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Betta Get Sorted

jameson_uk

Member
Joined
10 Jun 2016
Messages
879
Location
Birmingham
Just shy of two years ago I bought an Aqua One Aspire 22 tank from P@H when it was on offer with the intention of creating a planted tank for a Betta. At £55 for a tank, lid, LED, heater and filter it was too good a deal to turn down. The filter is terrible and has gone in the spare parts drawer but the rest of the tank is pretty neat. That tank is a 30cm cube and essentially the same as the Nano 30 but without the back compartment for the filter.

Tank was flooded a week ago with a bit of frogbit in there and a sponge filter. Currently still trying to figure out what filter I will end up using but the I might as well leave the sponge in there at the minute.

I inherited a 1l bag of Tropica Planted Substrate so this went in capped with around 5cm of Hugo Kamishi Black Gravel (2-4mm) which has a bit of a gloss look to it and the tank was flooded last week.

A few emails and phone calls to Aquarium Gardens later and my boxes of goodies turned up today.
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Hardscape is:
  • 3 small bits of Redmoor wood and few twigs
  • 3 Grey Mountain Stone rocks
Fauna is:
  • Moss balls x2
  • Anubias Nana Mini Mini x2
  • Buce Red
  • Buce Wavy Green
  • Crypt Parva
  • Crypt Lucens
  • Crypt Nevellii
  • Murdannia Keisak
  • Frogbit (from other tank)
Haven't had time to do much so wood is soaking in a bucket and plants have been added to the tank still in their pots. Looking at the picture now I am not 100% sure which Crypt is which... Of the two at the front, the one with more slender leaves in the Parva right?

The dragon is the result of taking a two year old into a fish shop but think I may have more than enough plants to go round :eek::oops::rolleyes:

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Hopefully I will get a little time to myself over the next few days to play around with the hardscape so I can get it all in and start planting over the weekend.
 
That Dragon is going to look awesome with some moss to vintage him :wideyed:

Emersed parva & willisii (lucens) can be tricky - I’ve seen Tropica C parva I’d swear was C willisii and vice versa - if they arrive looking “typical” parva is the shorter thicker stemmed one

I suggest sending photos of each back to AG and ask them to identify :D (they’ll know what the stock came in like)

Of the two at the front, the one with more slender leaves in the Parva right?
:oops:
I should read with comprehension
Yeah parva never has such a short chubby leaf like that forefront crypt
 
That Dragon is going to look awesome with some moss to vintage him :wideyed:
The dragon might mysteriously move after someone's bedtime

Emersed parva & willisii (lucens) can be tricky - I’ve seen Tropica C parva I’d swear was C willisii and vice versa - if they arrive looking “typical” parva is the shorter thicker stemmed one

I suggest sending photos of each back to AG and ask them to identify :D (they’ll know what the stock came in like)


:oops:
I should read with comprehension
Yeah parva never has such a short chubby leaf like that forefront crypt
Whilst looking for pics online I did come across a forum post which suggested that the crypts marketed as willsii and nevellii are a mix of Parva and some other crypt which would explain that.

Guess it is a large Parva and small willisii. Just don't want to plant them the wrong way around
 
Plan for tonight was to setup a frame to try some hardscape layouts but a two year old had other plans.

Questions for tonight though....

The plants are currently sat on the tank still in their pots. Is this OK and how long could I leave them like this?

Some white fungus type thing appeared on the substrate the other day (before I put the plants in)
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This is just normal and nothing to worry about? I haven't seen this in other tanks and I didn't think there was really much in there.
 
but a two year old had other plans
Yeah I just don't see how that dragon is going to stay away :p
AND it’s really so much more sedate than garish Disney characters :D

Some plants are happier hanging out than others ...
I’ve had crypts and Buce wait happily for a few weeks, then determinedly melt when planted :oops:

If I’m working on hardscape, rather than move plants in/out, I just leave them in their plastic (tent) bags in a cool, filtered light area

As plants have been under water a few days now, I’d leave them to it and practice hardscape outside the tank
Just make sure flow is good and keep water temp 20-22C rather than warmer, 4-5 h photoperiod
(I’m assuming nonCO2 tank)
 
Yeah I just don't see how that dragon is going to stay away :p
AND it’s really so much more sedate than garish Disney characters :D
Luckily the shop I went to didn't have anything like that. She went straight for the dragon, picked it up and said "Daddy I need to buy this" :D She did also try to get some goldfish out of an indoor pond they have but I managed to stop here before she was able to pick one of those up :lol:

As plants have been under water a few days now, I’d leave them to it and practice hardscape outside the tank
Just make sure flow is good and keep water temp 20-22C rather than warmer, 4-5 h photoperiod
(I’m assuming nonCO2 tank)
Yep this is hopefully going to be low tech / low maintenance (although we will see about the MK). Off to just switch the heater down as it is currently set to Betta temperature... Although might this cause issues with the cycle as I though the beneficial bacteria was different at say 27C to 22C ?

