# Betta project - first paludarium



## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

I got the idea for this tank from searching the ponds on my family's property and the ditches of standing water. Many areas have large mats of emergent Ludwigia palustris with striking reds/purples and deep, dark greens. Submerged at the edge of these mats is yards of Juncus repens. In the warmer months I took my snorkel gear to take a look at this ecosystem. Impressive, to say the least. In a lot of the inundated ditches around my part of Mississippi also have emergent Myriophyllum aquaticum and L. palustris together. The light green/almost turquoise emergent Myriophyllum against the emergent L. palustris colors are again striking - underwater the submerged growth of these two plants offering such drastic textures is spectacular! This kind of lays the groundwork for the visual point of this system. Anyway, as I'm having great success with my two NPTs using these and other emergent plants I wanted the visual aspect of this tank to focus more on emergent growth witch is why I chose the plants I am using. The other emmergent plants include Pothos, Dracaena sanderiana, Java fern are to evoke a tropical feel for the system and again to offer contrast in texture and color. The fauna choice(Betta splendens) resulted from my desire to have a fish suitable for such a small volume(aprox. 15g) of water that will appreciate and add to the beauty of this tank. I haven't yet added the majority of the Myriophyllum or, the Ludwigia. I'm searching for stems of each that are just the right height(particularly of submerged and emergent Myriophyllum). I'm also adding more Crytpcoryne to the front where there's a little shade to create a lawn/fill in the open bottom on the center and right. But, here it is so far.

26g bowfront(allows for a larger footprint and about 8" of water)

Substrate:
Scott's Organic Topsoil(been using it with great results in other two NPTs) strained and mixed 50% SOT, 25% paving sand, 25% red clay sand(Mississippi local dirt lol) topped with more clay sand(it's what many streams/ponds here have on the bottom).

Four clip on desk lamps with two 14w 2700k and two 10w 6500k spiral CFL bulbs

Flora:
Dry-
Java fern
Lucky bamboo
Pothos

Wet-
Anubias nana
Aponogenton ulvaceous
Cryptocoryne sp.
Echinodorus sp.
Hydrocotyle sp.
Juncus repens
Lemna minor
Ludwigia palustris
Myriophylum aquaticum
Saurarus cenurrus

Fauna:
Betta splendens


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)




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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Added the L. palustris and another bunch of crypt from one of my other NPTs. Still have the Myriophyllum on hold due to a recent three day stint into the middle teens that killed off a lot of emergent plants around here. So, as the weather progressively warms up over the next week I'll be in search of it. But this is it so far. I'm giving serious consideration to adding a Nymphea. I also switched out the two 13w bulbs for two 13w 5000k bulbs. So now I have two 13w 5000k and two 10w 6500k.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

The bettas should be very happy!

Attractive as they are, any of the _Nymphaea _common in the hobby will quickly outgrow your tank. So I recommend against them if you want to keep the rest of the submerged plants healthy.


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Thank you! I'm glad I held off on it then. I picked up the male and a female last night. I put the male in this tank and the female in my 10g NPT with some harlies. I have a low-flow internal filter in there turned down(to circulate nutrients through the heavy planting, but still have low flow). She loves this tank! The male settled in quickly and started swimming around the tank like he owned the place. I just turned the light on in there to see what he is up to and he immediately came to the front of the tank to "see what I was doing"(if only fish could talk, ha!).


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Another suggestion, if you want to keep a harem it helps reduce aggression if you put all the fish in the new tank at the same time. That way no individual fish has a chance to claim a large territory in the absence of other fish.


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Yeah that was something that I thought about after the fact. I also considered putting the females in there first then putting the male in later on. They just didn't have enough healthy looking females. I'm going to try again in a few weeks. I think a 29g or, maybe a 40g breeder might be better for a harem project for me anyway. What I'm going to do now is when the male is bubbling and I have a ready female I'm going to add the female then remove her after spawning, then remove wigglers, then condition another female and basically rotate the females. Eventually I hope I'll have a nice homemade betta morph. As always, thanks for the help Michael!


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)




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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Cool! This type of set-up is really difficult to photograph with all the reflections and different light levels above and below the water surface. But please give us a full tank shot.


