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Help me put together the perfect luxury home for a Betta.
- Thread starter Rcguerra
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Brian_Nano12g
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Wow that's bright! Looks good... I like the plan on separate timers.. co2 might be in store 
Just out of curiosity, how is your betta reacting to the increased light? When I added my fugeray to my ten gallon my betta started coming out less and hiding under a few anubias leaves until I added some frogbit to the surface.
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Rcguerra
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I noticed if he has the option, having direct light into his eyes is not his preferred choice. Most of the time he manages to have something between his eyes and the direct light.
When I first introduced the second light, I brought to the equation also his reflection using a big mirror outside the tank: His territorial behavior kicked in, so after I removed the mirror he was patrolling the water (going all over) for about 5 minutes. After that, I brought food and the next thing I know, he is fine with the bright lights. Hopefully, within the next few weeks, I will have the ludwigias, the madagascar leaves and the red tiger lotus big enough to create indirect light spots, but for now I don't see a complete avoidance, just a little preference.
When I first introduced the second light, I brought to the equation also his reflection using a big mirror outside the tank: His territorial behavior kicked in, so after I removed the mirror he was patrolling the water (going all over) for about 5 minutes. After that, I brought food and the next thing I know, he is fine with the bright lights. Hopefully, within the next few weeks, I will have the ludwigias, the madagascar leaves and the red tiger lotus big enough to create indirect light spots, but for now I don't see a complete avoidance, just a little preference.
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Rcguerra
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90%+ of the plants are doing fine. Aproximately 1 ou of 10 dwarf hairgrass graft didn't make it, about 1 out of 5 baby tear didn't have enough roots, so ended up becoming yellow and weak.
All ludwigias are perfect. Both red tiger lotus showing fast signs of development and Madagascar Lace Leaves might be too big for this tank, I might trade it to someone for something with less leaf volume.
Due to the deaths of baby tears and darf hairgrass, my phosphates were HIGH. Rivercats remotely rescued me and I did a 50% WC followed by another 50% WC one hour later.
Phosphates and ammonia are below 1ppm. Nitrites are zero and Nitrates between 0 and 5.
Cassius is a noce little guy, but he has some unusual habits:
- he likes to let the sponge suck on his fins: when I first saw this I freaked out, thinking he was struggling to get out. He gets out without even an effort, but iI spotted him going near the filter, waiting for his fins to be flat against the inflow and staying there for 10+ seconds. After that, he casually swims away to do something more interesting;
- he developed a relationship with the thermometer: he has 2 spots where he likes to sleep, but I spotted him about 5 times enjoying the smooth surface of the round glass thermometer. At first, I guess he was looking for some kind of scratchy surfance for skin discomnfort, but then again, if there is something more interesting, he swims away as if what he was doing wasn't necessary;
- his wrath against invasion (i.e. his own reflexion) is so deep that most of the time I show him the mirror (about twice a day) his muscles contract to the point he defecates.
- only once I saw him going to the white gravel, " deep end". He is typically enjoying the upper half of the aquarium. I can't wait for the upper part to be planted so he can enjoy a less glassy landscape. However, this really change my perspective of cruelty about Bettas in small tanks. Before, I thought anything bellow 5 gallons would be pretty bad, now I am quite OK with a nice, heated, planted and filtered 2 gallon.
I believe it is relaxing, he even stops flapping his fins for about 5 seconds or so.
All ludwigias are perfect. Both red tiger lotus showing fast signs of development and Madagascar Lace Leaves might be too big for this tank, I might trade it to someone for something with less leaf volume.
Due to the deaths of baby tears and darf hairgrass, my phosphates were HIGH. Rivercats remotely rescued me and I did a 50% WC followed by another 50% WC one hour later.
Phosphates and ammonia are below 1ppm. Nitrites are zero and Nitrates between 0 and 5.
Cassius is a noce little guy, but he has some unusual habits:
- he likes to let the sponge suck on his fins: when I first saw this I freaked out, thinking he was struggling to get out. He gets out without even an effort, but iI spotted him going near the filter, waiting for his fins to be flat against the inflow and staying there for 10+ seconds. After that, he casually swims away to do something more interesting;
- he developed a relationship with the thermometer: he has 2 spots where he likes to sleep, but I spotted him about 5 times enjoying the smooth surface of the round glass thermometer. At first, I guess he was looking for some kind of scratchy surfance for skin discomnfort, but then again, if there is something more interesting, he swims away as if what he was doing wasn't necessary;
- his wrath against invasion (i.e. his own reflexion) is so deep that most of the time I show him the mirror (about twice a day) his muscles contract to the point he defecates.
