Interior Design For Bettas

[soritan]

Suggestions welcome.

It's a 2g vase, however I decided to only fill it to 1.5G for this picture. I may or may not top it off with more water, can't decide.


This is not my betta vase. This is a lady's vase, and I've decided to redsign it for her, since her previous setup was 4" of large gravel and nothing else.

I've taken down the substrate to about an inch and a half, a little less or more. It's a mix of her old gravel and some sand. I also added the pothos strand and added 2 stems of silk flowers which she had mixed up with her things. In fact, she also gave me the pothos strand. I think she suspected I was going to redesign it, and gave me things she wanted in the 'tank'.

There isn't much more I could add, due to the odd shape of the thing. But I was thinking of adding a long, thin piece of driftwood with java moss on it. Mostly I'm concerned for the ghost shrimp in there. I'd like for him to have more things to hide in and crawl around on.

As to the water changes... I'm thinking of buying her a nice glass, or something, to go along with her turkey baster, and instructing her to remove that much water per day. I think most of her poor betta-keeping practices stem from the fact that she doesn't know any better, and is too afraid to ask me.

Anyways, yeah. I almost like it.

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

I think it looks great! I have a similar vase... it's an odd shape,
makes it hard to decorate it, but yours looks lovely!

 

[seanc]

I don't know if you can get them where you are but in one of my lfs they sell small terracotta pots and my ghost shrimp love to hide in them. Only cost a few pence each too. Would be a cost effective and reasonably aesethetically pleasing way to give the shrimp a few hiding places.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hmm... Get half a coconut shell, cut a hole in the top big enough for shrimpy and/but not betta, cover in java moss, put at bottom?

 

[soritan]

Thank you.

Both the coconut shell and the terra cotta pot are good ideas, but believe it or not, I've tried it already. The bottom of the tank is very small (if you look at the picture closely, you'll see a shrimp right in the middle of the bottom), and if flares dramatically towards the top and then closes again to a size just a shade larger than a CD. I tried using a CD as a top on it, the first day or so I was 'betta sitting', and the darn thing nearly fell onto his head.

The tera cotta pot worked really well, when the gravel was 4" deep and therefor the floor was wider. I know the coconut shell is bigger than the terra cotta pot (or at least, my local coco nuts).

Maybe I'll just see if there are any more marimo balls for sale and plunk one in there. I really do want to add at least one other item to the 'tank', because the shrimp has no where to hide from the betta. I'm going to try and talk the lady into getting a new tank, something larger for easier care and more places to hide for the betta and shrimp both. I don't think she'll bite, and I know it's not my problem, but it's so annoying when you can't slove these little problems, you know?

 

[Joby]

Its looking good, I'm sure the betta is much happier now.

Could you maybe suction cup a desert pot or something to the side of the vase? A little up from the bottom so there's more room but with a hole just enough for shrimpy? Gotta be careful whatever you choose though I guess as inquisitive bettas can get stuck trying to get into holes they aren't big enough for

 

[Durbkat]

Is this that same tank when awhile ago you had a thread about how the betta was harrassing the ghost shrimp and that the gravel was so big that bloodworms and other food went into the gravel, if so how are the ghost shrimp doing after you changing it around?

 

[soritan]

Good idea with the dessert cup... I was also thinking of using silicone to attach a sort of shelf looking thing to the broad, upper part... except that's an awfuly permanent solution to use on a unique vase like this, and it's not mine. I'm also thinking of maybe finding a stone or something rounded and tall, so that there's something right in the middle of the vase, to break up the line of sight....

Is this that same tank when awhile ago you had a thread about how the betta was harrassing the ghost shrimp and that the gravel was so big that bloodworms and other food went into the gravel, if so how are the ghost shrimp doing after you changing it around?

Yeah, same vase. It's slightly better in there for the shrimp, because now the betta is happier right where he's at... but not a great deal better. It's easier to feed them, that's for sure. Since I have more sand than gravel, there's nowhere for food to fall, so the shrimp can reach all the leftovers. Unfortunately, now so can the betta. But now the turkey baster can easily siphon up waste, too. I would highly recommend sand to anyone who wants a substrate in a smaller tank.

I think once I add a cave, or some other bottom feature, or even just something else that breaks up the line of sight for the betta, the shrimp will lead a happier life. Honestly though, if it were up to me... if this were mine, I'd remove the shrimp or buy a bigger tank. Compared to the ghosts in my 10 gallon, the shrimp in the 2 gallon is extremely still. They're so fun to watch in the 10g, it sort of makes it less fun to watch them sit as still as possible in a 2g. If it were a standard All-Glass, with lots of plants and caves and whatnot, I'm sure it'd be a different story... but in something that has simmilar problems, with the betta always seeing the shrimp, I think the shrimp stays still as much as possible to keep from drawing attention to himself.

I read on another forum, that someone carefully knocked out the bottom of their terra cotta pot, to make a tunnel. Maybe I'll give that a shot. It'll shorten it up a great deal, it'll be easy to remove when it's cleaning day, and the shrimp and betta can both hide....

 

[soritan]

... what if I do the whole "siliconing gravel to a tube" bit? I can actually get a custom fit, that way. If I get one that's tallish, I can drill holes in it that are large enough for a betta to swim through. Dang. Why didn't I think of that before?

 

[jacblades]

i would love to find a vase like that. all the vases i have seen are too narrow or too expensive
do you know where the vase came from?

 

[soritan]

I actually purchased it for her for $3 at our local Salvation Army. Who knows where it came from, before that. It's made of very dense glass, and holds something like 1.5-2 gallons of water, when filled to the brim.