2.5 Gallon Mini Bow--suggestions?

[Assaye]

If you can return it for a part-exchange/refund and go for at least 14 litres, I'd suggest that.

2.5 gallons is pretty small and while some people do keep bettas in smaller tanks, I'd always say the bigger the better (within reason). Some of my boys are in fairly small tanks but I have enough tanks that I can move them around and find out which fish like what tank.

 

[Honeythorn]

You should get more Julii cats, cories need to be in groups. of 4 + so 2 more at the very least. Some Cabomba is also a good plant to use and will fill in a lot of the gaps in the plants.

That's a great tank for a betta, spot on.

 

[ny2oz]

You should get more Julii cats, cories need to be in groups. of 4 + so 2 more at the very least. Some Cabomba is also a good plant to use and will fill in a lot of the gaps in the plants.

That's a great tank for a betta, spot on.

Thank you.

I dont want to overcrowd the Betta tank, so would you think its a good idea to remove the two I have in the betta tank, and put them in the community with the three other coys even though I have 1 green, and wo albinos? If so, what else is ok to put in there with the betta..besides snails?

 

[Honeythorn]

You could easily fit 4 cories in there without overcrowding the tank.

But you could move them if you prefer .The type and colour of others doesn't tend to matter much to them.

If you don't want cories, how about shrimp if snails aren't your thing? Cherries are nice, and shrimp will add almost no waste to your bioload, as well as picking bits of debris . You could have several shrimp in there no problem, and for the most part bettas don't bother adult shrimp. Wee babies may be munched but that will simply keep the population down is all. .

 

[ny2oz]

Ghost shrimp maybe? All I see sold around hre are ghost shrimp...and bamboo (filter) shrimp...bamboo wouldnt be goodc ause there is almost no current the way I modified the filter for the betta.

 

[Honeythorn]

Ghost shrimp should probably be ok. I had one which was evil personified but I suspect I got a bad egg with him as most people don't have any bother with them. They are good scavengers ( though yoiu shouldn't overfeed ) and interesting things to watch. They will eat pretty much anything, but I have noticed they do like to be given a little algae wafer or tablet to pick over. Mine used to take his wafer and swim off with it to eat it by himself away from the others , he would alo come to the surface and take food from my hand

One tip - If your betta does get sick and seems to be spending time on the bottom, either move the ghost shrimp before treating the betta, or move the betta into a hospital tank by himself . If your fish lies on the bottom a lot there is a chance the shrimp may mistake him for dead and try to munch him.

 

[aly_starh]

Actually, no. I decided to go with my 12 gallon eclipse. Igot a beautiful Betta yesterday, and set it up with 2 julii cats. I think he loves it!!!

Lovely tank! Plants look great too
If you wanted you can divide that tank in 3 sections, so you can have 3 male bettas

 

[ny2oz]

Actually, no. I decided to go with my 12 gallon eclipse. Igot a beautiful Betta yesterday, and set it up with 2 julii cats. I think he loves it!!!

Lovely tank! Plants look great too
If you wanted you can divide that tank in 3 sections, so you can have 3 male bettas

Well, I plan on adding another plant of two soon... and maybe either getting more corys, or putting them in my community tank and getting ghost shrimp or Dwarf Frogs...if that's recommended.

 

[Curiosity101]

Just to point out, bad advice from betta_246.

One - 3 divisions allows only 4gal per fish...seems unfair imo.

Two - bettas prefer a long shallow tank to a tall short one. This tank is very square, at the most you could split into 2 and have 2 males. It is more natural to swim horizontally whilst using the various height levels available than it is to literally swim up and down, which would be the case if it was 3 sections.

If it were me then I personally would've gone for a group of shrimp and frogs...mainly because corys appreciate a high current. They don't NEED a high current (as they do fine in community tanks), but as bettas need a particularly low current then you could find issues with the corys not getting enough oxygen.

If you find they're not visiting the surface very often, then they wont be having problems, and in this case I would stick with the corys. I do love corys and upping the group to 4 would be fab.

