10 gallon planted Betta tank log topic!

[mrhelton]

Hi!

I have set up a 10 gallon tank that was originally planned to be a breeding haven for cherry shrimp. I changed my mind and decided to get a Betta and some of those cory catfish for the bottom (I've been told they can live together).

Anyway, the tank is cycling right now. It has my old 20 watt 6700k bulb from my 29 gallon tank, the smallest Aqueon HoB filter I could buy, and a 50w Aqueon Pro submersible heater.

Plants are:

2 Wisteria Plant tops that I cut off my 29 gallon tank plants.
4 Amazon Sword Plants
1 Anubias Plant

I'm using eggshell color PFS for the substrate + root tabs and flourish for the plants. I leave the light on for 12-14 hours per day, is that too much?

I bought a beautiful piece of driftwood from my LFS today. It's boiling right now, then I'm gonna set it in and hopefully find a way to attach that Anubias plant! I'll post another pic as soon as I get that done!

Edit:

It's been set up for about a week I think. I took some gravel from my 29 gallon tank and placed it in the bottom of my filter housing, so hopefully that jumpstarted it a little bit.

Every day I add ammonia up to around 4ppm and it's usually between .25 and 1 ppm the next day. Nitrite is staying semi low (1-2ppm) and nitrate is pretty high, but that's because I used my well water with 140ppm nitrate levels to fill it. The water I plan to PWC with is around 0-5ppm.

 

[Galligak]

I'm not sure on the plants I'm still a noob on that still... But if you get cories I'd get the Pygmy ones. They'd be good in there. You'd actually have enough space for a small school of CPDs or neons or any other dwarf fish! As long as you kept up on pwcs. But that is one beautiful tank!

 

[Bettababe1011]

What type of cories are you looking at getting? Most cories are too large or too active for a ten gallon. There are a couple of pygmy cories that may work.
I think it looks good, just remember not to rush the cycling process.

 

[mrhelton]

I think the pygmy cories are the ones I was told to get, I would have to go back and check. I was told to get 4 of them with a betta.

I rushed the cycling on my first tank (the 29 gallon) and am paying for it in the form of water changes every other day to control nitrite! Won't be doing that on this tank, that's for sure.

 

[Galligak]

I think the pygmy cories are the ones I was told to get, I would have to go back and check. I was told to get 4 of them with a betta.

I rushed the cycling on my first tank (the 29 gallon) and am paying for it in the form of water changes every other day to control nitrite! Won't be doing that on this tank, that's for sure.

I'd go for 5 of them. They'll be even more happy with that extra one. And if there is some caves or cave like things in there I'd actually go to 6. They'll be so happy!

 

[Bettababe1011]

I would stick to four cories, maybe five. Aqadvisor is a stocking website that I like to use first, to get a general idea, and then I'll double check it on here. Always make sure to get multiple opinions until you get the hang of it.

 

[mrhelton]

Got my driftwood in the tank. Please excuse the ugly grime on the side, I need to find a way to remove that with water in the tank :/

My ammonia hasn't really changed much in a few days, maybe lowering from 4 to 2ppm each day...not sure whats up with that but whatever, it will come!

I'm going to attach the anubais plant to the driftwood soon enough, but for now it sits in the sand. I want to put the wood somewhere more appealing and place the plants around it, but they're so small now that I can't envision anything yet.

 

[mrhelton]

I have a lot of algae but I'll take care of that later. It's caused by excess light because I don't have it on a timer yet.

Tank is fully cycled, so I got my betta and 3 mystery snails! They get along great!

 

[redsea]

I have a lot of algae but I'll take care of that later. It's caused by excess light because I don't have it on a timer yet.

Tank is fully cycled, so I got my betta and 3 mystery snails! They get along great!

Your Betta has stunning colors! The aquarium looks good also!

 

[mrhelton]

Thank you! My wife actually picked him out. It's her first fish.

He seems a little shy, though. He mostly hides behind the filter.