I recently got a betta (a pleco existed before hand. He used to be the sole occupant) and just have a few general question
– I want to swap fake to real plants but haven't a clue how. The source of natural light is only a opposite wall windows (though it's a large window). Do I buy plants and plant it in the rocks?
– what and how often should I really feed him? I currently feed him once every two days with betta pellets and every third day with brine shrimp but I worry he is too thin?
Thanks in advance!
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1g15hqf
Posted by Dull-Signature-7689
3 Comments
Make sure to use a filter and heater for your betta!Also, live plants can help keep your tank clean.
Swapping to live plants is fairly easy – you can plant some in the substrate and they should grow fine, many of them will root without specific soil. Plants like anubias are great for bettas, and elodia are also extremely easy to care for (though can be a bit messy). In my tank, I have elodia, anubias, java ferns, marimo moss balls, dwarf water lettuce and red root floater.
To switch to live plants you’ll need adequate lighting – LED lighting with the right colour temperature and intensity is important. You can get a good aquarium light for plants on Amazon for relatively cheap which also come with automatic timers. 8-12 hours of light per day is recommended. My tank is in a very dark part of my house with little natural light so I have mine set for 12 hours. Additionally, you may need to add some fertiliser weekly if you don’t have many fish producing waste in your tank.
As for food – yes it seems like are under feeding though you didn’t specify how many pellets or brine shrimp you’re giving. General recommendations for betta are feed twice a day; I feed Fluval Bug Bites in the morning (5-8 granules) and then Hikari Betta Bio-gold in the evening (5-8 granules) for variety. I also give him 1 or 2 freeze dried blood worms as a treat once a week.
I would try feeding him once or twice a day, 2 or 3 pellets, with maybe a fast day once a week as it can be good for their digestion.
Edit: also with the size of your tank and the size of your heater, you may find that the tank water isn’t necessarily heating evenly. The filter angle is hopefully pushing warmer water down to the other end of the tank, but if you notice that your betta seems to be hanging around one end of the tank and around the filter more, that may be something to look into. For a more even distribution you may want to invest in a slightly larger heater and angle it diagonally across the back of your tank in the centre.
Depending on what plants you get some will need root tabs. But other than that yeah you just stick them in there. Since you said you don’t have a light, you will need to read up on the plants you’re getting to see their light requirement.
If you add a nice big piece of driftwood, since you’re blessed with a big tank, you can cover that with mosses, anubias, java ferns, bucephelandras and such that can just be attached to it. It would fill out the tank much more and offer the betta some much needed cover and someplace to hang out as they really enjoy heavily planted tanks with intricate pieces of wood to swim in and out of. You could also add some floaters to dim the light and give the betta some resting places at the surface too. I’d also fill up the tank more.
As for feeding, I just feed whenever and fast occasionally. Not even keeping track of how much and when, but all 3 are healthy weight. So use that as your guideline. There’s charts online to view your fish from above and determine its weight. If he’s fat feed less, and if he’s skinny feed more.