Divided tank question

[JadeSparrow]

I am eventually thinking of upgrading my tank size but can only have one large tank. I was wondering what is the easiest way to make a divided tank? It will most likely be a 10 gal tank.

[DragonFish]

IMO/E This is the cheapest, most effective, and easiest way to go about making dividers for a tank:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/d...ividers-21866/

If you would like to make things extra secure, you can pick up some Aquarium silicone and silicone in the dividers as well, though personally I've always been hesitant to do that since its rather....well, permanent.
What I do is double up on the craft mesh, and do a little bit of trimming so the divider fits snugly without bending so much like the tutorial shows. I've had great success with this method, I find that it makes the dividers more stable and the fish have a very difficult time seeing each other so it helps prevent/eliminate the stress of constantly seeing their roommate.

Another option, assuming you just want to divide in half, is making two dividers, sticking the heater and filter in a small middle section, and then putting a betta on either side. I've never done this myself, but several other members have with great success. The bettas generally can't see each other at all, it greatly reduces the risk of one betta jumping or wiggling its way into the others space, and the tank gets a somewhat more even heat distribution from what I understand.
If you search the forum, I bet you can find a few threads with pictures of these setups.....unless someone with one jumps in before that! xD

Haha, good luck!

[JadeSparrow]

thank you!!! this was really helpful and i was thinking about leaving a space between the two as they have tanks next to each other now but I wasn't sure how they would be with just a divider between them.

[DragonFish]

You're very welcome! Glad to help. :)

[Aurie]

Can I make a suggestion if you go the "home made divider" route?

I did this route and it works well. Filter on 1 side, and heater on the other..

If you can do them both in the center and do 2 dividers I'd suggest that. I never could do that, but I know the water on the filter side was much clearer than the other.

One of my fish could always see the shadow of the other, so having both in the center creates more of a barrier for stress. The other fish didn't care about who was on the other side.

Use a spine on the bottom too.. it creates rigidity and you can cover it with gravel

Cut big and then trim down row by row of the craft mesh till you get the right size. Buy extra mesh .. it never goes bad and you'll find lots of use for it.

Keep the water level about 1 inch below the top of the mesh so no one jumps the barrier. If you do the double divider, the fish will just jump into the center. This way also with the double divider you can get larger hole mesh for better water flow and no one sees their partner.


Just some stuff I learned in my expierence. The whole project will cost you at most like $15 (spines were 2.99x2, 5 sheets of mesh @ 89 cents a piece and other assorted stuff)

Also in the center you can put some tall plants in the front and hide the equipment in the back

I put a strip of electrical tape down the front of my spine, it makes it have more of a professional look and leaves no residue if you need to remove it and it's cheap :)

Here is a picture of my old tank. The fish on the right now has the whole thing to himself since the fish in my avatar jumped out of the 5.5 and the left fish is in the 5.5. The fish on the right was the mad one that got mad at shadows