Aloha!

[EAIB]

Hi! I'm from Honolulu, Hawaii.
I first fell in love with fish since kindergarten and had them continuously over the course of 8 years.
Of course I was young and I wasn't the best fish keeper but I kept getting better. I haven't had a fish for 3 years. I wanted to get back in a year back - aquascaping to be exact - but that never happened.
I've had an arrange of fish from tetras to even a freshwater eel. But mostly I had Bettas. I adored them, they were my favorite fish because I thought of them as the "focal point" of any tank and I liked the thought of only fish a tank.
I recently bought myself a 5 gallon fish tank to which I'll be keeping a Betta in. My friend is willing to help me scape my tank but before hand, I have some questions.

I hope that it's okay to post it here...if not, I'm hoping I can delete this part and post it into another section.

1). What type of filters do you guy's use for Betta's? I know it's low flowing but I'm not sure if there's specific types that are "better than the other". I know that Betta's dont need a filter, but hey, we don't need AC either but its good to have it!

2). What type of rocks would go great with drift wood and plants? This is more of a matter of opinion but I'd like to get an idea to make it easier to decide. The tank will have black substrate (preferably black sand) and the background will be black as well.

3). Is there a cheaper method of lighting? I saw a picture earlier with a fish tank and a fluorescent desk light emitting light. It gave me an idea to use one because I have something similar already and it's recommended that fishes/plants should have fluorescent lighting. I'm not saying I will use one, I'd just like to hear another voice on it.

4). Could a coffee table or miniature table be used as a stand? Since my tank is only 16x8x10 the stands for the 20g probably wouldnt be very ideal. I'm also estimating that the entire tank will be around 50 pounds when filled and decorated so hopefully most desks are able to support it.

Thank you for reading through this, any thoughts or ideas would be beyond great!

 

[kyliewiley]

Hi EAIB, first of all let me say that I am also new to this site and although I have a reef tank I started with freshwater and I hate to see the terrible conditions that most betta's are kept in! As a child it would break my heart and I always wanted to "rescue" all of them so it is so refreshing to see someone care's as much for these fish as I do!

Now, as far as filtration and lighting specs and decor? The only advice I can give you is that I housed my beautiful Betta in a Juwel 125 aquarium with the standard internal filter, stock lighting and fine gravel.

I realise that you are way across the pond from me (I live in north west England, UK) so you may not know what a Juwel fish tank is (I don't know how far the juwel products are marketed) so you may need to "google" the tank specifics that I (happily) housed my Betta in.

In any case I hope some fellow Americans may be able to give you some better advice than me but IMO the fact that you're researching how to properly care for this fish proves that your Betta will be very well looked after!

 

[kyliewiley]

Just to add, both of my betta's (I had that tank for 5 years, I obviously replaced one male after the first passed away) happily swam around large pieces of bog wood that provided lots of caves/overhangs and the tank was heavily planted