# Building a multiple betta tank



## essabee

I am thinking of building a multiple betta tank and I wish everyone to help me design it. The tank should have a built-in filtration with a gentle flow but still should take care of the nitrogen cycle. It must be a planted tank. The water should be circulated in such a way that all sections of the betta tank are taken care of. One thermostatic heater incorporated in the filter section.

I will share with you the idea of the 'multiple betta tank' I have in my mind. The rear wall is partitioned to make 1.5" wide filter section with a coloured acrylic sheet, this forms your tank backdrop, the colour is your choice. A line of holes just above the substrate line in the acrylic sheet for the filtered water to return. The bottom half of the 1.5" wide filter section filled with ceramic rings (ceramic noodles) and the top half filled with filter floss/sponge and the top of the section is the water pool containing the heater.
The front of the tank divided into several sections to house male bettas, number depending upon the overall length of the tank. One riser pipe in each section powered by air bubbles sending water to the 1.5" rear filter section. The bottom portion of the risers running under the substrate to the front to improve the water circulation.
Will my idea work? What should I change/add to make it work or improve it?


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## Johnny Relentless

Make sure the males can't see each other, or they will likely kill themselves attacking the walls or at least be weakened by stress.


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## dawntwister

essabee said:


> I am thinking of building a multiple betta tank and I wish everyone to help me design it. The tank should have a built-in filtration with a gentle flow but still should take care of the nitrogen cycle. It must be a planted tank. The water should be circulated in such a way that all sections of the betta tank are taken care of. One thermostatic heater incorporated in the filter section.
> 
> I will share with you the idea of the 'multiple betta tank' I have in my mind. The rear wall is partitioned to make 1.5" wide filter section with a coloured acrylic sheet, this forms your tank backdrop, the colour is your choice. A line of holes just above the substrate line in the acrylic sheet for the filtered water to return. The bottom half of the 1.5" wide filter section filled with ceramic rings (ceramic noodles) and the top half filled with filter floss/sponge and the top of the section is the water pool containing the heater.
> The front of the tank divided into several sections to house male bettas, number depending upon the overall length of the tank. One riser pipe in each section powered by air bubbles sending water to the 1.5" rear filter section. The bottom portion of the risers running under the substrate to the front to improve the water circulation.
> Will my idea work? What should I change/add to make it work or improve it?


I was thinking of using plastic mesh to separate bettas. Thinking of putting siicon on sides to hold mesh in place. Good idea?


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## rs79

Would you ask betta people how to grow plants? 

Look on the betta sites for their homebrew designs. There's lots. 

Keep an eye out for glass shelves, you can often get long ones free or cheap and they're great do this. Don't even think about using plastic.

The males won't be stressed out by seeing each other all the time, just bored and complacent. You want them to flare when they see each other, not go "eh".


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## dawntwister

I went to http://www.bettaforums.com and googled growing plants. Didn't find any info on growing plants.


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## dawntwister

I just meant using plastic as a divider in 10G tank. You don't think that will work?


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## APCRandall

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/213 that is a link to some tank dividers.. I dont know if that helps. Sounds like you need a tank kinda like a "Reef Ready Tank" with an overflow and a refugium/sump


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## dawntwister

*Re: Reef Ready Tank" with an overflow and a refugium/sump*



APCRandall said:


> http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/213 that is a link to some tank dividers.. I dont know if that helps. Sounds like you need a tank kinda like a "Reef Ready Tank" with an overflow and a refugium/sump


I am not quite certain what you mean by -Reef Ready Tank" with an overflow and a refugium/sump. Sounds kind of pricey, though. I like the link for the dividers. If shipping is not to pricey I will buy those. Planning to make tank all natural,NPT. Thus won't need a filter. Think the dividers would be good in the 30G tank.


