tank dividers PLEASE HELP!!

[stacie]

I have a 10 gallon freshwater tank that I have set up for some bettas that I am going to be getting ( my Wal Mart bettas all died off). I bought some Top Fin dividers but am curious as to how well the water will be filtered through those tiny holes. The employee told me that they would be fine. Just curious as I was going to make my own with the plastic canvas if anyone thinks the water would filter better. I know that the holes are a lot bigger on the canvas. Thanks for any help.

Stacie

 

[justDIY]

if it's not too late, take the top fin dividers back and go with your canvas idea

I was using black craft canvas to keep goldfish from the 'planted' side of their pen and it worked for a while, but the fish managed to bulldose their way through ... these fish are a LOT bigger then a betta, so it would probably stand up better

if you can do it with a dry tank, gluing the canvas with silicon caulk to the sides of the tank would be ideal

also, if you plan on live plants, stick with swords or something else that doesn't "shed", otherwise it's guaranteed that your divider screens will get clogged with plant matter, and be a devil to clean

btw, what type of filter are you planning on? with bettas you could probably get away with no filtration at all, and just 50% water changes every week to 10 days, or with some sort of powered filter, maybe 50% water changes every month

 

[bettacove]

Heres a good link on how to make your own:
http://www.gntbs.org/dividedtank.htm

ashley

 

[loganj]

Remember that bettas don't like current. I think you'd be OK without a filter as long as you're doing weekly water changes and watching water parameters. If you want a small amount of flow through the dividers, a small airlift from one end to the other should suffice.

 

[stacie]

I just have the small filter that came with the tank. I had two 1 gallons that I had some bettas in, but they died. I got them at wal mart (I know, I know. Not the greatest quality) and the ones I'm expecting I am getting from BC Bettas online. Just want to make sure everything is perfect. Thanks and if you know of anything I can do for hard water, let me know. It rates at the highest end of the hardness spectrum on the test strip. I am also using the filtration as these fish are used to the best of everything including the live food, which I will be attempting. Good thing I'm not the squeamish type.

 

[justDIY]

you can put a piece of driftwood in the tank to soften the water ... bettas live in puddles, drainage ditches and small ponds, so they get a lot of soft rain water

but I think they're very flexible about their conditions.

 

[reberly]

We have wicked high hardness in our water too. I've heard the Water Softener Pillow from Aquarium Pharmacueticals works well, you just have to "recharge" it every day for a while. Look it up on http://www.aquariumpharmaceuticals.com or someplace like http://www.petsmart.com

I've heard that Driftwood will stain your water a slight brown color.

Ryan

 

[loganj]

You can buy some distilled or RO/DI water and mix it with your tap water to achieve the desired hardness. It'll take some trial and error to get it right at first. Once you have the ratio figured out, it shouldn't be hard to mix it up. Bettas are pretty adaptable as long as they are properly acclimated. If you're using a power filter, I would try to diffuse the flow as much as possible. Strong currents will stress the bettas some.

 

[stacie]

Just wanted to say thanks to everybody who responded. I'll go with the canvas idea and will also try mixing the water. I guess I should just get rid of the filter then, huh? What ratio of water change would I have to do on a 10 gallon? Once a week?


Stacie

 

[bettacove]

Which bettas are u gettin from BCbetta?

ashley

 

[loganj]

You could run a small sponge or corner filter. Place the filter on one side of the tank and run the airlift tube to the other side. That will give you extra biofiltration and insure that the water does move some through the dividers. It won't make enough current to bother the bettas though. I think once a week water changes should be sufficient...maybe start out with about a 3g change and see how the water parameters do.

 

[stacie]

I am getting 3 males, one of which comes with his sister. They are marked on hold for Stacie R G. They are on pages 3, 5 and 7 of the stock shop pages. I know that one is an opaque. I'm still in the beginning stages of bettas, so I don't know the proper color terms for the others yet. One is a beautiful blue and red, the other a blue. If you go to bcbettas.com, you can look at them. I really like the mustard gas, but they are so expensive and where my Wal Mart ones died, I want to make sure that I do everything right before I get any that are more than $20. I expect that I'll soon be ordering more from her in the future. VERY nice lady. Do you keep bettas? What colors and how many?

Stacie

P.S. Do you have your own website? Or is that a different bettacove? I think that I've seen a link for a bettacove on bettastarz. Is that you?