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Yeah that's for sure! The only thing I don't like about this actual tank is the mirrored back panel... I will do another full tank pretty soon. I like how it's growing out. For some reason the Ludwigia palustris that was growing well on the right side of the tank died back and didn't recover so after a week I pulled the dead stems. I'm thinking the stump blocked TOO much light for this plant. the left side and center seems to be doing well though. Anyway, I filled the right "shady"side with different Anubias sp. I like the look quite a bit.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

HDBenson said:


> Yeah that was something that I thought about after the fact. I also considered putting the females in there first then putting the male in later on. They just didn't have enough healthy looking females. I'm going to try again in a few weeks. I think a 29g or, maybe a 40g breeder might be better for a harem project for me anyway. What I'm going to do now is when the male is bubbling and I have a ready female I'm going to add the female then remove her after spawning, then remove wigglers, then condition another female and basically rotate the females. Eventually I hope I'll have a nice homemade betta morph. As always, thanks for the help Michael!


When I was into breeding bettas I ran it sightly differently. Yes I introduced ripe females to the male when he had a bubble nest but removed her as soon as the spawning was done. I actually lost several females to the males aggression when I was not there after they completed spawning. I always left the male with the eggs and wigglers until I could see that the fry were free swimming. Then I pulled the male and let the fry grow into the same tank they were hatched in. Usually around 3 to 4 months you can start seeing the aggression of the fry to each other. At that point I'd start pulling the most aggressive fish, usually males, and house them in separate bowls.

A good health pair will give you at least 50 bettas on each spawn. If you want to push the male you can usually breed him every month however to do this I would three different females and rotate them. This gives them more time to recover from breeding.

There are some web pages on Betta genetics. I would suggest you check them out. It is possible to get some quality fish of various types from the correctly selected pair. But with an unwise selection of fish to breed together you can end up some very drab looking fry even if the parents looks gorgeous.


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Ah, thanks TropTrea! My ultimate plan is to have three-six females and two males - rotating the females between. I have another 26 g bowfront just like the current I'm going to set-up similarly for the next male. Then the six females will have a 20g long sorority. Michael gave me some good advice on doing harems. I may try this at some point as it was my original plan. I have a 55g that isn't being used right now. I'd like to see this as a giant harem project - HEAVILY planted with all eight bettas. I have been doing some research on betta genetics and phenotypes. I'm both excited and still a bit apprehensive. We'll see how the project progresses though.


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

So, I found as the water level was so low the male betta was constantly blowing bubbles ie harassing the female some days he was a gentleman others a real womanizer, lol. I finally started to slowly raise the water level in the tank. This has put the male out of "heat". It's been a month since the last signs of aggression. He still displays and tries(on occasion) to tempt her, lol. No aggression though! I'm thinking this will be a good harem project since no one seems to be in the mood for anything else.

I removed the big sword from the middle and filled in with more C. wendtii both red and green. I also added some H. polysperma "sunset" and the Hygrophila lacustris(I can't remember the current accepted name) growing out in my twenty long. I also removed the Dracaena as I raised the water level. So now I have a nice gap in the back right corner behind the stump. I'm trying to decide what to put there. About a month after set-up I got some very BIG Anubias hastifolia and a huge Anubias frazeri that I was able to split the rhizome immediately. Also, B. huedlotii. I also removed the Myriophyllum and a lot of the duckweed. In place of the duck weed I got dwarf water lettuce and floating Riccia fluitans. Since the addition of the water lettuce I have noticed a drastic decrease in the reproduction rate of the duckweed in both tanks I have it in(allelopathy perhaps? Or, maybe the lettuce is better at uptaking nutrients than the other?). I also added Java "narrow" and "windelov" as well as Lysmachia numularia.


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Just some updates on the "paludarium" that isn't a paludarium anymore. I've increased my betta harem to three females and the male now. Still no aggression. I've decided breeding bettas in not on the table for me at the moment but I am having good success with this harem I am going to attempt to have all my tanks as appropriate sized harems. Also, I had a green water battle that I have conquered(YAY!). The plant mass in here has doubled(YAY!). But here are some photos to update. Also, some before and after photos from the battle of Green Water.

The Fog of War:


The Aftermath:


The Sister Wives:


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

This thread was moved at the request of the original poster. The tank is a good example of a way of keeping bettas that is more humane and allows the fish more natural behavior.


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Update time!!





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## aquariumhobbyist (Mar 27, 2015)

HDBenson said:


>


What is the name of the plant with arrowhead looking leaves? Front, second from the right?


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

Anubias hastifolia


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## mik778866 (Nov 13, 2014)

Hi. Are you using co2 or liquid carbon in this tank?


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## HDBenson (Sep 24, 2014)

I was dosing pretty heavy excel at one point. Now I dose 1.25ml a day per 28g and every other day 2.5ml micros. Monthly WC with weekly top offs.


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