overall care tips please

[gismo]

hi all im new to this site. i have been keeping tropical fish for a few years now and have just move some of them to a larger tank. iv had my eye on having a betta for awhile. my tank is about 8 gallons and i was planing to have some neons and a fab male betta. what i would like to know is, what is the rule of thumb for min and max filtration needs, the water parameters temp,hardness,ph etc. and i keep hearing about this indian armond leaf that they like so much what is this for? is there anything else i need to be particularlly aware of or are they simillar to keep to other fish? thanks for your help any tips and/or cautions would be welcomed. ps is there and aquarium journal on this site?

[reaperss06]

Well from what I have gathered the larger the tank the less water changes needed, the temp needs to be kept between 78 and 82 for bettas. The temp needs to be about the same as when you took out your betta before you changed the water when you put him back in, too much of a shock if it isn't. The ph level from what I was told shouldn't be too high but I guess can range from 7.0 to 8.0, mine was at 7.5 and was told that was fine as long as it was that way at every water change.


I honestly know nothing of this armored leaf you speak of, never even heard of it. I would like to know about that as well.