Just a note, if you did ever want to go down the route of dividing into 2 then there wouldn't be enough ground space for the corys and they would have to move to another tank.

Ps. Both the tank and the betta look lovely. That centerpiece is great, where did you get it?

 

[ny2oz]

Just to point out, bad advice from betta_246.

One - 3 divisions allows only 4gal per fish...seems unfair imo.

Two - bettas prefer a long shallow tank to a tall short one. This tank is very square, at the most you could split into 2 and have 2 males. It is more natural to swim horizontally whilst using the various height levels available than it is to literally swim up and down, which would be the case if it was 3 sections.

If it were me then I personally would've gone for a group of shrimp and frogs...mainly because corys appreciate a high current. They don't NEED a high current (as they do fine in community tanks), but as bettas need a particularly low current then you could find issues with the corys not getting enough oxygen.

If you find they're not visiting the surface very often, then they wont be having problems, and in this case I would stick with the corys. I do love corys and upping the group to 4 would be fab.

Just a note, if you did ever want to go down the route of dividing into 2 then there wouldn't be enough ground space for the corys and they would have to move to another tank.

Ps. Both the tank and the betta look lovely. That centerpiece is great, where did you get it?

I think I will go with the shrimps and frogs..or just the frongs. I will soon be putting my coreys in the community since I already have some in there, instead of buying more..and they will have more room. I agree on they need more Horizontal room, but I won't be dividing it anyway, since I'd have to remove my centerpiece! I bought that on ebay a few years ago when I first got the tank. It's plastic, but looks great! Do I *need* a hiding place for the frogs and shrimp?

 

[Curiosity101]

With the betta and lack of plants I would say yes. Hiding places will be essential.

IF your betta is happy to share his space then that doesn't mean he'll never decide to chase the frogs and/or shrimp.

If it were me then I'd probably go for a couple of small bits of wood, another natural looking cave or 'stone wall' ornament, and some bushy plants like cabomba.

If you try to give each frog and/or shrimp a hiding place then that's a good plan. I'm not trying to say that only one shrimp and/or frog will fit in the hiding space. But if you think of rabbits, they have many entrances to their burrows...this makes them feel more secure as they always know there is somewhere to hide nearby if danger arises.
Same rules apply to frogs and shrimp, the more secure they feel, the more you will see them.

 

[ny2oz]

With the betta and lack of plants I would say yes. Hiding places will be essential.

IF your betta is happy to share his space then that doesn't mean he'll never decide to chase the frogs and/or shrimp.

If it were me then I'd probably go for a couple of small bits of wood, another natural looking cave or 'stone wall' ornament, and some bushy plants like cabomba.

If you try to give each frog and/or shrimp a hiding place then that's a good plan. I'm not trying to say that only one shrimp and/or frog will fit in the hiding space. But if you think of rabbits, they have many entrances to their burrows...this makes them feel more secure as they always know there is somewhere to hide nearby if danger arises.
Same rules apply to frogs and shrimp, the more secure they feel, the more you will see them.

Thanks for the advice. I'm battling an Ick problem in my 36 gallon community, so until that is 100% solved I wont be moving the cats, thus no frogs yet. But I plan to getsome more plants and things..thanks!

 

[ny2oz]

BTW, a much better pic of Mason:

 

[Honeythorn]

He has beautiful finnage and a great colour

 

[aly_starh]

Just to point out, bad advice from betta_246.

One - 3 divisions allows only 4gal per fish...seems unfair imo.

Two - bettas prefer a long shallow tank to a tall short one. This tank is very square, at the most you could split into 2 and have 2 males. It is more natural to swim horizontally whilst using the various height levels available than it is to literally swim up and down, which would be the case if it was 3 sections.

If i thought it was bad advice, i wouldn't have given it.

4g is fine or 1 betta, min is 3g, and some people have them in 2g, although i condone that. I have a divided male betta tank so i think i have researched enough to know what i said was not bad advice. There is also the breadth of the tank, not just what you see from the front of it.

That was my personal opinion, if someone wants to take that advice, they can. You gave your opinion and i have the right to give mine.