[BettaQi]

Hi all!

Thanks in advance for your assistance which I certainly need!

I had 5 boys from 2004-2008 in separate unfiltered 1 gallon tanks (lots of water changes) and 1 female from 2002-2005 in 2.5 tank with a heater. She was AMAZING!

Despite my lack of knowledge back then, I did manage to change water every week!

Now that I've finished grieving them and need to prevent myself from buying a puppy, I impulse bought 2 CT girls, Prana (deep blue with purple) and Qi (turquoise).

I teach yoga and qi gong thus the names.

I have them in temporary housing while I prepare a Fluval Spec 5 gallon.

It was on sale for $79 including tax!

I want to plant following OldFishLady's Home Depot Strata-gy (organic miracle gro and sand).

I would love to use hornwort, java moss, java fern and 2 marimo balls.

And I need to divide and baffle the tank in a visually pleasing way.

All wise words and helpful advice welcome!

Also could I put one shrimp on each side of the divider? Do I need snails?

Nervous and excited!

 

[teeneythebetta]

Congrats on your new girls! Females are my favorite Do you have any pictures?

You're dividing them a 5 gal, correct? If so I would not put anything else(Bo shrimp no snails) because they add to the bio load and IMO a betta should have 2.5 gal each so you're at the limit...

Lmk if you have any questions

 

[BettaQi]

Teeny, even if I have heavy planting?

If I don't have snails, will my strata ever become fully healthy?

 

[BettaQi]

My girls are tiny and I haven't figured out how to get a good photo of them yet!

They were on sale, too so yay!

 

[fluffnstuff]

Actually shrimp have very small bioloads, you could try a few shrimp. With bettas, ghost shrimp are usually a hit or miss thing. I don't know if it was because they were small but my betta killed two of tiny shrimpy heart attacks(he never left them alone) and one directly because he ate it. I had a good experience with bamboo shrimp which are way bigger, though i don't suggest them untill your tank is at least six months old or you would have to grind up food for them since they are filter feeders and don't have claws.

 

[BettaQi]

Thx fluff stuff for sharing your info!

 

[fluffnstuff]

Even if you decide to not get shrimp, some small snails to help keep any algea in check ( which i myself am looking into) could help a lot. Though because of your tank size i would do research into snail that Do not produce to much waste, careful of mystery snail I've read the produce a lot of it. What ever you decide keep us posted and provide lots of pics!