Hello! I am new here!

[Psylk87]

Hello everyone!


I am new here. I have had fish before in the past but never a Betta. Recently I missed closing up my 30 gallon Cichlid tank so I started considering a Betta. I have done tons of research and finally got my first Betta.
His name is Stormaggedon Dark Lord of All. Stormy for short lol. He is living in a 5.5 gallon heated and filtered tank. His tankmates are 1 Zebra Snail and The Minions (4 Ghost Shrimp). From what I red this is okay for a 5 gallon tank. Please correct me if I am wrong.


The tank is all planted with live plants. I also bought a piece of driftwood because I read the tannins in it are great for a happy Betta. I have baffled the filter with a trick I read about here. However I am a little worried that maybe it is still to heavy? Is better to have no current at all? Is a little current okay? He seems to be doing well. I havent seen him get pushed around except in one spot in the tank. Any advice is greatly appreciated.






Okay so now that all that is out of the way. Pics!


Stormy in the container from the pet store.




These are The Minions in the bag from the store.





Here is the pretty Zebra Snail. It doesnt have a name yet. Any suggestions?




Stormy in his new home!





And here is a shot of the whole set up!





Can anyone tell me more about Stormy? His variety of Betta. How big he should get etc. Also should his fins get longer with age or do they pretty much stay this size? Will he grow at all or do you think he is full grown? Any tips to keep him extra happy?

Also I am curious. Can anyone tell me how many varieties of Bettas there are and what the differences are? I have tried to find out and cant seem to find anything.




Also I plan on reposting this in Betta Pictures too just so I can get to know everyone. Hope no one minds!

[Bombalurina]

I can tell you he is stunning! I want him. Do you ever call him Alfie? :p
He is a crowntail, but due to the different lighting I can't tell if he is a copper (my favourite - the first photo) or a coppery blue. Which photo is more accurate?

There are a lot of different betta species out there ('wild-type' bettas). LittleBettaFish is the go-to guy on wild-types. :) For our domestic betta spledens, there is a large variety of tail-types.
Veil-tail (VT): most common in shops. The long droopy tail looks like a veil.
Crowntail (CT): what you have. A nice spiky tail. :)
Delta tail (DeT, I think): a wider spread than a veiltail
Super-delta: the tail is wider than a DeT but short of being a halfmoon
Halfmoon (HM): tail is basically a D shape, like a perfect semi-circle
Plakat (PK): short tail, like a wild splendens
Doubletail (DT, I think): Like a delta but the tail is split in half.

There are also a couple of crazy ones like rosetail and half sun. Then you have all the different colours, plus variations like marble, dragonscale, etc!

A normal CT like your boy will generally get about 2 inches in the body, then some extra tail. He could be between 6 months and a year as a petshop betta. You may see some growth, you may see none. I'm sorry I can't be more precise, but it is so dependent on genetics, background, diet etc.

I'm always tempted to call snails Tardis, since there is so much more of them on the inside than you'd think. *nerd alert* I think your tank is nicely stocked. You could have more ghost shrimp, if you like. :)

Just a tip - bamboo is not aquatic and will rot if the leaves are submerged. I also don't think that the plant at the back right of your tank is aquatic, so it may well die too.

If you want to get some real tannins in the water, consider Indian Almond Leaves (IAL). Bettas love them and your shrimp will probably play on them too. :) They harden betta scales and encourage bubblenesting, as well as darkening the water. :) They also make your water changes smell of tea instead of fish poo, which I like.

As for your filter, a little current is fine, as long as he doesn't seem bothered by it. :) My boy Odysseus actually builds his bubblenests around the filter downflow, because he is a silly.

