First Fish - Betta

[Trickerie]

Hey all,

I finally purchased my first fish for my cycled tank. I only have a 5g tank, so I went with a single betta. He is eating and swimming around happily now, but when I first introduced him yesterday, I noticed he was hugging the bottom a lot. I had my HOB filter on full flow, and I think he wasn't appreciating the current. I turned the filter flow to very low, so that not even the plants in the tank move, and he is moving around a lot more.

My only concern is, is there enough aeration? There are bubbles being made, and its a small tank, so I'm sure its enough, but am not sure.

My last question is possible tankmates for my little guy. I was told at the fish store that I could put 2 or 3 White Cloud Mountain minnows with him in a tank that size. Is that true?

Thanks for the input!

 

[phoenixkiller]

Hey all,

I finally purchased my first fish for my cycled tank. I only have a 5g tank, so I went with a single betta. He is eating and swimming around happily now, but when I first introduced him yesterday, I noticed he was hugging the bottom a lot. I had my HOB filter on full flow, and I think he wasn't appreciating the current. I turned the filter flow to very low, so that not even the plants in the tank move, and he is moving around a lot more.

My only concern is, is there enough aeration? There are bubbles being made, and its a small tank, so I'm sure its enough, but am not sure.

My last question is possible tankmates for my little guy. I was told at the fish store that I could put 2 or 3 White Cloud Mountain minnows with him in a tank that size. Is that true?

Thanks for the input!

1. If he starts to gasp for air or you are really concerned, get a pump, tubing, and bubble stone to aerate the tank.

2. No. White Cloud Minnows occupy the same level of the aquarium and fights would occur.

 

[rreekers]

bettas get air from the surface ... instead of adding an air stone. lower the water level so the water coming out of the filter. falls into the tank water causing surface airation. also live plants help add oxygen to the water .. and your betta would enjoy a plant with big leaves like anaibus (sp?) its a low light plant

as an addition to the tank .. you could look into nano fish that stay under 1 inch and inhabit the bottom of a tank .. green neon tetras maybe something to search for, they maybe harder to find. that's the only one I can think of off hand...

 

[blert]

Bettas are labyrinth fish and will breath air from the surface naturally. It is very likely that you have plenty of aeration.
White Cloud Minnows are a cold(ish) water fish and wouldn't really appreciate the 80f that a Betta does.
As for other tank mates, five gallons is kind of small, I would leave it be. Maybe a snail or some shrimp, though the shrimp may become snacks for the Betta.

 

[lovepercs]

first of all congrats on your first fish bettas look really cool and are rather easy to keep, so they are good for a beginner. Your betta is probably really appreciating that you put it into a 5g tank instead of those little bowls they keep them in at the pet store. He is probably staying at the bottom because its a new tank and hes not use to a filter, the same thing was happening to my percula. The only tank mates that I could think of would be white skirt tetras.

 

[VioletEmber]

Ditto to the filter being enough aeration even on low. Males really don't handle much water movement well. Try a few ghost shrimp - most of my bettas have been fine with shrimp though a few did eat them - just depends on the Betta. Ghost shrimp are a cheap "audition". And a mystery snail would work - they are surprisingly entertaining to watch!

 

[phoenixkiller]

Ditto to the filter being enough aeration even on low. Males really don't handle much water movement well. Try a few ghost shrimp - most of my bettas have been fine with shrimp though a few did eat them - just depends on the Betta. Ghost shrimp are a cheap "audition". And a mystery snail would work - they are surprisingly entertaining to watch!

Yes, I would suggest 2-3 Ghost Shrimp to start with, to see how your Betta reacts to them. Good Luck!

 

[librarygirl]

Congrats on your fish! As the others have said, Bettas like relatively calm water so try to reduce the flow as much as possible.

As for tank mates, it's a small tank and Bettas can be finicky with tank mates. You could try some shrimp and see how he reacts; some bettas will attack them and some won't. If you were going to try fish, stick with nano fish like ember tetra, celestial pearl danio or chili rasbora; these are the only fish "suitable" for such a small tank (although I have CPDs and ember tetra in my 29 gal and they do like to swim and explore; I honestly wouldn't like to see them in a 5 gal but that's just my opinion). You could also try a snail with the betta and see if he tolerates it; they can be fun to watch.