetrafan]

I have a veil tail betta in a 3 gallon eclipse tank and he loves it. I tried to put a silk plant in but to tell the truth it took up alot of room where he swims so I decided against it. The only thing that is in the tank is a cute fish no swimming decoration I know it sounds plain but he likes it and I have turqoise and blue gravel in the tank. As far as scrubbing your 5 gallon just remember no soap some I have read use bleach to clean their old tanks but you must rinse out very very well and use hot water. I personally don't use bleach I suppose if you had a tank with nasty parasites or an infection the fish might have had you could use it to clean the tank. Bowie is a cool name after David Bowie I presume very cool. I wish you good luck since I am not knowledgeable about planted tanks I have no advise on that but nice clean water your betta will appreciate alot. My betta is by himself I chose to do this because their behavior can be iffy and have heard that snails are slimey and can mess up the tank also heard that bettas can eat the shrimp if they choose too. Anyways good luck in whatever you do looking forward to pics. My Betta Haley named after Haley's comet is to the left under my name.