Your Thoughts on Deep Blue Betta 5

[VJM]

Hi everyone,

I am thinking about getting one of these as my first tank. It holds just under 3 gallons. I would prefer a glass 5 gallon long, but that doesn't seem to exist. I know I could go custom, but that seems pricey for a first tank. Maybe later.

What do all you smart people think about:

1) filter or sponge filter or no filter?
2) is there enough room for the Betta once you account for substrate (NPT) and some plants, maybe rocks, maybe driftwood?
3) will I be able to get this tank to cycle?

I love the long tanks for bettas, and for plants. I'm just not ready to dive in with a 12 gallon.

Thanks!

[Caii]

Originally Posted by VJM

Hi everyone,

I am thinking about getting one of these as my first tank. It holds just under 3 gallons. I would prefer a glass 5 gallon long, but that doesn't seem to exist. I know I could go custom, but that seems pricey for a first tank. Maybe later.

What do all you smart people think about:

1) filter or sponge filter or no filter?
2) is there enough room for the Betta once you account for substrate (NPT) and some plants, maybe rocks, maybe driftwood?
3) will I be able to get this tank to cycle?

I love the long tanks for bettas, and for plants. I'm just not ready to dive in with a 12 gallon.

Thanks!

Hello there and welcome to the community! ^^

1) In theory, you could get away without a filter if you've got anything less than a 5 gallon~ you'd just have to do the necessary water changes! Considering that you're looking have plants, substrate, driftwood and a betta fish all in in about a 3 gallon tank, I wouldn't bother with a filter.

However, if you'd prefer a filter, obviously you have two of the more widely used options. For price, sponge filters are excellent (you can even make your own!) and shouldn't take up much space. If you really want a filter, HOB (hanging off the back filters) such as anything from the AquaClear brand are other suitable options. Just be sure to do your homework. That being said, if you know that you're going to upgrade to a bigger tank in the future, having a filter already teeming with beneficial bacteria (BB) is a huge help for future tank cycling!

2) Yes, it's definitely do-able! The key thing is placement. For instance, if you just throw in everything, it may not work aesthetically (and even worse) it may make your betta fish unhappy with lack of swimming space.
Supposing that the driftwood is a little smaller and that the plants you plan to get are arranged in a fashion that allows for hiding space and an open swimming area, there's no reason your betta fish can't comfortably fit in the tank ^_^

3) Personally, I've yet to complete a full tank cycle (hey, I'm working on it!) However, even if you don't have a filter, I believe that you can. With enough live plants actively growing and containing the ammonia made by the fish, a natural cycle is created with the nitrogen cycle.

Please feel free to check out the tank cycling/NPT stickies found in their respective forums~ very knowledgeable and thorough! ^^

Good luck with your tank and I hope that this helps~

: 3

[VJM]

Thank you Caii! Very helpful.

I forgot to post a link to the tank so here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Blue-Bett.../dp/B00804LQA6

The dividers are removable, and they can be used as a top.

[acitydweller]

I love the long proportions of the tank but find suitable lighting options to be a challenge.

Note that if you wish to use a filter, the glass cover above will either need to be shifted forward to provide clearance or it must be cut to facilitate it.

The glass partitions will not stay in place unless you have gravel in the tank as there is nothing holding the footing in the bottom of the tank unlike the top where the glass slides into grooves.

These were minor details which i never came across while searching for people using this tank and through it would be useful for others to be mindful of.

i have previously kept dwarf cajun crayfish (which i am considering selling due to over population) which were kept separate to prohibit breeding but the female would freely venture across partitions in both directions and was actually impregnated in this tank by the males in the adjacent compartments so know that they are ok to keep bettas separate but perhaps not so for other types of small critters.

[tekkguy]

A nice LONG desk lamp (or two smaller ones) is a lighting option. There are plenty of 18" aquarium LED setups (Finnex makes a very good one) - but they are expensive.

The dimensions are not listed on that Amazon posting, but the tank is 18" long. I have seen one set up as a planted shrimp tank, and it is gorgeous! He used a basic Ikea desk lamp. I think if you could find a banker's lamp with an 18 inch (or close) head, it would probably look great.

[VJM]

I also forgot to say that I won't be dividing it. One Betta, one nerite, maybe (hopefully) some red cherry shrimp.

[happypappy]

My fishstore actually had several set up to house their bettas. Everytime i would go in there would be bettas that had slipped past the dividers and were in the midst of tearing fins. Last trip into the shop, the tanks were gone and bettas were in individual small bowls. ------ don't think the dividers worked to sell.

[acitydweller]

were they glass bottomed?

[Caii]

Originally Posted by VJM

Thank you Caii! Very helpful.

I forgot to post a link to the tank so here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Blue-Bett.../dp/B00804LQA6

The dividers are removable, and they can be used as a top.

No problem! I'm glad that you could get something out of my ramblings lol

Just looked at the tank, and like acitydweller said, if you're going to use a filter, the lid must be cut or moved to accommodate it!

Considering that you're also intending to put more than just the betta fish in there... a filter may be the way to go, unless you want to do frequent water changes and use lots of live plants to keep the ammonia levels down. Even then, the bioload may be a bit much... ^^;

If that's the case, I'd recommend using something like the API test kit to test your water parameters every week, just to make sure that what you're doing to keep your tank healthy is actually working.

Good luck! :D

[VJM]

And, bizarrely, this tank has gone from 25 bucks and change to 50 bucks on Amazon just from this morning to this evening. Needless to say, I'll wait