Starting up new tank for Bettas

[fissyfriend]

Hello there! I am getting two five gallon tanks from my boyfriend that I am going to be using to house bettas. I am looking for advice on how to properly set up my tanks and how to start them. I know that I can do the fishless cycle and I can use some of the bio matter from my 20 gallon to help kickstart the process, but outside of that what should or can I do? The tanks will be in my room that don't get much sunlight (if any due to the time of year). Also, I have been reading about tank parameters but the information I have found has overlapped. I was wondering if anyone with longterm experience with freshwater tanks could help clear that up for me? Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated! Thank you all for taking the time to read this!

 

[nirbhao]

Fishless cycling is the most important part. What other aspects of setting up are you looking for help with?

 

[fissyfriend]

Fishless cycling is the most important part. What other aspects of setting up are you looking for help with?

Is sand or gravel better for the betta tank and what plants would do best? I've heard Amazon swords and Java ferns do well. The tank is led and lowlight so what would best fit my tanks? Thank you so much!

 

[nirbhao]

My personal preference is sand. Java ferns would work. I don't know about Amazon swords.

 

[fissyfriend]

Is there anything that you would suggest I do for plants or setup? I've been trying to find some good ideas but I can't find and good theme setups. I was thinking I'd like to do the two tanks as zen tanks but I can't think of any good zen setups or aquascaping. I would like to do bamboo in at least one of them. How do you think that it would do in a lowlight sand substrate tank?