Upgreading a betta tank

MikeO

MikeO

AC Members
Dec 7, 2004
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Pittsburgh, PA
www.mikeoconnor.net
I want to ask a question of all of you, I just got a 10Gal tank for my betta (he is right now in a 2.5Gal tank) I have put 15 bls of graval in the bottom of it, and I am thinking of tomorrow after work to move my betta (Stroustrup) over to it, I am thinking of then taking the plants out of the old tank and putting them in the new tank, the graval, and the rock over to it, then steal some plants from the 20 Gal community tank for the 10 gal betta tank. My questions are:

1) I don't think I need to cycle the tank since I will be moving all the main stuff from the old tank over to the new tank then some more from the other tank, so the bactara will be up to the betta.

2) I am thinking of just keeping only the betta in the tank (I was looking for a 5Gal tank when I got this, but the 5Gal tank was 2x the price and this has 2x the space so I thought it would be better) is it ok to just keep the betta in such a large tank or should I consider another tank mate? if so what? if I should consider it is it really needed or can I get by with just the betta and some snails

3) anything else I should think of.

4)I am also thinking of taking the 2.5Gal tank to the office where I have a 1.6Gal tank with a betta in it, and move the office betta (Turing) to the bigger 2.5Gal tank, or should I hold off on this and get another 10Gal tank for Turing (the office betta)?
 
The 10gal wil definatly result in a better looking tank, happier fish, and a much easier to maintain environment. You can also keep a nice color array inside it aswell. I'm setting up a 10gal tank tomorrow for my betta and plan to keep 3 mollies, 3 cory cats, a mystery snail, and two ADFs.

Edit: Just remembered that mollies are brackish, so they're out. Now I just need to hope the cores won't try and eat his fins.
 
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Mike.....do do please wait until the 10 gallon is cycled before you put your betta in there.....he's such a beautiful little fish, It would be a shame for his fins to get all tattered up from the stress of going through a cycle period.

The two gallon you have him in now is just fine to keep him in until the 10 gallon is ready. You could read up on fishless cycling or get some ADFs or another fish that will get along with bettas....that can handle a cycled better than a betta will. ADFs and bettas generally get along rather well together ...(african dwarf frogs)...just be sure you don't pick up any african CLAWED frogs by mistake if you decide to go that route...nasty critters that will eat up your betta as soon as they are big enough. The clawed frogs have NO webbing on their front feet...the dwarf frogs do.

Anway...beautiful little betta there....I saw him in the "betta fish" thread. :thm:
 
I would think the tank would be instantly cycled when I moved all the stuff from the old tank to the new tank, then I would think I would have more bactara then I need when I start to steal some plants from the 20Gal tank, I am not just going to put him in the 10Gal with out moving stuff, I am going to move everything the fish, the rock from the tank, the gravel, the 2 plants from the 2.5 Gal, and some plants will be added from a 20Gal (tad over stocked tank) infact my thoughts would be that I would have mass lose of execes bactara (the 2.5Gal has an UG filter, so most of the bactara should be in the gravel.)

Also I forgot to add that all the plants are also live plants.
 
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MikeO said:
I would think the tank would be instantly cycled when I moved all the stuff from the old tank to the new tank, then I would think I would have more bactara then I need when I start to steal some plants from the 20Gal tank, I am not just going to put him in the 10Gal with out moving stuff, I am going to move everything the fish, the rock from the tank, the gravel, the 2 plants from the 2.5 Gal, and some plants will be added from a 20Gal (tad over stocked tank) infact my thoughts would be that I would have mass lose of execes bactara (the 2.5Gal has an UG filter, so most of the bactara should be in the gravel.)

Also I forgot to add that all the plants are also live plants.
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It will not be cycled instantly, but imho, the betta would be fine in there.

Tank mates: In a 10 gallon, you could put maybe a few dwarf cories, african dwarf frogs, or maybe two platies (some may argue that a fish with any kind of color should not be in w/ a betta, but I have 2 platies and a betta together and they ignore each other). Of course, you don't have to have a tank mate. I think if I were you I'd do a heavily planted tank, and just have the betta.

Office betta: Hmm, if yo uhave the space for a 10 gallon, I say save up and get one. Personally I couldn't do a 10 gallon because I'm in a cube and there would be no way to do water changes as the kitchen and ladies room are far far away. If you don't really want to do a 10, then by all means bring in the 2.5 - but remember if you are taking the substrate from this 2.5 for the 10 gallon at home, there will be nothing really left in there, so you will have to re-cycle it.

Good luck!!!
 
dwayne said:
Office betta: Hmm, if yo uhave the space for a 10 gallon, I say save up and get one. Personally I couldn't do a 10 gallon because I'm in a cube and there would be no way to do water changes as the kitchen and ladies room are far far away. If you don't really want to do a 10, then by all means bring in the 2.5 - but remember if you are taking the substrate from this 2.5 for the 10 gallon at home, there will be nothing really left in there, so you will have to re-cycle it.
Click to expand...

1st, I do think I will be doing the heavly planted tank for the betta at home.

2nd, I have more then enouph room in my cubical, I have the room of 3 desks in here, and I only use the room of 2.5 of it. I will probably get the 10 Gallon tank, again the stuff from the old tank will be moved to the new tank. So cycling here should not be a problem (just like the one at home) but I will probably do that next month.
 
Yes, it would be instantly "cycled" (I hate that word, it doesn't accurately reflect what happens in our tank). If he's moving all the substrate and tank decor from the old to the new there will be no ammonia spike. Once you have a decent amount of bacteria it takes very very very little time for bacterial levels to reach a new equilibrium point. We're talking about organisms that can double thier population in under a day, and survive for days without food.

STOP UNDERESTIMATING OUR BACTERIA!! :duh:
 
Well I just moved him, he is not to happy with me at this moment, but he will get over it, I moved all the gravel rocks and plants, and stole 8 plants from the 20 gallon tank for the new 10 gallon tank, and 3 more rocks from the 20 gallong and the cave decoration from the 20 Gallon tank. He is right now exploring his new home, his fins are all prostrate. I had a bit of a problem with some dirt (or something) in the water because I took him out of the old tank in a bag to float him like I would a new fish, and took as much of the water, and dirt out of the old tank, and then dumped the gravel from the old tank into the new one (the new tank now has 21 bls of gravel in it) I am sure by tomorrow he will not be unhappy about the new place.

He right now seams to be only hanging at the walls not doing much swimming in the middle of the tank.


UPDATE::
well I moved more plants around, alot more plants, the 20 gallon tank looks nothing like it did before.
 
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He may be just a bit overwhelmed with all the extra room he has in there...and feeling a bit insecure. If there are plenty of plants and cave type things in the tank, he should get used to it over time.

Good luck with the new setup and enjoy !! :clap: I just love seting up new tanks ! :D
 
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