Betta Condo 2.0

[Surferjo]

So I lost my baby betta last week and decided since i only had 2 fish in there it would be a good time to break it down and make some adjustments (its only been up and running for a month).

Originally i posted a thread on this forum asking about clear dividers and most everybody said it would be fine. Than after i posted pics of my new tank everybody said the clear dividers was a bad idea. Oh well, Dollar Tree has these blue 1/8 inch thick cutting boards so $3 later....opaque dividers. I think they look ok and they will hide the algea much better than the clear one so thats a bonus.

Got rid of most of the non-fully aquatic plants expept for the
hosta's (not sure if that what those white/green sword plants are actually called) but they have been fully submerged for almost 4 months now and so far they are doing well.

I also hid the pump return, you can see its now gone in the lower left corner of the 2nd pic.


Just wating on this guy to arrive from Thailand and I'm done.


Before





After

[jinxhex]

I love how each cell is different in it's own way, and that fish is really cool looking!

[callistra]

You just have to be careful becasue not all plastic is aquarium safe. IDK about the cutting boards. Someone else will have to comment.

Looks good though!

But I still think 4 fish in 6 gallons is too much. I'd only split it in half personally. Even 3 ways is only 2 gallons a piece.

[Kytkattin]

Meh, the one coming from Thailand was probably grown in .5 gallons. And with those heavy fins it is probably better that way.

Overall I think it looks really nice! Not exactly my style, but still really pretty!

[Surferjo]

This was my logic when designing this tank. If any of my thought process was/is wrong let me know.

The first tank that I had was a 1 gallon unfiltered/unheated Bubble tank from Wal-Mart. I had a total of 2 fish in that tank over a span of 4 years. I did 50% one week and 100% the next. At this point I had not found this site yet and was taking care of my Betta's like the majority of people do.

After my last blue VT past on I decided to step up to a slightly more elaborate tank set up. I picked up a Fluval Spec. This is a 2 gallon tank with the filter cavity so its about 1.6 worth of swimming space for the fish. When I went to purchase it I saw for the first time a Full HM. I went home, did a Google search, wound up here. And like so many others here the addiction began....

Before I started sketching out the tank dimensions for my custom tank I decided to do a little light recon of Petsmart/Petco and my LPS as well as Amazon. The majority of tanks/bowls designed for Betta's are in the .5 to 1.5 range. My Fluval tops the upper range so I assumed 1.5 gallons would be an acceptable size.

My actual tank size is 1566 cubic inches (interior demensions) which equates to 6.78 gallons. My filter cavity is about half a gallon with 4 times more bio media and 2x more polishing material than my Fluval had.

So I guess my question is why would my tank be over stocked when each partition is larger than most habitats designed for Betta's. Each partition has at least 2-3 plants and Marmio balls. Each partition has its own air stone. I'm running a filter that has enough bio material for a 20 gallon tank and I do 50% 2-3 times a week.

[Sundancex]

Your bioload is fine, especially because bettas do not produce much waste. I think what Callistra is pointing out is that there isn't a ton of swimming space per betta. Ideally each betta would be allotted at least 2.5 gallons, ideally 5 or more. But personally I don't see a problem with your set-up, as long as the tank is maintained correctly, which I'm sure it will be. 1.5 gallons is small, but so much better than the little bowls and half gallon betta tanks you see.

Great tank btw, is it custom? I would love to get my hands on something with those dimensions, it would make a great aquascape!

ETA: just read your other post, it is custom. If you ever want to sell, let me know! :)

[MSG]

So it should be safe. DT, is one of the better $1 stores & they have slightly higher standards since it's a nationwide franchise & not privately owned.

In the future, don't use the boards that have the MICROBAN symbol. Safe for humans, but not sure about fish since it's got built in antimicrobial properties in the material.

Probably would have gone with black instead of blue, but most likely with DT, there was only 1-2 color options & black wasn't one of them.

I see you still have the 2 varieties of non-aquatic plants. The white ribbon bamboo & the peacock fern. The ones circled are the plants to watch.

Version 2 looks good.

• How do you manage to HEAT the side furthest away from the filter?

[Surferjo]

@Sundancex, 5 Gallons per fish? Proportionally that's double the size of my 1st apartment in NYC. I know I could get up and go outside but it was the east village and it was in the early 90's so going outside wasn't an option ;)

@MSG Yes you are right it didn't come in black, just red, green, and the blue you see.

Here is how i heat it. I have the heater in the pump cavity. It moves the heated water all the way to the left which is where the return is and than the warm water is pulled across all 4 partitions through the holes in the dividers. Temp on the far left and right is the same.

[MattsBettas]

I love this! I'm jealous.

[Sundancex]

Oh yes, there are many betta lovers that say 5g is the minimum. ;) I don't really agree, especially for the heavy finned males. I have a VT in a planted 8 gal! But I want to get a 3 gal for another betta.