Noob Betta Questions Plz help

[Primetime]

Okay, this may have been asked before so sorry if it has. I have begged my dad to get a Betta and a tank setup. I am 15, and he finally respects me enough to know I will take care of it, just like I do with my goldfish and budgies. Now, I am only fimiliar to goldfish and need to know some quick questions.

1. 5 gallon or 10 gallon?
2. gravel or sand?
3. natural plants or artificial setup?
4. What other fish can I have with a betta? (considering I get a 10 gallon setup here).
5. How much would a heater be for a 5 gallon? How much for a 10?
6. How do I determine if my betta will bother his tankmates before buying them?
7. what kind of catfish? Im leaning towards otos.

Wow thank you soooooooo very very much if you answer some of these questions for me. I know if I go with that list to the very BUSY Big Al's near my apt, they will just walk away like im crazy. lol. Therefore I am asking for your help.
Thanks.

 

[sumthin fishy]

Well,
1. the 10 wont cost much more than the 5, and bigger is always better.
2. your choice, aestetic preference. Also my oppinion is gravel is easier to take care of
3. Natural plants will help with O2 as well as use up toxic nitrates. fakers will obviously require less care. If you go fake, get silk, there is less of a chance of your betta gettin a fin torn from the plastic ones.
4. many fish will work with bettas. I cauurently have guppies and a few small catfish in a 10 with mine. There are plenty others. You will want to avoid nippy fish like barbs, danios(mabey) and such
5. bout $20, but you could get a complete setup(tank heater light filter etc) for cheaper than getting it all separate
6. Ask us here! actually, I've found they usually dont bother other fish unless the other fish is a betta. You may want to wait for other replies on this, as it is soley my experience and I was wronge once before in my life,(but only once).
7. Ottos are good. I have 2 mystus carcio they stay arround 3 inches and are cute lil buggers, but I had to special order them. I also like corry cats, in your tank you will want to stay with a group of smaller types(dwarf). They like company.
Or search arround www.planetcatfish.com for small species that you might like.
8. read this http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26051
It is long but worth it. you will need test kits and want to cycle the tank before adding fish.

There are a number of experienced betta keepers here tha I hope will chime in with some specifics as to thier care.

Happy fishkeeping and welcome to AC!!!

 

[Primetime]

Well,
1. the 10 wont cost much more than the 5, and bigger is always better.
2. your choice, aestetic preference. Also my oppinion is gravel is easier to take care of
3. Natural plants will help with O2 as well as use up toxic nitrates. fakers will obviously require less care. If you go fake, get silk, there is less of a chance of your betta gettin a fin torn from the plastic ones.
4. many fish will work with bettas. I cauurently have guppies and a few small catfish in a 10 with mine. There are plenty others. You will want to avoid nippy fish like barbs, danios(mabey) and such
5. bout $20, but you could get a complete setup(tank heater light filter etc) for cheaper than getting it all separate
6. Ask us here! actually, I've found they usually dont bother other fish unless the other fish is a betta. You may want to wait for other replies on this, as it is soley my experience and I was wronge once before in my life,(but only once).
7. Ottos are good. I have 2 mystus carcio they stay arround 3 inches and are cute lil buggers, but I had to special order them. I also like corry cats, in your tank you will want to stay with a group of smaller types(dwarf). They like company.
Or search arround www.planetcatfish.com for small species that you might like.
8. read this http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26051
It is long but worth it. you will need test kits and want to cycle the tank before adding fish.

There are a number of experienced betta keepers here tha I hope will chime in with some specifics as to thier care.

Happy fishkeeping and welcome to AC!!!

Thankyou sooooo much :clap: honestly that was the perfect reply :thm: hopefully I can get more comments, I dont want to make a stupid decision that I regret later on. Once again thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. Thats the kind of help that I wouldnt get at Big Al's.

EDIT: Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I didnt realize that there was a Freshwater Newbie Forum.

Also, I wanted to know about those fish that crawl on gravel and hide and make tunnels.. I dont know what they are called so can someone help me out? The one I saw and liked a lot was a yellow one with a purple stripe at the bottom. Looked like it had legs but not quite. Can they live with bettas?

 

[sumthin fishy]

Im gonna guess some type of loach? Kuhli loaches http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/db.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&ID=0546&view_records=1 are orange with black stipes and will tunnel in the gravel like you said. They should be Ok. like corries, they will want a few friends. You will need to be careful not to overstock, so dont try to get all the fish suguested. And make sure you read up on any fish you want to buy in the species profiles before you go out to buy them.

