scuba steve's tank

[tropical1LakeMonster]

Hi everyone

I'm anew member from michigan and my son and I have a male betta named scuba steve.

Background on scuba is that I got him a year ago from meijers and he was almost dead when I got him. He was so pale that I thought he was white for a few days before he started to get his color back. But now is a very happy bettathat lives in a 10 gallon tank with 2 snails

I have a few questions about steve's tank.....

The water tests perfect with my api master test kit as far as no2, no3, nh3/nh4 but I have alge growing in the tank. Is this normal?

My ph is 7.6 and steve has been more then happy with that. is this ok or should it slowly be changed to something else?

He doesn't mind the snails other then some random curiosity about them but doesnt attack them. should i leave it at that or is there any fish with known compatibility that I might add? I understand if I can't, I'd only add one if It was possible.

Here are some pic's of steve and his tank I look forward to all comments and advice

[Kwomais]

Welcome to the forum! I'm happy to see you've got your boy in a nice big tank with lots of room to swim! You might consider adding in a few more plants for cover, or some other decor. Personally, I'd add some sort of a cave for Scuba Steve to hide in when he wants some privacy. I think I see a heater in the back of your tank, but I don't see a thermometer so I'd also recommend one of those as preset heaters are notorious for being off by a few degrees. The glass & suction cup thermometers are the most accurate. If you prefer ease of reading, get a stick on one and a glass (the stick on for a quick glimpse & the glass so that you know that the stick-on one is being accurate).

As for the algae problem, likely the culprit is too much light. You could try turning the light on only when you are home and looking at Steve (evenings, for example). Or move it away from any natural light (ie windows). Other than that and a good scrub of the tank walls, I don't know how else to advise you about the algae.

As per your pH, I'd leave it as is. If you try to control it with chemicals, you'll have more trouble than it's worth and 7.6 is not bad at all for bettas.

Betta's are perfectly happy to swim solo, so the only reason to add anything to the tank would be if you wanted another critter in there. Because you already have 2 snails in there, I'd leave it as is (snails can be pretty messy)

[bethyMT]

Hey, are you the person from aquatic community (AC)? I'm on there too, same user name and everything.

I think your tank could use a bit more decor, like maybe some real plants (anubias, java fern/moss, easy stuff), but other than that it looks great. Some algae is normal, it's pretty unavoidable but reducing light and adding live plants should help. also, upping your water changes can help. You can scrub what you've got off.

You pH is fine. Don't mess with that...you'll never win if you try to change it.

You will find this place is way better for betta advice. AC treats bettas like every other tropical fish, and I swear some people on there don't even have bettas yet offer advice on them. Welcome!

[tropical1LakeMonster]

thx for the advice guys. I also think too much light could be the culprit of the alge.

I would like to add a cave and either add or replace some of the fake plants with real plants.

I think I will just stick with the two snails for tank mates I would hate for steve or another fish to die in a fight. But am still curious on other fish that bettas seem to live with well for a potentail 55 gallon build for my empty tank?

Yes I am also a member of AC under the name fresh_water110gallon as my user name.

I will try to get better pictures up soon.

[shellieca]

Yay Scuba Steve's got a big tank!! The algae isn't uncommon, if you don't already have one buy a timer for your tank light. My lights are on 8-9 hrs each day because I had algae problems when they were on longer. You can also split the time, have them come on for 4 hrs then off for a couple then back on for 4 more, lots of people say this works because it interrupts something, I don't know the technical details. I also would use one of those scrubbers with a handle to wipe it off the glass. Believe it or not some people actually like the look of the algae because it makes the tank look more natural so they only clean the front glass. Also check how much your feeding cutting back a little may help some. What kind of snails do you have? If you can find them nerite snails are great algae eaters. I have 1 mystery snail & 2 nerite in each of my 3 10g tanks. Nerite snails won't reproduce in freshwater so they're great. Sorry for being so long winded.

[tropical1LakeMonster]

ya i do like the alge look the more i see it for the tank.

i added anther snail today (a blue mystery) so my community is complete now with scuba steve + 3 snails

I also added another filter to his tank because of the snails.

I got a great deal on a quiet flow30 by aqueon. Its a little big (rated for 45 gallons) But I did get the flow to slow right down by packing in some extra media so I'm very happy with it so far and could not turn down the deal I got for what size it is.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and to the wonderful world of Betta keeping...

Nice to meet you...

[Kwomais]

Nice! And if you ever decide to upgrade (it's only a matter of time ;) ) then you have a filter that you can still use!

[tropical1LakeMonster]

I'm thinking about setting up my 55 gallon that's currently empty cause I upgraded to a 110 gallon as a betta tank for scuba steve. I think it would be awesome to house him in a 55 gallon

Here's what I'm wanting to do and am planning on starting this build tomorrow.

setup a multi betta environment consisting of scuba steve, the snails, & female bettas

besides lots of plants and hidding places how many female bettas should I add to make the odds of a peaceful environment in my favor?

besides the tank I already have plenty of gravel and a spare fluval 304 canister I'm not using to go along with the filtration he already has and a coulple of spare lights I can setup.

What do you guys think of this idea? I look forward to see what your responses are