I have my betta (alone) in a 10g tank. For some reason I have a hard time getting my gravel vac. started in this tank. How often do I need to do it? I'd rather not do a vac. with every water change, which is what I do with my other tanks. He can't produce that much waste by himself, can he?!?! How often would you recommend?
gravel vac. betta tank
- Thread starter Holly9937
- Start date
Everytime for a water change is still recommended for a clean, healthy tank. Not doing so will result in spikes of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates that have built up
Depends. With just one fish in there, and careful feeding, you can minmize the amount of food that will settle into the subtrate by limiting what you give him to what he will eat. Adding a few shrimp to help clean the substrate will help, and you could probable go with every other water change substrate cleanings. The exception--if this is a UGF setup, the substrate needs to be cleaned as often as possible. With a HOB, not as crucial, especially if it's planted as well.
Thanks, the tank doesn't have any plants, at least not yet. And I have an aquaclear HOB filter on the tank, not sure what size I lost the lid, but definately big enought for a 10g. I actually think it may have been the filter we bought for a 30g. I guess I can see how much waste I'm getting from only doing a vac. twice a month and see how it looks from there. I figured if it was a big no-no, someone would tell me right away! 
My vet gave me a big syringe to shove in the end of the hose of the gravel vac--pull out the thingy on the syringe to get the vac started. Maybe you can find a similar syringe?
(This type of thing: http://www.air-tite.com/oral.htm)
(This type of thing: http://www.air-tite.com/oral.htm)
Eh, I would still plan on getting some plants and maybe 3 ghost shrimp for the tank, to help hold down the levels of the bad stuffs.
I really like the shrimp, and would like to get something else for the tank, but mr. betta seems very feisty, I don't know how it would go over, so I'm a little nervous!! Oh, and he definately does not let any food sink, so I'm not really worried about uneaten food! As for the plants, I'm just getting comfortable with my fish and doing everything right and as much as I would like to I'm not quite ready for a new hobby yet! However,I did get some suggestions for very low maintenance plants a little while back in that forum and am still kind of looking into it :read: !! I may try the syringe thing. I think it is something about the angles of the set up and the vac is really hard to get started
Well, my daughter has a couple of corys in her 10 gallon that keep the gravel nice and clean. When I do vac it, there doesn't seem to be much to pick up with them in there. This tank has 2 guppies, 2 emerald corys and 1 glo-light tetra...it's the cleanest easiest to keep tank I have of all of them !
Corys and betta generally get along rather well too, because the corys hang near the bottom, while the betta typically like the middle top. Might try a few of them in there Holly.
Corys and betta generally get along rather well too, because the corys hang near the bottom, while the betta typically like the middle top. Might try a few of them in there Holly.