This is my second NPT. It's a 5.5g I planted for my beautiful Betta Tristan on Christmas Eve. I added MTS right away, a few shrimp yesterday, and introduced Tristan to his new home this evening. I think he likes it! I still have 2 - 10g tanks and a 20g long (thanks to the Petco sale!) to plant for my 3 remaining Bettas that have been patiently waiting. Here are a few pics... In the last pic, bottom left corner you can see the reflection of one of my cat's paws. He was right beside me watching!
Did you cap this with anything? It just looks like dirt to me, very nice! Unless it is black sand? Either way, photographs so I can't tell the diff!
How big is your boy? I have a 5.5 gallon for a very large female and she doesn't seem near as huge as your Tristan! I agree, this tank will be stunning when the plants start to fill in. That driftwood piece really ties it all together!
What a lovely betta! You did a good job with his new tank, please post new pics when the plants grow in!
Thanks so much! If all goes well I'll post updates in a few weeks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kytkattin
Did you cap this with anything? It just looks like dirt to me, very nice! Unless it is black sand? Either way, photographs so I can't tell the diff!
How big is your boy? I have a 5.5 gallon for a very large female and she doesn't seem near as huge as your Tristan! I agree, this tank will be stunning when the plants start to fill in. That driftwood piece really ties it all together!
Thanks much, Kytkattin! It is capped with black sand from Petco, but when I was doing a water changed it got a bit displaced so there's a bit of dirt that settled. That's what you're seeing. It hasn't been a problem and I like the "natural" look. I'm not all that experienced, but I guess he's pretty good sized with long fins! He definitely has grown since I got him.
I messed up my cap on my first NPT attempt a few days ago. I don't have any idea what I am doing either. I like the look of the white sand on the dark dirt, but the black sand definitely has a classy look to it!
I messed up my cap on my first NPT attempt a few days ago. I don't have any idea what I am doing either. I like the look of the white sand on the dark dirt, but the black sand definitely has a classy look to it!
Thanks! I'm doing a 10g next and think I'm going to use a mix of mostly black with just a bit of white... or maybe natural. Some of the white/gray that's showing in this tank is natural clay kitty litter. I really love doing these!
I am a bit concerned for the 3 shrimp... haven't seen one sign of them today. I know they hide well, but not a single sign... am wondering if Tristan nailed them during the night, but you'd think I'd at least see a body part??? Hmmm...
The shrimp might be ok...I put 3 ghost shrimp into my newest planted tank, and they disappeared for 2 weeks. They were small, but it seemed they were too big to eat without leaving evidence. I even took the filter apart, thinking they must have been sucked in. Caught a glimpse of one shrimp while putting the filter back in. Next day I put some flake food crumbs on the bottom of the tank. All 3 shrimp showed up for the feast...so did the betta, he is such a pig he even eats that nasty flake food :(
I sure hope so... still not a glimpse and they were actually pretty big. Think I may take the filter out and check it. I have Red Cherry Shrimp, but I have become so attached to them I hate to serve them up as a buffet. Perhaps after these plants have grown more so they have more cover.
Just a brief update... I did find one of the shrimp dead the other day. Hadn't seen any of them and then there it was... right in front of the tank, dead, but all intact so I don't know what happened. :( This morning I did see another one in the Cabomba and alive! These are not little tiny shrimp... can't believe I never see them. I did some cleaning of the tank today, sucked up lot of debris when I did a 40% water change, cleaned the filter (no shrimp) so I'm assuming the other one must be around somewhere. When I did the water change I realized how brown the water is still getting from the driftwood. Tannins, right? I did soak it for at least 2 weeks before I set the tank up. Hope that's OK? Tristan seems to be doing well, but sometimes he seems to get panicky when he's swimming around. He touches the glass and freaks, touches a plant and freaks... not sure what to think about that. He's eating well so that's good. I'm seeing new growth on some of the wisteria, pennywort, cabomba, and rotala, and a third leaf is sprouting on the dwarf tiger lily! Yay. Will post pictures after is fills in a bit.
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