Need some help with a betta tank (Pretty Much Fixed, thanks :)

[Knotyoureality]

If you have access to a pothos plant that you can snip a leaf from, they're a nice option for the betta to interact with. Keep as much stem with the leaf as you can and just float it on the surface. The weight of the stem will help pull the leaf down a little at one end so the betta has the option of swimming under, around, or *on* the leaf. Mine uses his as a sort of hammock, wiggling his way up onto the leaf to rest.

If you trim the end of the stem every couple days, a leaf can easily last up to a week or more.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Silmarwen]

That's utterly brilliant! I do actually have a lovely pothos (His name is Planticus Legolas Thrandullion the Ninth. I name a lot of stuff.) He sends up enough leaves that this would definitely be a feasible idea. Thanks!

[Silmarwen]

Well, I think I've figured out what happened. I went back and looked at my calendar, and realized that, because of an unusually massive amount of stress, I actually cannot really remember anything from about five days of the last week or so. So, what my mind is registering as less than a week, has in fact been almost two. (I also missed an online paper submission deadline. Whoops.)

Additionally, the riccia that i had in his tank has been... not doing well. I scooped that our this morning when it occurred to me that it might be a contributing factor.

I literally feel so horrible I spent five minutes verbally apologizing to Pearlicus as I fussed over my chemical bottles and test strips. I think my roommate thinks I'm mentally disturbed right now.

When it became evident that daily water-changes were going to be needed, I prepared almost six gallons of water, which is sitting in buckets in the powder room right now, so when I get off work, I've decided on doing a complete, 100% water change. I'll rinse the gravel, take the swords (which haven't actually rooted yet) out and replace them with a Bolbitis heteroclita and some anacharis I have, and I'll keep the marimo ball in there as well.

The stress of what will basically be a new tank would be gotten over more quickly than the stress of almost a week of ammonia exposure, right?

I feel so terrible about all of this. Pearlicus must be at least as miserable as I've been for a week now, and I have no idea how to make it up to him.

[SpecGrrl]

Originally Posted by Knotyoureality

If you have access to a pothos plant that you can snip a leaf from, they're a nice option for the betta to interact with. Keep as much stem with the leaf as you can and just float it on the surface. The weight of the stem will help pull the leaf down a little at one end so the betta has the option of swimming under, around, or *on* the leaf. Mine uses his as a sort of hammock, wiggling his way up onto the leaf to rest.

If you trim the end of the stem every couple days, a leaf can easily last up to a week or more.

[IMG][/IMG]

*faints from the cute!*

[MSG]

• I have one of those mini filters on a 1.5G tank & it's been able to keep the ammonia to 0 for the past 4 weeks now. No water changes.

Other HOB type filters are cheap if you stumble upon them at a yard sale or something similar. $5-$10 is how much you can expect to pay.

• If you're going to get a 5G, I would recommend just getting a standard 10G HOB filter. They're all basically the same, but will require some slight modification to make them safe for long finned bettas.

All it requires is a little poly fiber and some kindergarten arts & crafts skills.

• I have a AquaClear 30 that I'm using on a 5G. To adjust the flow, I just wrapped filter floss around the intake several times. Now the water is coming out of the top doesn't disrupt the surface of the water at all.

[Silmarwen]

Originally Posted by MSG

• I have one of those mini filters on a 1.5G tank & it's been able to keep the ammonia to 0 for the past 4 weeks now. No water changes.

Other HOB type filters are cheap if you stumble upon them at a yard sale or something similar. $5-$10 is how much you can expect to pay.

• If you're going to get a 5G, I would recommend just getting a standard 10G HOB filter. They're all basically the same, but will require some slight modification to make them safe for long finned bettas.

All it requires is a little poly fiber and some kindergarten arts & crafts skills.

• I have a AquaClear 30 that I'm using on a 5G. To adjust the flow, I just wrapped filter floss around the intake several times. Now the water is coming out of the top doesn't disrupt the surface of the water at all.

Thanks for the thoughts. I've been looking at some different techniques for buffering the flow of the filter outputs to make it safe for bettas, and the filter floss isn't one I've heard before. I'll be thinking about it!