betta set up

S

Schnecken

AC Members
Nov 14, 2005
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So I have found a 2 gallon glass tank.

Do they make light fixtures for this size of small tank?

Here is what I'm planning:

a crowntail betta
paint the back black
black sand or very very fine gravel
lots of hornwort and duckweed

I already have a small heater, and I"m not going to use a filter but rather change the water every week.

Does this sound ok? Is there anythng I should do differently?
 
you will need a filter or have to change the water on a almost daily basis to keep amonia and nitrites down...it would save you alot of work plus your tank would do so much better with a filter.get one marked for a five gal.
 
IMO duckweed is a no-no with bettas. Bettas need to be able to breathe air from the surface and duckweed multiplies fast and covers the water surface. Bettas need lots of open space at the surface.

You'll need enough fluorescent light over your tank to keep the plants alive. It's not easy to find lighting for small tanks, and you may need to fashion a compact fluoresent desk lamp to do the job.

You may need quite a bit of hornwort to process the ammonia output of a betta in a 2 gallon tank without a proper filter. Otherwise, you're going to need to do at least a 100% water change per week (if not more) to keep the water clean. That may be somewhat hard to do in a tank with plants in it.

Unless you're quite proficient with planted tanks and balancing plant/fish ammonia, a low-output small filter might be a good idea. Otherwise, you'll probably need to do 1 or 2 water changes a week which can become a pain.
 
Java moss is great for bettas.

If you didn't add a substrate to the tank, it wouldn't be as much of a pain to do weekly water changes in an unfiltered 2 gallon. If you want to add a plant, put it in a pot with gravel over the soil so it doesn't come out in your tank and you're good to go!

Good luck!
 
Thanks so much! What kind of pot with gravel over the soil are you talking about? Do you know of a picture?
 
Schnecken said:
So I have found a 2 gallon glass tank.

Do they make light fixtures for this size of small tank?

Here is what I'm planning:

a crowntail betta
paint the back black
black sand or very very fine gravel
lots of hornwort and duckweed

I already have a small heater, and I"m not going to use a filter but rather change the water every week.

Does this sound ok? Is there anythng I should do differently?
Click to expand...


It sounds fine and I'm glad you're putting as much thought are you are into the fish. If this is a 2.5g by All-Glass Aquariums then yes there is both a cover/light available but it is much harder to find. Try your local LFS and see if they can oder it for you.

As far as substrate, stick with the standard gravel. Sand and or very fine gravel is a pain in the *** to clean the debris from as you vacuum. I would strongly urge you to get a filter for the tank similar to my 2.5 betta tank. I have a Red Sea Nano filter and it does an outstanding job of keeping the water clear and healthy.
 
You can use pretty much anything that holds soil. Most people use terra cotta pots because they're easy to find and come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Here's a pic of a terra cotta pot setup that I got from another site--sorry its blurry
p7120028.jpg

p7120031.jpg


Here's another kind of container being used:
tank3.jpg
 
Hey Julie--good idea about the potted plant. What types of plants do you have in that little 1/2 gallon betta-keeper with the white pot? And how are you possibly growing live plants using the 7 watt incandescent bulb? Is the tank beside a window?
 
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