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## CCBettas

Hi,

If I were to ever make a divided tank. I would go with a design similar to this 10 gallon breeder tank designed by bcbettas.com

















The little container inthe tank is a beanie case with holes drilled into it to keep the males from teh female. There is also a a divder that divides the tank in half. It has a hole drilled in with something to let the water flow through for filtration. I have no idea how that works. But I would actually just glue on a pice of plexi glass for the divider and dill holes in it just like the container that holds the female. I would also do this in a 20 gal long just because there would be more width than height on it. As for aquascaping. I have little idea. If it were me, I would prob. put a couple of branch like pieces of wood in there with some moss growing on it. Maybe put in a moss wall for each compartment and a glosso carpet or some sort of carpet. Maybe a rock or two and have some grass type plants in there. I`m not really an aquascaping type person though.lol.

Carl Archie


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## dt78

I have a couple of questions you might want to consider first.


Have you considered the consequence of diseases being spread easily?
How many Bettas are you planning to have?
How many gallons to you plan to dedicate to each Betta?


First off I should mention that I am by no means an expert on bettas, and the reason I brought up these questions is because I have seen them a lot in Betta forums. The biggest concern I've seen reguarding having a multiple betta tank is that any kind of sickness or disease can be easily spread to all of the other bettas in the tank.

There are many possible tank designs based on the number of bettas. If you are going to have a bunch of them there are things called "betta barracks". These can be built large enough to hold hundreds of bettas. I've read that bettas should have at least 1 gallon of water each as a bare minimum and really 2 or more gallons is recomended. With the barracks systems you will notice that a lot of the containers are smaller than 1 gallon but they compensate for this by having a large sump for a filter that holds a large amount of water which they factor in when calculating the number of gallons per betta. I'm not sure whether this is a good way of compensating for the smaller holding tanks or not. I've also seen a few designs which incorporate a UV filter into the sump to help control the spread of diseases. You could probably incorporate plants into the barracks design but it might be difficult. Most of these systems use plane containers with no plants or decorations of any kind (most likely do to the small individual holding tanks). These are usually used by people who bread bettas rather than typical betta owners.

If you only want a few bettas, you might consider dividing up a 10 gallon (or larger) tank. I have seen a few different methods here too but most just use plastic canvas placed between plastic divider binders, which can be glued in place with silicone. The plastic canvas allows water to move throughout the tank. I made one of these once that incorporated 3 bettas, but I did not glue the binders in place so it didn't have to be perminant. Instead I burred the bottoms into the substrate and ankered them in place at the top of the tank using more binders. (I'll post some pictures when I find them.) I'm glad I didn't glue the binders in place though because I eventually changed the setup to only hold 2 bettas, and I made this into my first attempt at a somewhat el natural tank. I say somewhat because there is a HOB filter, it only recieves artificial light, and it has soil covered with sand (not gravel). I'll post pictures of this as well.

I hope this helps. (sorry for the length)


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## CCBettas

dt78 said:


> The biggest concern I've seen reguarding having a multiple betta tank is that any kind of sickness or disease can be easily spread to all of the other bettas in the tank.


Although I don't doubt the legitimacy of this claim, I will say that there is a risk of disease easily spreading in any type of community tank. 
Where there is most concern with multiple betta tanks lies with breeders who develop barrack systems big enough to house thousands of fish. In such a situation, it is possible for a breeder to lose all or most of their stock from any illness but moreso with diseases like Velvet and Dropsy. 
For more information please visit this interview by Tim Arndt at timsalphabettas.com.
I also encourage you to look at the BCBetta website if you would like to see how a (drip) barracks system looks like.

Carl Archie


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## dt78

I completely agree with you _CCBettas_, that if there are only a few bettas, it is no different than a community tank. That's why I also asked how many bettas _essabee_ and _dawntwister_ wanted to have and only mentioned the UV Sterilizer with the barracks system. I was just listing a couple of options as I had no idea how big of a system _essabee_ and _dawntwister_ wanted, or what the intentions behind them were. Even in a community tank, disease is still an important issue. If not taken care of quickly and properly it can spread and kill all of the fish in the tank. This is why most people suggest quarantine tanks. I have also read, in many places, that the equipment used in a tank with a sick fish should never be used in a tank with healthy fish without being properly sanitized. If using the same net can spread a disease, being in direct contact with the sick fish is definitely a legitimate concern. I never ment to imply it was a big enough reason to not have a multiple betta tank, as I have used a divided tank even though that risk was there. I just wanted _essabee_ and _dawntwister_ to know that there could be a higher risk for the spread of disease than if the bettas were all individually housed.

