Few Questions

Sorry if these questions have all been asked before. I can't find the answers in the FAQ threads.

Most of my reading, plus or minus a few websites, say it's okay to keep a betta in anything larger than 1 gallon. I have a 3 gal sitting around empty and I'd like to do it up for a betta. It's about the only thing I can fit on my bedside table.
It has a filter, but the light can be run with filtration off. If I stuff the filter box with cotton wool it slows the flow down and there are a few things I can stick in it to jam it up nicely. However this makes the pump vibrate. Is this a problem?

Second, I'd like to rock up the tank. I have a large supply of natural basalt (creek) and I've used it in small aquariums before and it looks really good. If I silicone it to the inside of a tank is there any chance the betta could get trapped? Also I would have to remove the filter intake and replace it with some other kind of tube that I can bend. Or remove the filter altogether.

Third, I have an anubias in my five gal platy tank getting out of control and I cut a four leaf section off it. Can I grow it on a rock or planted in gravel? As in will the betta dig it up? My LFS sells them out of basically empty cups and I can't find anything pertaining to bettas in planted tanks.

Bettas looooooooooove planted tanks. They most definitely will not root up plants.
You could tie the anubias to the rock or plant it in gravel. But planting it in gravel, you have to make sure that it's not completely buried b/c it's roots need water flow through.. or something like that lol. I have an anubias in my 10gal that's partially planted into the gravel and it's doing very well

You could silicone the rock if you want. Are the rocks smooth? No sharp edges or anything? You just have to be careful of sharp edges, rough surfaces b/c betta fins are a bit on the delicate side.

How much current does the 3gals filter create? If it's not alot, then I really wouldn't worry about messing with it. You could try to slightly reduce the flow, but just so long as it's not really strong, a betta will get used to it as it builds up it's swimming muscles.

Don't forget the pics when you've done it

Just been in the LFS. I picked up two anubias nana for AU$4 each. Cheap as chips. They were joined together in like a U shape, so I just broke it in half. Each has about five leaves and a lot of new ones coming. I have a nice small bit of wood and I'm going to put a double on it and then a piece on a rock. (I have three plantlets, broke a piece off the one on wood in the five gal).

I'm going to mess around with the filtration and see what I can come up with. The tanks are hard to work with because they are very compact designs. (I just realised I forgot to mention, I have two of them, identical, one for female guppies and one for male guppies was the plan but I can't GET decent guppies). They have a full external box filtration system packed under a lid. They're vertical hex. They are pretty hard to mess around with because all the components are so small, and because the framework on top of the tank to hold up the filter makes it hard to get a hand inside. You certainly can't put both hands in the tank at once which is a pain.

The current is unreal, these tanks are tiny but they have serious juice. When I had guppies in them I had to cram filter wool into the filter box and set the pump on its lowest flow setting because the guppies were having to fight to stay level in the water. A betta would hate it. It remains to be seen whether I can clog it to a drip (or break up the flow somehow) without shorting out the pump.

I had the tank (that was actually set up, I have platy fry in to keep it cycled) planted with a spiky plant that was sold as val but isn't and ambulia. the current wiped out the ambulia, and the not-val died because I had it around the edges where there wasn't enough light. I think I'll stick the anubias ornaments in the middle and use rocks and wood on the periphery, or maybe fake plants. I can't seem to get decent fake plants though, they are all really obviously fake.

I might try and get some pics of the tanks so you can see what I'm working with. The LFS doesn't have anything special in the way of bettas at the moment, they're pretty much all dark red veiltails which are pretty boring IMO. They had one crowntail there but it looked quite sick, pectoral fins clamped, tail hanging and staying in one spot. There were two pellets floating on the water as well so I know it's not eating. Not what I want to get into.

Thanks for the advice guys! When I first started I set up a 5 gal, didn't cycle it, put eight platies and a bristlenose in it. No deaths - amazingly - but I want to do it properly this time because I could easily have lost all of those fish.

I set up the tanks and I think they look great - I might settle for simple. Sorry about the bad photo of the second one. The one with white background looks better. I might experiment with taping white paper to one of the back panels on the remaining one. When I used black paper with guppies though it looked awful.

What do you think about filtration? So far I haven't set anything up. I'm going to have to re cycle both tanks if I do use filtration but I'm not sure if I'll bother. I forgot how good these tanks can look without filters clogging them up. I'm just not keen on the idea of keeping any fish in a tank that's not cycled.

more photos

laurafrog, your setup looks great. you should get a light on top if your able to fit one or get one, makes the betta stand out more, plus you need lights for the plants to grow or they might die

You can't even notice the filter intake.
I'm with you about not feeling comfy about putting fish into uncycled tanks.
I'd keep the filters and cycle both tanks before getting bettas.. but that's just me.
It's up to you what you want to do

It looks great though!

If you look at the picture of all the stuff before i put it together one of the lids is upside down. The white thing on it is a cluster of lights. The camera flash totally washed it out, and the natural light in the room (it's not quite dusk here) didn't help. Anyway, the tank is lit.

Those photos show the tanks without the filters, I thought I'd let it all settle before I stirred it up with a filtration system. I still have to experiment with the filter and see if I can reduce the flow enough for a betta. Like I said, I thought I'd killed the pump making it calm enough for a guppy. Still, the guppies round here are REALLY gutless. The strain of columnaris is so pathetic I've cured a platy that had columnaris using salt (seawater dips). Guppy got it, was gone within a day. If I can breed a decent strain I'll end up rich but right now I don't have room. Sometimes you just want to keep fish, not try and save the whole darn population.

I might try wedging a rock in the outlet. If the water is forced to spurt out around an obstruction it will hit the water in separate trickles, not a solid stream. I test the current strength by putting things like feathers in the water. It would be better if I could get it cycled, I definitely agree there. It's a pain in the neck to have to empty it twice a week as well, especially with the plants in there. I can see why some people keep bettas in virtually bare tanks, but I don't like the look of them personally. I didn't plant it up as heavily as the 5 gal though because I want to show off the fish. That don't exist yet. But anyway.

quite a lot of people use plastic bottles as flow killers for filters, it doesn't hurt the filter as the flow still comes out at the same rate, just a bit more spread out. basically, you cut the top and bottom off the plastic bottle, leaving you with a tube. then cut down one side of the tube to leave one curled piece of plastic, then wrap this over the filter output, you can tape it to get it to stay in place.the water will be spread out and dispersed slightly by the plastic and reduce the flow somewhat.

however, i find that a certain amount of current can be good for them, it helps develop their muscles more. when people train bettas to fight them (not something i do or watch) a common technique is to swirl the water in the jar they are kept in so they swim against the current and build up more muscles. i have several who love to play in the flow from the filter. it does help to have an area of still surface too, so they can bubblenest happily, but that can be achieved by fixing something into the tank at the water surface, (i use long thin bits of polystyrene for this)

so anyway, enough babbling, hope that helps.

hey my male betta seems to like a current, I think once they get usto it theyre ok...you should see mine playing with his bubblestone.

I guess it will all depend on how much I can actually block up the filter.

I've seen the plastic bottle thing - genius. I don't know if it will work for this tank though. I might try wedging an airstone in there because the water can pass through the airstone.
I could also use something other than the filter box to contain the media, if I can find something the pump outlet fits over/in. Then I could modify the outlet myself, to take an airstone or a plastic bottle section etc.
I wonder how much I can get away with stuffing with it. Still, I guess even if I break it the pump is a pretty cheap spare part.