One of my many random ideas

[OohFeeshy]

This was designed almost to be a test of how well a normal Walmart betta would survive in the wild. Heres what the tank would look like. It would be about 20g, full to a depth of about 5/6 inches.
Won't let me upload the pic, heres the link- http/i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/Oohfeeshy/tank20g.bmp
Get the picture now? It would be planted with either bamboo or rice, and have small insects, such as fruit flies, released into the space at the top. To stop flies escaping a cover would be made of mosquito netting or similar. Hey, random or what? Quite a good idea though

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Any betta, Walmart or not, would be able to survive in a tank that big as long as the filtration is not too strong as rice paddy in the wild where wild bettas live are virtually stagnant and thus little water movement.
I have to warn you though that your average rice plant grows to 4ft high and dies off/goes brown if you cut it while it is still growing- bamboo grows even bigger and i do not think there would be enough depth of substrate in a tank that big to let it grow well. Also it will be difficult to collect live insects for your bettas to eat everyday

 

[Skylar]

In order to collect fruit flies...make a kind of bucket and put fruit in it and leave nit to rot. It worked for me..

 

[SPLiSH]

Sounds like a pretty interesting idea... and you could do what I do when I want to feed my betta live food:

Get a mini-sized cricket (they come in packs of about 50 for $3.00 at my LFS) and float it on a small leaf in the tank. Eventually the cricket gets bored and jumps into the water and... CRUNCH! The betta gets a little snackie.

I know, it's a bit cruel, but it's nature and it gives my fish something to do throughout the day.

 

[Seahorse]

I read something bad about bamboo somewhere. Aren't they only semi-aquatic?

Nice idea

 

[Synirr]

I read something bad about bamboo somewhere. Aren't they only semi-aquatic?

Nice idea

Since the shoots appear to stick out through the water in the tank design, they would indeed be semi-aquatic

 

[zendarx2]

I have what is called LUCKY bamboo. you can get it off ebay and such. Normaly the top is cut off so as it cant grow any larger but this stuff is not "real" bamboo. They say it grows better in dirt but will "do okay" in water. I keep mine in water now, I did try puting some in dirt and they all died. I do add some sort of plant food some times and just keep the water level up. They are very intresting and do well with low light. I normaly give them some bright light once a month or so but if I keep them by the window they start to get to much light and die...funny thing I guess.

I would love to see some photos if you do that betta thing. The link would not work for me to see the photo you had but I get the idea I have been wanting to put up a sort of "Beach" tank and have some cool crabs and stuff living in it...have some sand underwater and some dry.


(crap) I just say the date oh well

 

[CatLover]

Interesting idea.

I have that lucky bamboo too, although not in my tanks. I tried to keep it there once, and it died within a couple of days. And don't think they won't grow any bigger. They might not grow where they have been cut off, but new shoots will form on the sides and take right off toward the ceiling! When I bought mine, it was about 8 inches tall, and now it's a little over 2 ft tall. I love the stuff though - I could decorate my entire room in it, which I plan to do someday

 

[zendarx2]

Hey catlover, ya I know what ya mean its great stuff. Mine never took off like that, but I did get some that was not cut at the top and it starting growing fast. Do you keep yours in dirt or just water? how much light do they get and do you feed them any plant food?-

 

[JackDemp528]

Actually fruit flies breed like crazy. We did an experiment in one of my bio classes where we took some big test tubes and put some yeast and some kind of glucose or sugar at the bottom and as the yeast processed it it made food for them. We separated males from females and put a certain number of each. Also we had different types like vestigial, wild type, and two different eye color variations. And within a week or two there were so many more than we started with. So if you do some research and get the right amount of stuff it's not hard at all to get enough fruit flies to feed quite a few bettas.