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Plants + new betta :)

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Laurenie 
#1 ·
Soooo.....

I went with my friend Sam to Petco to grab some water conditioner and such for my tank which just finished cycling. I went with $20, just in case :cool: So I got the conditioner, and looked at heaters and if they had any plants worth anything. I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I had to look at the Bettas :-D I looked at all the boys first, not finding anything that caught my eye. Good, I thought, I won't be tempted to bring one home when I'm not ready. They had NO crowntails... which is what I want. Then a worker came up and asked if they could help me find anything. Me, not thinking, said Yes! I'm looking for a crowntail, Do you have any? They did... one. A female. I didn't even look. I said ok, and that I would come back another time. I got some gravel and decided to see what she looked like before I checked out. No harm, I probably wouldn't like her anyways. Well I fell in love :) She is GORGEOUS! So I brought her home. She doesn't have a heater, but its better then the little plastic cup she was in. She is fiesty! She flares at EVERYTHING... her reflection, the bubbles from her terra cotta pot I put in there, the gravel... lol. Its super cute. So, while I never thought I would say this... I really think she is the prettiest female Betta I have seen. Here she is: (sorry they are cell phone pics lol)
Flaring at herself

Panini6 by WashingtonCowgirl, on Flickr
This one you can see how blue she is

Panini5 by WashingtonCowgirl, on Flickr
A little blurry, its a wanna be action shot lol

Panini4 by WashingtonCowgirl, on Flickr
Decent picture of coloring and of her flaring

Panini3 by WashingtonCowgirl, on Flickr
And... The total setup, for now.

Panini2 by WashingtonCowgirl, on Flickr

This is how she is colored, but I can't find a picture of a female colored like she is :)

panini7 by WashingtonCowgirl, on Flickr


I plan on adding live plants, I was thinking a few nanas and dwarf hairgrass or dwarf baby tears. Its a 5 gallon.

Also, should I divide the tank in 2? I want to get a male as well (not to breed though) but since she is so feisty will it stress her out too much? What about a shrimp?
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Dwarf hairgrass and dwarf baby tears aren't good plants for beginners or low light setups like yours. If you want a nice, lush and grassy groundcover plant, I suggest microswords, also called lilaeopsis. Even in low light, it grows beautifully and looks like a nice green lawn. I also think you should consider some taller plants since bettas like to rest near the surface--rotala rotundifolia is very pretty and adaptable, and doesn't have the shedding concerns of cabomba or hornwort. Anubias frezeri has a similar look to anubias nana, but it grows a bit taller. Just make sure you research your plants before buying since lots of pet stores sell non-aquatic plants in their tanks as if they were aquatic.

As far as the shrimp idea, they're fairly compatible with bettas, but the betta often sees the shrimp as a prey animal. Every time I have put shrimp with my bettas they have eventually gotten eaten--even in densely planted tanks. If you are ok with the idea of your shrimp being eaten, you could add some ghost shrimp since they are only about ten cents a piece--I would wait until you have the tank densely decorated, though, in order to give them a fighting chance for survival.

She's a very pretty girl. :)
 
#3 ·
OK. I will look into those instead :). We had shrimp with my old betta, but she is much more agressive then the male I had before, so I wasn't sure. She doesn't have a heater atm, is that horrible? She is fairly active still, and it shouldn't be for then a week at the absolute most.
 
#5 ·
Congrats on your new girl--she really is beautiful! I also find that females can be very attractive in their own right.

Aquabid is a great place to find good deals on aquatic plants. If you're a plant newbie like me, I've heard that java moss and java fern are pretty hard to go wrong with lol. I'm about to order some myself.

You could definitely divide the tank in two if you wanted--just make sure you put a really good jump barrier on top of the divider! I had a ten gallon tank divided in 2, male on one side, female on the other, and I saw my female actually jump the divider one day. I lowered the water level, thinking that would help but came home a little over a week ago to find the female on the male's side again along with a bubble nest and eggs :shock:. Luckily neither one had done any damage to each other but I now have a little less than 10 1-week-old fry lol. I learned my lesson lol.
 
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