I have been to both of those websites in the past, and have always liked the setup they have at the BCBetta website.

Most Betta websites have good information on caring for bettas, different classifications, diseases, and other related bettas issues, but betta forums seem to have the most information about a barracks system. Most Betta forums will have a discussion on barracks systems (and the divided tank) somewhere, and personally, as far as betta forums go, I have spent most of my time on either the UlimateBettas website, or the BettaForums website. If you want to download a pdf file that discuses building one style of barracks system, including a list of materials and resources, there is one on the International Betta Congress website. You can find it by clicking on downloads and then scrolling down until you find "Newby System"

Any internet search on betta barracks will turn up multiple results as well.


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## dawntwister

Well, right now I only have 1 male betta. He looks like my avatar. After vacation I am going to get him 2 females. I will put them in a 10G tank with him. I will have the tank set up so I can add a divider, if there are any problems. In the long run I am planning to keep betta from spawn and parents in a 30G tank. HeyPK did this and everything work out ok. On a scale of 
1 to 10 tell me what you think his breeding quality is.



dt78 said:


> I completely agree with you _CCBettas_, that if there are only a few bettas, it is no different than a community tank. That's why I also asked how many bettas _dawntwister_ wanted to have and only mentioned the UV Sterilizer with the barracks system. I was just listing a couple of options as I had no idea how big of a system _dawntwister_ wanted, or what the intentions behind it were. Even in a community tank, disease is still an important issue. If not taken care of quickly and properly it can spread and kill all of the fish in the tank. This is why most people suggest quarantine tanks. I have also read, in many places, that the equipment used in a tank with a sick fish should never be used in a tank with healthy fish without being properly sanitized. If using the same net can spread a disease, being in direct contact with the sick fish is definitely a legitimate concern. I never said it was any worse than a community tank, and I also mentioned that I have used a divided tank even though that risk was there. I just wanted _dawntwister_ to know that there could be a higher risk for the spread of disease than if the bettas were all individually housed.
> 
> I have been to both of those websites in the past, and have always liked the setup they have at the BCBetta website.
> 
> Most Betta websites have good information on caring for bettas, different classifications, diseases, and other related bettas issues, but betta forums seem to have the most information about a barracks system. Most Betta forums will have a discussion on barracks systems (and the divided tank) somewhere, and personally, as far as betta forums go, I have spent most of my time on either the UlimateBettas website, or the BettaForums website. If you want to download a pdf file that discuses building one style of barracks system, including a list of materials and resources, there is one on the International Betta Congress website. You can find it by clicking on downloads and then scrolling down until you find "Newby System"
> 
> Any internet search on betta barracks will turn up multiple results as well.


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## dt78

dawntwister said:


> Well, right now I only have 1 male betta. He looks like my avatar. After vacation I am going to get him 2 females. I will put them in a 10G tank with him. I will have the tank set up so I can add a divider, if there are any problems. In the long run I am planning to keep betta from spawn and parents in a 30G tank. HeyPK did this and everything work out ok. On a scale of
> 1 to 10 tell me what you think his breeding quality is.


Once again I would like to point out that I am by no means an expert on bettas, so maybe *CCBettas* can back me up here or correct any mistakes I make. It is very likely that he knows at least as much as I do if not more.

In the betta hobby, you will find a great deal of conflicting information, but throughout the different books, websites, and forums I've read, there is one big thing they all seem to mention and agree on, and that is that Male bettas should never be kept with "any" other betta whether it's male or female, unless there is a divider in place, or during spawning. I have read one post where someone was trying a similar setup to what you have discribed here, and all of the replies seemed to warn against such a setup stating that eventually something will happen even if it's months down the road when you least expect it.