I hope this helps! Lots more pictures of your pretty boy to oggle, please. :)

[Psylk87]

I should know better than to trust Petco! They swore they were all 100% aquatic plants. This will be my first actual planted tank so I will be learning as I go. I have had several fish tanks but never live plants. It always intimidated me. I figured that this would be a good way to start because it is a smaller easier to control environment and I will already being doing water changes often. I guess I will be pulling the bamboo out. Dont want the rotting plant to throw off PH. I will wait and see on the other one. Maybe I will get lucky. If it starts browning I will be pulling that out too and trying to find something to replace them. Thank you for the heads up I had no idea. I already bought some aquarium plant fetilizer and a good light that is supposed to mimic natural sunlight. Is there anything else I will need to do to have success with the plants?

As for which pic of him is most accurate that is hard to say. I guess I will take lots more and the way he looks most often will be it lol. In the tank you cant really see the dark coppery color in his beard as much as the first pic. But the first pic was pretty accurate under my indoor lighting. I dont know I am torn. I really hope he grows some because it seems like the little shrimp are almost as long as him lol!
I am not gonna lie in my head it is sort of a battle between Stormy or Alfie for his nickname. Part of me says let the nerd run free and the other part says people already think I am weird. I tried for WEEKS to find a Tardis aquarium decoration. Sadly no one will ship them from Europe to America so I will never have one :(

So far he doesn't seem too bothered by the current. Like said as far as I can tell there is only one spot he gets a little pushed around. He seems fairly active to me but I dont really know what a normal activity level for a Betta is. He swims around and gets air then rests at the bottom or in a plant for a while before doing it again. He seems to REALLY like hanging out by the heater so far.

You totally just named my snail! I love that so much. I never thought about it but they do have more going on on the inside. By the way can I get any tips on what to feed the snail and the shrimp? I picked up some algea wafers thinking just dropping one in the bottom of the tank might be okay? But I want to be sure. Normally my tanks have enough going on they feed the snails themselves lol. And this will be my first time with shrimp.(Shrimp and Cichlids dont really mix lol)

I just realized maybe I am doing too many firsts in this tank lol. Oh well go big or go home I guess lol. If I can do it with cichlids I am thinking I can do it with this. I have a habit of getting an idea, reading up on it as much as I can, and then jumping in with both feet lol.

Where can I get the Indian Almond Leaves? I was hoping a good rinse and not doiing the two weeks of soaking they recommend on the driftwood would get him enough tannins to start off. Either way I think it was a good choice becuase he seems to like hiding in the little arch it makes above the gravel.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I truly appreciate it, as well as any advice you can give me on making this a succesfull tank. After 2 years without any tanks at all I am afraid I might be a tiny bit rusty but I really missed having them around.

I promise to take lots more pictures! He will most def be on photographed fishy.

[Sheldon31]

He's quite the handsome boy! Lush! I love planted tanks. All of mine are planted and they have so many benefits such as sucking up excess ammonia and nitrites. I am yet to see any spiking of anything in my betta tank. I think he looks quite young so I think his tail and fins will change but he is pretty gorgeous!

[Wolfboy51]

Tan setup looks beautiful and i love how you call the ghost
Shrimp 'minions'. Stormy is a lovely CT he will look famtastic as he gets older :D

[Psylk87]

Okay so I took out all the none aquatic plants. That basically left the Swords and the moss ball. I added to fake plants made of material to the right corner.

This is the new setup. Will it work or does it need mroe plants? Please forgive the yellow tint to the water it is form the driftwood.



And here are more pictures of Stormy. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread....35#post1051435

[Bombalurina]

He is such a gorgeous fish! He is probably loving the tannin-y water. :)

I'd add more plants, but that's because I'm a plant freak and can never have too many. :p It does look lovely as is too. :)

[Sheldon31]

I agree with bomba I love love love the heavily planted look. My 15g is slacking but my 6.5g is pretty heavily planted and Bettas love it. Ky loves stalking through the leaves and hiding amongst the wysteria. He plays with the duck weed :) I love the tannin look too. I use IAL to achieve it in my tanks, Betta's really appreciate it too. I love your natural set up :) He's a very lucky fishy!