- only once I saw him going to the white gravel, " deep end". He is typically enjoying the upper half of the aquarium. I can't wait for the upper part to be planted so he can enjoy a less glassy landscape. However, this really change my perspective of cruelty about Bettas in small tanks. Before, I thought anything bellow 5 gallons would be pretty bad, now I am quite OK with a nice, heated, planted and filtered 2 gallon.
I believe it is relaxing, he even stops flapping his fins for about 5 seconds or so.
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Rcguerra
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tropicalfishlady
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Kimlafeiet
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My Betta wants to know if he can come live with you
Beautiful tank!
Beautiful tank!
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Rcguerra
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My Betta wants to know if he can come live with you
Beautiful tank!
I will be taking a female halfmoon within the next 10 days. The position will be announced on TV, all female candidates must submit bikini shots and resume to thebachelorbetta.com
Brian_Nano12g
Aquarium Advice Addict
Haha ... The thread never ends unless you tear down the tank and start a re-build/scape. You are now obligated to report periodic growth -- especially since you're running TWO Fugerays on a single tank. That in itself is unique and inquiring minds would like to know its effectiveness...
Tank looks great.
Tank looks great.
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Rcguerra
Aquarium Advice FINatic
The only big impact that I see with the second finnex is on my red tiger lotus. I am not kidding, it is almost like you can SEE it growing.
Besides that, with the second rimless cube coming and the custom stand for 3 tanks ordered and CO2 as part of the plan, I am strongly considering rescaping this tank without so many rocks, without the white (now brown) substrate and with a better plant selection.
Besides that, with the second rimless cube coming and the custom stand for 3 tanks ordered and CO2 as part of the plan, I am strongly considering rescaping this tank without so many rocks, without the white (now brown) substrate and with a better plant selection.
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Billbug68
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I'm super excited to see this three tank scape come together, will def be waiting for details!
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Rcguerra
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I am excited to see them together as well. If everything goes right, next week I will have the custom wood stand made for the 3 tanks. My second tank arrives next week as well, so I might start working on the hardscape for that one. I also made an offer on a CO2 system that will pretty much suck all the budget I have for this month, leaving me with no money for heater or filtration for second tank (custom stand is running near US$400).
Lastly, Finnex Fugeray doesn't let you control the blue LEDS independently. I would love to have some transition from bright to moonlight to off. So I am in the market for a cheap, 1 to 3 LED light to be on for about 5 hours (2 in the morning, 3 in the evening), so I can have about 11 hours of light on the tank (6 of Fugeray, 5 "transitional")
Lastly, Finnex Fugeray doesn't let you control the blue LEDS independently. I would love to have some transition from bright to moonlight to off. So I am in the market for a cheap, 1 to 3 LED light to be on for about 5 hours (2 in the morning, 3 in the evening), so I can have about 11 hours of light on the tank (6 of Fugeray, 5 "transitional")
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Rcguerra
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Planning on the expansion of the tank, I got some extra Ludwigias, this time Peruensis. I also received as a gift a couple of shrimps. Cassius seems intrigued and attacked the female once, but she was two fast and he lost interest. I spotted them near each other without any signs of aggression (he the betta was looking at the shrimp, so he could see her).
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Brian_Nano12g
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Looks good. I'm surprised the betta is cool with shrimp. My female betta immediately went after my amano shrimp and killed one. She's a mean gal that's why we named her Red Sonia.
FishingMouse
Aquarium Advice Freak
I have a betta that's fine with shrimp as well actually....he did go after them at first, but he didn't like it when they tapped him with their antennae so now he leaves them alone haha.
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Rcguerra
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Don't get me wrong, the betta is attracted by the shrimp, but the shrimp is too fast swimming away and hiding that the betta loses interest. I won't be surprised if there is some kind of fatal incident. Would be nice if the shrimp breed though, giving the betta an enriched diet and giving the shrimp a controlled population.
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Rcguerra
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Rcguerra
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Quick update: water parameters are excellent, both shrimp alive (the female shed her exo, so the first impression I had was that the Betta had killed her after spotting the "carcass"). Besides that, the only negative aspect is that the new ludwigias came with A LOT of white worms. I am in the process of learning more about them, but it seems that I got HUNDREDS of hairlike worm just floating. Any advice to kill them all is a polytheistic blessing. Thank you!
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