No problem posting here. Go for the noob forrum if you have another thread to start down the road, but no sence repeating this there now, you'll just spread out your answers.

 

[Hannys_Papa]

Well i dont know if there is much i could add after so much good advice from sumthing fishy !!!

1) 10G - maybe even a 20. They will give you some better stocking options and also better aquascaping possibilities. I started with a 10G and they run out of room so quickly.

2) agree with sf

3) Silk all the way/ or real. I first had plastic - then added some high quality silk - and had to get rid of the plastic cause they looked horrible compared to the silk. Now i started adding live plants and they go good together. All this assuming you like the "natural" look - and nothing neon pink or blue. Then plastic/ few silks might be the only choice.

4) SF gave you some ideas even though there might be some trial and error involved as bettas cant be very different

5) When researching heaters you will find that they almost always cost the same no matter the size - a 300W heater might only be 2-5$ more than the 50W version. Another reason why setting up a 10G tank doesnt really cost much more than a 5G. Same goes for filters.
15-20$ will get you a nice quality heater - stay away from the cheap 6-7$ models. The more expensive ones are easier to set, seem more reliable and some have nice features like auto shutoff if you forget to shut it off during a waterchange or a shatterproof outside.

6) ...

7) ...

Good luck with your next tank. Let us know how it progresses and show us some pics. Always nice to see those.

 

[Primetime]

Im gonna guess some type of loach? Kuhli loaches http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/db.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&ID=0546&view_records=1 are orange with black stipes and will tunnel in the gravel like you said. They should be Ok. like corries, they will want a few friends. You will need to be careful not to overstock, so dont try to get all the fish suguested. And make sure you read up on any fish you want to buy in the species profiles before you go out to buy them.

No problem posting here. Go for the noob forrum if you have another thread to start down the road, but no sence repeating this there now, you'll just spread out your answers.

alright thanks, but it wasnt a kuhli loach. Infact it looked more like a cory. had big eyes, real cute looking, not long like a loach, and wouldnt get out of its tunnel. I go to big als every week, and everytime its in the same tunnel. Sometimes brings half of its body out and swims backwards back in. If it wasnt for that NOT FOR SALE sign because its a display aquarium, I would just buy that exact one

EDIT: Thanks a lot for you post Hannys_Papa. I am getting a very good idea of what I need :joke: Also just found out it was a clown loach

 

[Betta-Luvn]

You are thinking about getting a clown loach!!!!
Dont. They get to bee hugeee
anywho, Congrats on your 1st betta haha i got into bettas... Now i have 9 of them hehe
yeah i know im a dork what can i say its an addiction!!

 

[Roan Art]

Just a note -- if you are thinking of putting guppies in with the betta, excercise caution. Guppies can get nippy and I had some that harassed a platy to death. After it died, they then turned on a fellow guppy and nipped and harassed that one until it was dead.

Bettas might make too nice a target for them with those long flowing fins.

Just a thought.

Clown loach? Heh, they get 12" and need a big tank

Roan

 

[Emg]

alright thanks, but it wasnt a kuhli loach. Infact it looked more like a cory. had big eyes, real cute looking, not long like a loach, and wouldnt get out of its tunnel. I go to big als every week, and everytime its in the same tunnel. Sometimes brings half of its body out and swims backwards back in.

It sounded like some kind of goby to me.....oh well...

I'd go with the fake plants to start out with. You may want to try live plants after you learn some with this tank. Plants come with a bunch of thier own issues and can be a bit of a pain when you first start out...lol....fake is much easier to take care of !!

Good luck with your new betta Prime ! You may just find out that one isn't enough !! LOL......(I started with one and now I'm up to about 16, last count)

 

[Primetime]

It sounded like some kind of goby to me.....oh well...

I'd go with the fake plants to start out with. You may want to try live plants after you learn some with this tank. Plants come with a bunch of thier own issues and can be a bit of a pain when you first start out...lol....fake is much easier to take care of !!

Good luck with your new betta Prime ! You may just find out that one isn't enough !! LOL......(I started with one and now I'm up to about 16, last count)

alright thanks.. wow 16 bettas? thats awesome! Dont they fight with eachother though? or you only have females?.. And it WAS a Goby!!! lol i just checked out the goby pics and its a goby.. Can someone tell me how much a goby is, and whether they can live with bettas or not? thanks a lot!
Going to Big Al's in around 2 Hours.