New to fish, my first aquarium

[stellar981]

Hi everyone. I am new here... I currently do NOT have any fish but have been doing research and think I am going to get a betta. They are beautiful, and with my lack of experience I figured I could get some info here. I have spent a few hours looking at a variety of posts. I have noticed a wide variety of tank set ups, and have a few questions.. (Oh btw, I plan on doing a 10 gal setup)

I think the live plants look AWESOME! But are they difficult to maintain? Do they require extra care, as I read somewhere you need to provide food/fertilizer to them. I don't want to harm my betta by trying that out too soon. But I also found that fake plants all seem particularly sharp and dangerous. So I'm a little stuck here..

Also.. i see some tanks have gravel and some have sand.. Is there a benefit to one or the other, is one harder to keep clean?

Where does everyone buy most of their supplies/decorations? I was in PetSmart and they had some great looking betta fish.. but I wasn't very fond of their decor.

It was recommended I post here so more people will see. Any help for this beginner is very much appreciated!! Anything you think is a must for me to know!! :)

[Gracie8890]

Welcome to the forum! And thanks for doing your research! Regarding the plants: i have live plants in my 10g. I love them, they take the ammonia and nitrates out of the water and offer a biological filter. But you do have to trim them and add plant food once a week. If your not ready for that i suggest some silk plants. There fake and are made of fabric. Dont get plastic plants as they can tear fins like you said.
Substrate: i personally prefer gravel, sand is prettier but stirs up easily and you have to poke holes in it with a toothpick a few times a month to avoid "dead spots" gravel doesnt stir up and you dont have to poke through it. Both are easy to clean with a gravel pump or turkey baster to get out waste.
If you dont like the decor at petsmart, you can try ordering online! And make sure you get a heater. Also feed him either new life spectrum betta pellets or omega one pellets, those are considered the best on this forum, you can also feed frozen, freeze dried foods like bloodworms once a week as treats.
Bettas are wonderful pets! They have such personality! My bettas greet me every morning and one of them will even jump out of the water and grab his food from my finger! One person on this forum even taught their betta to respond to their name! So hVe fun with ur new guy and hope i was helpful!

[sainthogan]

I have 2 live plants in my tank and one fake one. I haven't done anything for my plants, and one of them is growing like crazy, the other one is dying. Part of the cause of that is apparently, my girl has taken to nipping and biting it. It's got quite a few chunks missing off of it. The other one, a Lilly plant, she loves and likes to swim around in the leaves. I'm new to live plants though, so I don't really know how they work just yet.
As far as fake plants go, for the regular plastic ones, you can take panty hose or similar material and rub it all over the plant, if the panty hose tear, it's too sharp for your Betta. If not, congratulations, you've got an acceptable plant decoration.
You can also get silk or cloth plants for your tank, which are generally safer and don't have sharp edges.
So far, I've only shopped at Petsmart or (because they're 3 hours away from me)online through their website, or through amazon.

Good Luck, I think you'll find having a Betta is a very rewarding experience, they are very personable, and love to interact with humans.