Females, on the other hand, seem to be ok in the same tank sometimes and not ok other times. You might try searching for information on a sorority tank. This is a tank with only females in it. After first hearing about the sorority tank at a local fish store, I decided to try it in a 3 gallon tank with only 2 females. It was a near fatality. Thats when I decided to research bettas more online and in books rather than listen to people at the LFS. What I've kind of gathered is that female bettas will try to establish a pecking order which will lead to fighting. Because of this, if there isn't enough space for the bettas to get away from each other or enough bettas to kind of distribute the fighting it will be unsuccessful. I read somewhere in a forum where someone suggested that for a sorority tank there should be a minimum of 5 females, and therefore a minimum of a 10 gallon tank. I am not sure whether this is the advise or not.

Another thing you might find is that many serious breeders don't suggest breeding Veiltail bettas and especially store bought bettas. This is because most bettas in fish stores are veiltails, and most of them are a wash of multiple colors and traits that are very hard to remove. If you want to become a serious breeder, you might want to look into a more advanced breed of betta. I have thought about breeding bettas for a long time but have never done so because I've read that one spawn can result in a couple hundred bettas, and I just don't have the space for it. I've also read that if a female is left in a tank after spawning, the male will attack her to protect the eggs, and that once the eggs hatch and become free swimming, the male will eat them if not removed. I did read once about leaving the male in the whole time and it actually working, but this is not the common responce. I've read many times that the spawning process can be unsuccessful and even result in the death of the parents if not properly monitored. This is why if I were to breed bettas, I would probably start out with bettas from the LFS. After I learned the process I would move on to buying a select breeding pair from a breeder, but because of the price of these bettas, I would like to know what I was doing first.

I am not trying to put down your idea by any means _dawntwister_. Like I said I am by no means an expert on bettas, and if you can make this work somehow than thats great. I just wanted to let you, and anybody else reading this, what I have read, so they don't make a mistake like I did that ends up with one of the bettas almost dead, or worse. I would highly suggest you do a little research on your own and make your own decision based on what you read, and don't just jump into it like I did. I almost learned the hard way. Maybe you could put one divider in the tank to create a small area and a large area and to keep the male separate from the females and then add 5 or so females to the larger side.


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## CCBettas

Hi,

I completely agree with you, dt78.

.


> After vacation I am going to get him 2 females. I will put them in a 10G tank with him. I will have the tank set up so I can add a divider, if there are any problems. In the long run I am planning to keep betta from spawn and parents in a 30G tank. HeyPK did this and everything work out ok.


As for information about keeping males and females together please see this article. As a metter of fact, when you have the time, read as much articles on the Bettysplendens website as you can. There are tonnes of articles providing priceless ammounts of information.
After you read the articles, you will find that"
1) don't keep your males in the same tank. They won't spawn and most likely they will hurt each other.
2) If you are going to keep a sorority tank, get the females from the same source at the same time. Adding different bettas at different times will only cause problems. It's just like keeping any other fish. If they aren't from teh same tank originally...then try and overstock to keep agression down. 
3) If you want to breed bettas, read the bettysplendens site before attempting a spawn. 
4) A male and female in the same tank doesn't equal a spawn. There are many conditions that need to be met...just like any other fish. They won't spawn simply because they are kept in the same tank



> 1 to 10 tell me what you think his breeding quality is.


This truly depends on what your tastes are. If you like him, go ahead and find a female similar to him and hope that they will producemore bettas just like him. It is difficult to "judge" a "pet" betta for breeding qualities as most are VT's. The betta world has moved towards the more symmetrical Halfmoon form and if placed in a show would be judged according to the halfmoon standard.



> Once again I would like to point out that I am by no means an expert on bettas, so maybe CCBettas can back me up here or correct any mistakes I make. It is very likely that he knows at least as much as I do if not more.


LOL. I have bred bettas, but I am definately not an expert.



> In the long run I am planning to keep betta from spawn and parents in a 30G tank.


This won't work out. The males will have to be separated as juvies into their own separate containers. The female will have to bve removed after spawning or the male will surely kill her. You may also lose the whole spawn if, like dt said, the male eats the eggs as a response to the female being in the tank.

Carl Archie


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