 

[bettacove]

I have ordered from her a couple times (and will do again),she is very nice (i actually just got a package yesterday from her, 20 fish). If you want some MGs then you could ask to see if she has any extras she could give you. The opaque is very nice.
Yup I keep bettas. My favorit colour is chocolate, i have 2 pairs. I also have reds/cambodians, sunsalas, black and blue marbles (my second favorit), yellow butterflys, MGs and a bunch of babies from a black orange x sunsala spawn and i don't know what colours they will be yet.
I do have a website but its not finished yet, i havn't had time to work on it in a while. Its not me on bettastarz.

ashley

 

[bettacove]

oh there is a bettacave on bettastarz, maybe thats what you are thinkin of.

ttyl
ashley

 

[stacie]

Yeah, I went to their links page right after I finished with my post and realized it wasn't you. Felt a little goofy for making the mistake!! I have seen so many articles saying how easy bettas are to breed, but jeez, it sure does take a lot of equipment, what with separating the fry when it comes time. Do you sell most of yours? I read that they can have 300 eggs sometimes. I know they don't all survive, but what's the average spawn end up being? I see you are in Canada. My family is from Maine. A REALLY small town right up next to the border. I want to live there some day or maybe Alaska. I'm an army brat and was up there in the late 70's. Miss the skiing and skidooing. Can't stand the heat here in Texas. And yes, it's the humidity!! Ha! Ha! How long before your site will be up?

Stacie

 

[bettacove]

Breedings the easy part, raising the fry is the hard part. Ya a know eh, but I find that I don't even need most of the stuff others use. I just have the tank, heater, plants and fish. and thats basicaly it. I keep some and sell some, and sometimes give them away. Its really hard to say the average cus there are so many things that can affect the outcome. I'd say anywere from 0-300
Well at least you don't need heaters!
Most of the links are up, but there is not much there. U can check it out if u like. It wont be done for a while, i'am pretty busy this month.
http://www.geocities.com/betta_cove

ashley

 

[stacie]

Just checked out the site. It looks like it's gonna be real nice. I think I finally got my ph right. I went ahead and took 2 gallons out last night and added 2 gallons of distilled to help with the hardness. I didn't really want to do that 'cause all the betta sites seem to lean toward tap water only. I don't know. Now I just need to get the alkalinity right. Still comes up as a little too high. Or does it even matter? When I had the bettas from Wal Mart I just put Tetra Aqua Aqua Safe in their water and that was it. Didn't pay attention to anything else. The first one (red male) lived for about 7 months. The blue male and red female both lived about 5 months and I only had the second red male for about 3 weeks before he died. So I'm giving it another shot. If it doesn't work out, I guess I'll get some other kinds of fish. Anyway, let me know on the alkalinity thing when you get a chance.

Stacie

 

[bettacove]

Thanks I'am working on it right now.
Distilled water is ok if mixed with tap, but on its own its not good cus it has no minerals and stuff.
The only thing i test my water for is pH, so i have no clue abot the alkalinity stuff. sorry. Though i might have to start cus the town switched water supply and i'am having trouble getting a good number of fry to live....
7 and 5 months is pretty good for a walmart fish! Most petstore fish are already a year old and in bad shape, so 7 months is pretty good!

ashley

 

[stacie]

Do you think I'm worrying too much about the water? I've had it set up for about a week and a half and I check the nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, hardness and ph 3 or 4 times a day. Am I being a little anal do you think? I just want to be careful since these aren't pet store fish. I felt so bad for the others.

I like the design on your site. They look like bettas and flowers at the same time. I know absolutely nothing about computers. I surf the web and play games and that's about it. Sometimes go to nickjr.com for my daughter. She's 3 and is a whiz already. She gets that from me! HA! HA! My divorce from her father was final on 6-3 and I couldn't be happier. Had gambling problems and pawned stuff all the time. None of his own stuff, of course. Only mine and hers. Good riddance!!!

Anyway, should I just concentrate on the ph?


Stacie

 

[stacie]

It just trickles into the tank from a little spout type thing. I think that after I get the tank full when the fish arrive it won't cause much current at all. Also got the distilled water. I think I should have gotten 3 gallons instead of 2 though. Test strip still shows hard. Down from very hard. Anyways, thanks for the help and I'll keep an eye on the current and see if it bothers the fish that will be in that part of the tank.

Stacie