Calling all Betta owners

[Keepers_girl]

OK, so I have this nice new 10gal tank that will have plants in it really soon. I want to put my newest edition(a beautiful red Betta named Sam)in there. From what I have read, bettas like calm water. My 10gal has an aqua-clear mini on it. Will this cause too much water movement for Sam.

This is my first betta. I can see why people love them

 

[grimlock3000]

Set the flow down all the way, the Betta will be fine.

 

[Hypostomus]

Another thing you can do is have live or silk plants with leaves that break the surface of the water. Anchor them in front of the filter and they will keep the outflow from going too strong.

 

[William]

Aqua clear mini pumps 100gph, Far to much current IMHO.


If you want to keep just the betta in the tank, Then you should drop by your local LFS or wally world and pick up a bubble filter.

 

[Keepers_girl]

I've never heard of a bubble filter. Who makes them? Do they filter the water just as well as a HOB? I was thinking about putting a couple of Queen Arabesque plecos in with the betta.

Thanks so far to all of the you for the responses.

 

[Menagerie]

I'm not sure about those plecos or how big they get.
About the filter--another way to lessen the current is to put a sponge on the filter intake tube--it will help.

 

[An t-iasg]

Have you thought about a sponge filter? I have sponge filters rated for 10 gallons in my 5.5 gallon betta tanks. Both sponge filters are run through a gang valve and connected to an air pump. You could also use a gang valve between your sponge filter and air pump. You could turn the gang valves until the bubbles coming out of the sponge filter are gentle enough not to make waves or current in the water. My gang valve has 3 valves -- the two sponge filters are connected to two of the valves, and the other valve is open to allow excess air to escape, which further helps to lessen the air running through the sponge filters, for a nice gentle airflow through the filters. I have a fairly steady stream of bubbles coming from the sponge filter, but the water surface is still.

 

[grimlock3000]

"Aqua clear mini pumps 100gph, Far to much current IMHO.


If you want to keep just the betta in the tank, Then you should drop by your local LFS or wally world and pick up a bubble filter."

Or, just lower the flow on the AC Mini. When you put it down all the way, it only moves about 25 gph of water If Keepers_girl did not already have a AC Mini, I would reccomend and air pump driven filter myself.

I would not put two Queen A. Plecos in a 10. They do stay pretty small, but they also eat a lot and generate a lot of waste.

 

[lreilly]

I agree about the Queen Arabesque. I have a full grown one (5") and it is to big and really dirty. Two would never work. Dirty dirty, but oh so pretty.

 

[CiRXSi]

Congrats on your first betta!! What I've done is slide the filter all the way to one side of the tank. That way there's a calm side of the tank. He'll soon learn that the other side has a current in it. He'll only go over there if he wants some exercise, or wants to play. And he probably will. One of my guys, Angel (we thought he was a girl at first) likes to see how close he can get to the waterfall before being swept away. It's quite humorous.

 

[smilla4]

What I've done is slide the filter all the way to one side of the tank.<snip>

CiRXSi, I was just wondering which filter do you use, and what's the size of your tank? I don't remember if you mentioned this before...

I'm actually thinking of moving my betta out of the eclipse and have been watching betta threads for ideas.

 

[CiRXSi]

That one is an Aquaclear 150 in a 15 G high. But it's only about 1/3 of the way to the side in that tank. He's got lots of room, especially towards the bottom before he gets in too much current. I was actually speaking of a previous betta in my 10 when I wrote that. I'm not particular to AQ one way or another. It's just the one that I got in a package deal that I purchased on eBay for that tank. I actually prefer the slide-in cartridge filters a little better for three reasons.
1--They are interchangable between filters if they take the same size
2--It's easy to place an extra cartridge behind another to keep the bacteria alive (if I have a tank down for a short amount of time) or to capture bacteria on a new filter
3--It's easier to replace media into those sleeves

That's just my take, but anyway my bettas have never seemed bothered by the flow.

 

[rossmort]

my betta is living in a 5.5g with an AC200 on full force and he is doing fine. There is actually a lot of calm for him and he does seem to like to go around in the downdraft of the outflow. I might have a freak of a betta though

 

[dsmalls]

What I've done is slide the filter all the way to one side of the tank. One of my guys, Angel (we thought he was a girl at first) likes to see how close he can get to the waterfall before being swept away.

I do the exact same for my betta. One side for the filter, and the other side is relatively calm. When the flow is cranked up, the little fellow seems to have a grand time of seeing how close he actually can get to the outlet flow. When it's quiet time, he goes to the other side and takes a breather in one of the plants.