5.5 gal, where do I go from here?

[onebettanewbie]

Here’s a pic of my 5.5 gallon tank with my betta. It’s been set up for 3 months now. I had a large borrowed biological filter in it for a long time and only recently removed it so now I'm anxious to "decorate."



A few stats:
Substrate and depth: about 1 inch gravel with laterite
Plants:
- Anubias barteri (one large in the left rear and one small in the right front corner
- Wisteria (right rear)
- tiny amount of surviving Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis Novae) (even less than you see here)
- two small java fern (not in picture) tucked in the corner by the filter.

The anubias have been in the tank all along and the Wisteria for at least two months.

Ferts: .25 ml a week Flourish comprehensive, but only for the past four weeks

Lighting: Flora Sun fluorescent (for about 4 weeks. Before that I had the standard fluorescent bulb that came with the hood lamp)
14 Watts, 5,000 K (I’d rather have one with 6,500 K but they're hard to get for a 5.5 gallon.)
Photoperiod: 8 hours per day on a timer

Water parameters: Ammonia: 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate approximately 10 ppm (but it may not last. In the spring the county switches from Chloramines to Chlorine for a short time. When it switches back, my nitrate may go back up to 15 ppm.
KH & GH: don't know but the county water is very hard
PH: 7.4 - 7.8

I think the tank needs at least one more foreground plant and would like some suggestions for plants and/or layout improvements. The Micro Sword was the first plant I tried to plant in the gravel. I had a really hard time trying to get it to stay in the gravel and most of it promptly died. (There’s even less now than you see in the picture which was taken about 2 weeks ago.) The pet store recommends Cryptocoryne Wendtii (probably because they keep it in stock but they'll order anything they can get). I read it tends to get root rot if you move it so I'd have to plant it in one place and keep it there. It's really hard to vacuum the gravel in a 5.5 gallon tank so I'm wondering if I should stay away from plants that need to be planted. One idea I had was to buy some java moss and put some in the foreground and a little in the glass candle holder. (Krackle, if you’re reading this, what do you do? Do you vacuum the gravel in your 5.5 gallon? Does it dislodge the plants?)

I also think the tank is rather dull and needs some color. Any ideas? Replace the background? I tried using the back of the plant scene, a bright sky blue, and I didn't think it worked well. Swap out some of the gravel for dark blue? I'm not crazy about the clay pots or the reddish rock the small anubia is tied to because I don't think they set off my betta's colors well. I know you can’t see him well in the tank so here’s a picture. Notice he has some blue in his fins.

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I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas!

[mr86mister]

What you could possibly do is buy black gravel. What this will do is make the green from the plants and the colors in your Betta jump out like crazy. Also, maybe the background a deep blue or black as well. Betta's started my obsession, now I have plenty of tanks...lol.

[CatatonicBug]

Any reason for not filling the tank the rest of the way? Also, why did you remove the filter?

[onebettanewbie]

Less likelihood of him jumping.
I didn't! It's hiding behind the rainbow rock/anubia.

Oh, you mean the biological filter? It was enormous and I just borrowed it because I had ammonia spikes. (I cycled with Bio Spira.) There's a Duetto 50 (recommended by Purrbox) in the tank behind the rainbow rock.

[CatatonicBug]

Originally Posted by onebettanewbie

Less likelihood of him jumping.
I didn't! It's hiding behind the rainbow rock/anubia.

Oh, you mean the biological filter? It was enormous and I just borrowed it because I had ammonia spikes. (I cycled with Bio Spira.) There's a Duetto 50 (recommended by Purrbox) in the tank behind the rainbow rock.

Gotcha... I have the same filter in my 2.5g office tank. Don't you have a lid on the tank to prevent jumping? Do betta's really jump that much?

[onebettanewbie]

First let me correct my last correction... Sigh. The filter was recommended by An t-iasg.

Yes I have a cover. I'm no expert but I keep reading that eventually they will jump and, of course, I take the cover off for water changes. Just being careful. It makes me nervous to have the water all the way up to the top.

[CatatonicBug]

I always keep the water level high enough so you can't see the top of the water from the outside of the tank. The black trim piece around the top covers the edge of the water. It just looks cleaner that way IMO.

[JessieVB]

Tank looks great. I wouldn't be too nervous about him jumping. I only had one that jumped out of 4 or 5 that I've owned. So long as the cover is only off during water changes you should be fine.

[Purrbox]

That's not much light for a 5.5 gallon, so I'd definately stick to lower light plants. That's also probably the reason you haven't had much luck with your Micro Sword.

No need to gravel vac areas that are planted. The plants make use of the mulm to provide them with the nutrients they need to grow. Just swish the vac above them to pick up any excess.

I find that a black background is great for adding depth to an aquarium and making the colors pop. That's what I use on all my aquariums.

I wouldn't worry about your Nitrates going up to 15ppm with the changes to your source water. Many of us regularly dose our Nitrates upto 20ppm (or higher) to ensure that the plants have plenty. Having 10-15ppm Nitrate with well within the acceptible range for fish.

I'd recommend going with Crypt x willisii or Crypt x willisii 'Lucens' (often sold as Crypt Lucens) over the Crypt wendtii. It'll be much more appropriately sized for your aquarium and should be almost as easy to obtain. I've seen it for sale at my Petsmart. My Crypt wendtii is a bit of a tank buster in my 10 gallon, so I wouldn't put it in a 5.5 gallon. With Crypts you need to make sure that you don't bury the rhizome or the roots will rot. They can also be a bit touchy when moved or water conditions change, and will suffer crypt melt (one or more leaves disintegrating). Just leave them alone as long as the rhizome is still firm and they generally come back better than before.

I think adding more plants will really help the overall appearance. Doesn't have to be a lot of variety, just larger quantity. It will also help if you can change out the hardscape so that the individual pieces belong together visually. Right now they are so different that the make it feel a bit disjointed. I doubt the red rock would bother you as much if you had several of the same rock. Same goes with the pot.

[onebettanewbie]

I'll look into buying the crypts you recommend.

Can aquarium background paper be bought in shiny black? I tried brown wrapping paper once and thought it looked dull and depressing. It sucked up the light.

I bought the red rock because I could sand it smooth. All of the other rocks in the store had sharp edges and didn't seem safe for a betta tank. Any suggestions? I'm willing to start over with the hardscape although I am fond of the rainbow rock and the crackle glass. Guess that's how I ended up with disjointed hardscape to begin with.