Betta advise (newbie here )

[Alex93]

Okay so iv moved my betta in to a 10gallon tank out of my community tank at the minute all he has in it is gravel but read they like heavy planted tanks so planning on buying some plants on Thursday but how do I set up a planted tank and maintain it ? Do I just plant them into the gravel or do I need sand ?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[molly100a]

In my betta tank I have plant substrate with a sword, but you can float plants. I have some wisteria floating, he likes to sleep near the surface. I'm not sure about planting in gravel, I know some people do but depending on what plants you get. I think it would be better if you replaced the gravel with a plant substrate.

 

[trennamw]

You're going to get a lot of conflicting advice, because there are a lot of right answers to this one.

For the past 2 months I've had a happy betta and happy plants in a 10 gallon ... I replaced the stock light bulbs with "Reveal" compact fluorescents, I forget the wattage but I think there's only one narrow enough to fit. I used these because the color temperature was close to 6500K.

I used plain aquarium gravel, about 2" deep, and used Flourish root tabs (PetSmart has them). I put in an Ocelot Sword plant, some crypts, and floated some moneywort. I think the floating stems were what made him happiest. Still he wasn't quite as active as he'd been in a slightly smaller tank with a ton of fake plants (he had more cover there, and was ironically "out" a lot more ... in the 10 he always hides behind the filter).

As I understand amazon swords are pretty easy too.

In contrast I also just started one with a fancy plant-specific substrate (ADA Aqua Soil), with sand on top, and I'll be using Flourish Excel to add carbon dioxide.

There's a lot to know about plants and lots of ways to do it -- I'm just starting myself -- but if you're up for just trying different things and seeing what works and learning as you go, go for it! The buy & sell area here has lots of people selling packages of plants inexpensively, and YouTube has tons of videos about how to plant each kind.

 

[wildroseofky]

Gravel can work just fine with easy to grow plants like Bacopia, swords, anubias, java ferns, and ludwigia, banana plants just to name a few. I started with gravel. A lot depends on light. For a cheap way to get light for medium to high light plants get some table lamps or clamp lights and use CFL bulbs in the 6500k range (daylight bulbs). Unless you want to get into CO2 just use low what bubs, 13 watts or so. You will need root tabs, I use the Jobe plant spikes from the garden department, for any swords or root feeding plants. The java ferns, anubias, and banana plant do not get planted. Attach to a piece of wood or shell or leave on top of the gravel. It can take a lot of trial and error to see what will work in your tank. My beta loved his heavily planted tank. Just keep the water conditions good. I lost my Beta when I got lazy about water checks.

 

[Alan79]

Another cheaper option is to add some organic potting soil under a layer of reasonably fine grained substrate. I do this in my larger tanks and have had great success with most of the plants i have grown. I add about 1.5 inches dirt and cover it with 1.5 inches of substrate. I still add root tabs for crypts etc that require them, but things have grown well for me even though I don't really add ferts often. If you have fish that sift the substrate though dirting a tank is not a good idea.

Edit- Using plain substrate is fine. I find that large grained substrate makes it dificult to just shove plants into though, they tend to float back out fairly often. Sand or fine will gravel hold the stems down for long enough to let roots grow in. The only thing is that if you have plants then you should not use a gravel vac to clean out the substrate. Just stir up any fallen waste in your tank by swirling the vac round over the substrate.

 

[Alex93]

Sound stupid new to this but what are substrate? And root tabs ?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fishperson]

Sound stupid new to this but what are substrate? And root tabs ?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Substrate is whatever form of gravel or soil you use. Root tabs are tabs that you insert under the substrate to give plants nutrients. Use these for rosette plants like swords, and cryptocoryne species. You will also need fertilizer for the water column. What kind of lighting do you have? Post a pic of you aren't sure.

 

[Mattyfelts]

substrate is like gravel or sand, root tabs are an additional fertilizer tablet put into the substrate. Just do a bunch of low light easy plants. Anubia nana, java fern, etc.

This website has a few 8 easy aquarium plants | Aquariadise

Careful with anubias and java fern however, they have a rhizome and roots coming off of it, the rhizome runs horizontal and is like a thick root , with many thinner comeing off of it. The rhizome must be about the gravel and not planted. The roots however can be planted. What I usually do is take a piece of drift wood or a small rock and elastic the rhizome onto it and just place it in the aquarium anywhere. Just dont bury the rhizome, the roots will bury themselves after a while.

 

[Mattyfelts]

Substrate is whatever form of gravel or soil you use. Root tabs are tabs that you insert under the substrate to give plants nutrients. Use these for rosette plants like swords, and cryptocoryne species. You will also need fertilizer for the water column. What kind of lighting do you have? Post a pic of you aren't sure.

honestly if they stick to anubias and javafern they could be fine without and tabs or ferts. I would probably dose liquid ferts every couple days.

 

[Alex93]

this is the light I got with the tank it hadn't got a bulb so will be getting one from the pet shop when get the plants , it's only a small tank 10gallon I think and iv had to take the heater out because even on the lowest setting it was majoring the water way to hot but it's perfect temp for my betta with out it will the plants be ok without a heater ?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fishperson]

honestly if they stick to anubias and javafern they could be fine without and tabs or ferts. I would probably dose liquid ferts every couple days.

No but it would be helpful and cheap. It depends on the light level really. And by the way java ferns and anubias are generally tied to rocks or driftwood, it's supposed to be easier and better than planting in gravel.

 

[Alex93]

this is the temp with out a heater


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fishperson]

That looks good I suppose. You can't really tell but it looks good. In my opinion you should go to petsmart or petco and get a couple java fern or anubias, and a few crypts like cryptocoryne wendtii or undulata. Get some small driftwood to tie the java fern and anubias to and some root tabs for the crypts.

 

[Alex93]

Thank will do gunna go Thursday so I'll lets use no how it goes


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fishperson]

Ok thats good. Matt was right that you don't need liquid fertilizer yet but if the plants show signs of nutrient deficiencies then you will need them.

 

[trennamw]

The other question on the temp is if it is stable. If the tank changes temp by several degrees from night to day, bettas get sick.

Are you sure the heater didn't have a thermostat you can turn down? If not you can get a $10 replacement on amazon.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[Alex93]

Yeah but even turned down to the lowest was heating the tanks way to much am in uk and it's quiet hot here ATM even at night


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Alex93]

Also could use post picks of your planted tanks do I have a visual to go by


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[jasonfishaddict]

29g
Anubias; front
Crypts, Lace Java Fern, Amazon Sword; middle
Bacopa; back


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Mattyfelts]

for the light if it fits a standard bulb, try to find one from the dollar store. a CFL could potentionally be enough and be way cheaper then a bulb at the fish store. specifically the horizontal kind.