10 gal Beach themed freshwater Betta tank?

[Pawtrekker]

Okay so I just bought a 10 gallon tank from a friend and plan to put on of my Bettas in it. I've been trying to figure out how I want to decorate it and since the tank will be going in the living room I asked my mom what she thought. She asked if I could possibly do a beach themed tank since our living room is kind of beach themed so I started looking into it. I have a few questions however. Will fake coral decor harm my Betta? I have heard that you are not supposed to keep objects with sharp edges in Betta tanks. Also, I don't want to use sand so I was wondering if you guys thought a small white gravel substrate would work?

If anyone has a beach themed freshwater tank could you post pics so I can get some ideas? I'm still trying to decide if I really want to do that or not so I'm trying to keep my options open.

Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[Zimmanski]

Petco brand has some "sand" that's not really sand at all, more like really small gravel. I love that stuff, it's soft for the fish, looks like sand but it's big enough you can easily use a gravel vac to clean it and it won't be sucked through, the gravel vac will pick it up but it won't make it to the smaller tube. It's surprisingly good stuff and comes in "beachy" and dark colors.

 

[Pawtrekker]

Cool, that looks really neat. We don't have a Petco near where I live but I'll check and see if they have anything like it at Petsmart. Thanks for showing me this!

 

[tamtam]

I think a substrate like above would be perfect. I would forgo coral decor and think about some drift wood instead and maybe some medium/large rocks..

This is just a small section of a tank but it's what comes to mind for me

https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/i...7Db7ZwCXoT_421IBRGPNjxrYnI8xbe12bUkCr49-jKKCp

 

[Pawtrekker]

That's a good idea too. I'm thinking of buying some shells at the store and using a few to decorate the tank as well. (After I boil them of course) but I think I like the driftwood idea, thanks. I'll probably be putting a few live plants in there as well. Keep the ideas coming guys!

 

[bettaowner]

I have an amazing idea. Use the sand as substrate but instead of having every thing submerged, make it half land, half water. On land you can have plastic coconut trees, a plastic turtle figure, ect.

 

[Zimmanski]

That would be awesome if you can pull it off! But also keep in mind that takes living space away from your bettas, but I know they can live in very small amounts of water

 

[bettaowner]

Maybe have the tank half filled up then add sand. That way there's a reasonable amount of water and you can still have the beach effect.

 

[azmodan]

Be careful with shells -- they'd likely dissolve over time and affect your water chemistry. Maybe look for ceramic/fake ones? Also, maybe instead of an actual beach look you could do like a sunken pirate ship look? It's perhaps a little cliched in aquaria now days but with the right plants (live, of course), decor, and sand it'd have potential to look great (and appropriate). I think it'd be worth trying to get some red cherry shrimp too. Risky with the betta, I know, but they do kinda look like little lobsters. Oh man, having tiny little fake lobster traps in there with little red cherry shrimp hiding in them would look AWESOME.

 

[Pawtrekker]

That is a really cute idea azmodan! And thanks for the warning about the shells. I'll see f I can find some decent-looking fake shells. I didn't realize shells would dissolve in the water. Like I said above, I don't really want to use sand, I'd rather use small white gravel. I love the Cherry shrimp idea too. I could try putting some of my Ghost Shrimp in there and see if he eats them or not before I get Cherry Shrimp. Not sure where I could find little lobster traps though and I'm not sure what I could use to make them that wouldn't rust.