xenxes's Marina Betta Kit 0.5g - Nano Herb Garden

[TheJadeShrimp]

Originally Posted by philemon716

A betta will take care of those snails in no time...just sayin'.

That is true. But that "tank" is to small even for a female. Once you move the shrimp. I say get an assassin snail.

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by TheJadeShrimp

That is true. But that "tank" is to small even for a female. Once you move the shrimp. I say get an assassin snail.

Assassin snails are creepy

I might leave a couple RCS in here, or take them all out and throw in my aggressive ghost shrimp, or use it as a fairy shrimp breeding container, don't know. What can you do with a 1/2 gal?

[diwu13]

Originally Posted by xenxes

Assassin snails are creepy

I might leave a couple RCS in here, or take them all out and throw in my aggressive ghost shrimp, or use it as a fairy shrimp breeding container, don't know. What can you do with a 1/2 gal?

Can't do much with 1/2 gallon haha. But all the ideas you listed should be fine except for fairy shrimp breeding. Not sure if they need more stable parameters than what a small volume of water can provide?

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by diwu13

Can't do much with 1/2 gallon haha. But all the ideas you listed should be fine except for fairy shrimp breeding. Not sure if they need more stable parameters than what a small volume of water can provide?

Lol I did a few water tests on it, it's actually pretty stable. I get a 0.25 ppm Ammonia reading every now and then if I throw in a larger veggie stick for too long, same with Nitrites. Nitrates are pretty high at 40ppm, I think I have some dirt leaking up through the sand, but that's what the smaller frogbits are for.

But the fairy shrimp fry will probably get sucked into the filter even if it's @ a trickle with pre-filter sponges. Pickle jar (standing water) might be bigger / better

[diwu13]

Hm... what are you planning on doing with that .5g tank then ._.? Might as well turn it into a moss grow out jar haha.

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by philemon716

A betta will take care of those snails in no time...just sayin'.

So true! I threw a few frogbits crawling with snails into my Spec with the male betta, he cleaned it up in 10 secs flat. Nom nom nom.

Originally Posted by diwu13

Hm... what are you planning on doing with that .5g tank then ._.? Might as well turn it into a moss grow out jar haha.

Lol maybe, dead moss = snail food. Might just toss it to save space.

I'd like to find a cheap 2-3 gal glass cube, throw the filter in and put it where the marina kit is now, lightly plant it and use it to house my female betta. If I bought another Spec I'd have a matching pair, uggh

[diwu13]

Hm... betta's will eat baby snails? Or did it go after the frogbit and ate the snails that happened to be on it?

Haha, looks like you're coming down with a case of mutli tank syndrome . Are you married? Girlfriend? Anyone who opposes so many tanks haha?

[xenxes]

Fiance, I'm good as long as I keep it to nano tanks, I think

[Eldachleich]

I've been eyeing this tank. Would you reccomend it?

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by Eldachleich

I've been eyeing this tank. Would you reccomend it?

It's not so much a tank as a small semi-stylish plastic cube, scratches easy. There's the 0.5g here and a 0.9g taller but thinner one.

Neither for a fish, a few shrimps and snails sure I'd say 2g for a Betta, some recommend 5+. But then again I've known Bettas that lived for 5 years in a <1 gal container. Were they happy? I don't know if fish can be happy, but they were healthy, well fed, and the water was kept pristine; might have lived longer if their owners kept it up. I know I can't deal with daily wc and constant poop vacuuming.

You glass betta bowl is much better, I need to find something like that!

[Eldachleich]

Originally Posted by xenxes

It's not so much a tank as a small semi-stylish plastic cube, scratches easy. There's the 0.5g here and a 0.9g taller but thinner one.

Neither for a fish, a few shrimps and snails sure I'd say 2g for a Betta, some recommend 5+. But then again I've known Bettas that lived for 5 years in a <1 gal container. Were they happy? I don't know if fish can be happy, but they were healthy, well fed, and the water was kept pristine; might have lived longer if their owners kept it up. I know I can't deal with daily wc and constant poop vacuuming.

You glass betta bowl is much better, I need to find something like that!

Aw thank you. I'm having so many issues with that bowl. none of the plans will grow higher than 4 inches!!!
I got it at home goods. Most of their glassware is at least 3 gallons. And they get real interesting stuff in. For the same price as those expensive 1 gallon bowls you see everywhere.

I wanted something for the corner of the counter in my bathroom and this is just perfect. I was thinking of housing a few blue pearls in it.
I didn't know theres a .9 bigger one though. I might look into that.

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by Eldachleich

Aw thank you. I'm having so many issues with that bowl. none of the plans will grow higher than 4 inches!!!
I got it at home goods. Most of their glassware is at least 3 gallons. And they get real interesting stuff in. For the same price as those expensive 1 gallon bowls you see everywhere.

I wanted something for the corner of the counter in my bathroom and this is just perfect. I was thinking of housing a few blue pearls in it.
I didn't know theres a .9 bigger one though. I might look into that.

Here's what the larger one looks like. They look pretty nice. Be warned, only the Zen and the Contemporary themes are the 0.9g. The other 2 are misadvertised (learned the hard way).

Blue pearl shrimp would look really good in that. You could probably grow moss and keep a java fern or anubias nana as the center piece (or a red plastic plant!).

I think your plants aren't growing in the bowl because there's low-no nutrients (read you're only using sand substrate). I like to use at least a 0.5" of dirt at the bottom of my substrate and top with sand/gravel, makes things very easy. Probably won't have to fertilize till year 1-2+.

You could pull it all out to add dirt, or just buy some osmocote capsules and stick them in the sand. I wouldn't go the liquid fertilizer route with sand, hard for them to get into the substrate from the water column, unless you have an army of malaysian trumpet snails.

[somewhatshocked]

Snails will only "infest" your tank if you're overfeeding. As someone said earlier in the thread, they'll only eat decaying plant matter, for the most part.

It's easy to use them as fish food, trap them and give them away/dispose of them properly. There's not really a reason to freak out and it's my opinion that they're a sign of a healthy tank. (Since they're nearly impossible to get rid of completely, I had to find a way to like them)

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by somewhatshocked

Snails will only "infest" your tank if you're overfeeding. As someone said earlier in the thread, they'll only eat decaying plant matter, for the most part.

It's easy to use them as fish food, trap them and give them away/dispose of them properly. There's not really a reason to freak out and it's my opinion that they're a sign of a healthy tank. (Since they're nearly impossible to get rid of completely, I had to find a way to like them)

I blame your yummy veggie sticks :P

Was worried at first because I read the football shaped ones ate live plants, but that's not the case. Honestly I wish I had more, they make a great live betta feed (chomps through the larger shells even), my platies enjoy the crushed ones too. Some just popped out in my 20g, none in the betta tank though, I think he eats them as they crawl up.

[diwu13]

That's really interesting. Your betta must be really mean then. My GF's betta was so passive and let everything live. He even allowed the RCS to clean it's fins ._.!

I still don't like the snails though, I don't like how they look compared to nerites ! So I'll keep smooshing until I have none left. I'm pretty sure I can take the population down to zero as long as I crush the larger ones that can lay eggs.