I am going to knock up a little 30cm square rig, plop a little substrate in and put a cardboard back so I can get my hardscape sorted outside the tank.
 
Hi all,
Although might this cause issues with the cycle as I though the beneficial bacteria was different at say 27C to 22C ?
There might be a slight difference, but I don't think they will matter. It is the availability of oxygen and the <"ammonia loading"> that cause the major changes.

Archaea are often associated with <"warmer conditions">, but I'm not sure the switch from 27oC to 22oC will make much difference, they are both "warm" temperatures.

cheers Darrel
 
Hardscape day....

Three rocks and three bits of wood to play with
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Have been playing for yours and I think the main decision is wether to use the height of the biggest bit if wood or not. The shape limits what angles you can use it and I guess the options are really going across the tank or up it. I do have a couple of twigs which help balance things out and I am not sure I need all three bits of wood and stone.

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Several options I went through attached.

Any thoughts on the hardscape?
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So all went in the tank and I have planted the MK and crypts. I have a load left which is heading for my main tank to see how it does in there.

Typically though it seemed the big bit of wood had given up floating but no. Just as I nearly filled the tank it shot up . Currently has a bit of rock left lying around from my original plan for the main tank which never came to be. Not sure if it is going to be leeching anything but hopefully the wood won't take much longer to sink.

Just the buce and anbubias to sort out once the wood stops floating.
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Hi,

Your base stones are heavy enough to stop the wood from floating. I would suggest some plastic straps or fishing line, that later could be just cut off, or covered by plants :rolleyes:

.. And your buce and anubias could go in right away :cool:

Lauris
 
Hi,

Your base stones are heavy enough to stop the wood from floating. I would suggest some plastic straps or fishing line, that later could be just cut off, or covered by plants :rolleyes:

.. And your buce and anubias could go in right away :cool:

Lauris
It's more a time thing. The buce and anbubias are in there just in their pots

If it isn't staying down by midweek I might end up using a little bit of glue to hold everything together and attach the buce and anbubias with glue too.

I did split the green buce and there were about four huge plants. These are currently stuck into some gaps.

Not happy with flow at the minute so might have another look at this if I get time.
 
The wood is just about staying under now and has developed a big white fuzz.

Plants all looking OK and haven't seen any crypt melt (yet) and the MK seems to be adjusting reasonably well.

Will look at planting the buce and anubias tomorrow. Wondering whether the buce will do OK where it is now just pushed between the rock and wood or whether it really needs attaching?

I emailed Eheim UK support about the air pump but haven't had a reply. It was too noisy so I currently have the JBL filter in there which I feel might need a baffle or reduce the flow a little.

I also had some left over Amazon vouchers from my birthday so have gone for an experiment and have bought an Oase Filtosmart 60 and have a spin pipe on order from China. This would allow me to move over some media from my canister which would be good but still concerned there will be too much flow.

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Got some time today and replaced most of the water allowing me to get to the branches to glue on some of the anubias mini mini and attach some Buce.

The green buce which was huge is currently just wedged in around the rocks and the red buce is stuck in some holes in the wood (with a few bits still floating around)

Still need to sort out a few twigs which aren't in place and adjust the gravel which has all moved to the front when adding the hardscape
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Just looking now and wondering about the epiphytes. First off is what to do with the roots. See photos, the roots take away from the look but not sure what you can do about that.

Second is about buce attaching. Currently the green wavy buce is just wedged between wood and rock. Will it eventually take like this or should I glue them like the anubias?
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I use small black cable ties around the rhizome (not too tight to give a little growing room for the rhizome) to hold Buce in place until the plant becomes more established on the surface you want it to attach to, works with Anubias also, less of a faff than tying thread, less messy than glue. Once the plant is established cut the cable tie if needed (if it can still be seen).
 
Just about to do a quick water change before I head off for a week.

I am now seeing some Crypt melt which looks to mainly be affecting the Parva that are getting a bit more flow than the others. Hopefully this is a good sign

New MK growth is looking ok
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But I am going to need to remove some of those old emersed leaves. Quite surprised how quickly this is growing...

Are these buce flowers or just new leaves?
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I think these were there (albeit a bit smaller) when I got them so not sure if these will flower or not.

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Things seem to be steadily coming along and a few bits of MK are now near the water line.
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If you look carefully you can see how well it has rooted. Interestingly the MK in my main tank hasn't done much at all and has higher light, more ferts, more flow...

Crypts haven't really done much. Still a bit of melt but no real signs of growth.
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A few inhabitants starting so appear
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Am I right in thinking these flat ones are limpits rather than ramshorns?

Plan is to probably add a nerite (or two) this weekend and a Betta next week. I really want a long finned one but think I am going to start off with a HMPK and see how that goes with the flow
 
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