The Journey To Bringing My Imported Halfmoon Home

[attibones]

I've found out about a powder solution of ammonium chloride which will work for fishless cycling. I'll be ordering some of that in the morning. In the meantime, I am feeding my ammonia with flakes.

While I'm waiting for that stuff to come in the mail, I'm getting ready for plants. I'm getting this really neat dragon thing to go in the center of my tank, but I'm going to have tons of plants surrounding it and providing hiding spaces for my fish. I'm thinking hornwort, maybe sagittaria and naja grass. I'll be picking up some amazon swords on Friday too. I may add some java fern in there. I want the tank to look overgrown.

I'm interested in floating plants. Will my filter knock them down and keep them going all weird? Also, if I have floating plants, will they keep my fish from accessing the air?

 

[Wildbetta]

Floating plants are great for bettas.  They do not block access to the surface air unless you let them get so over matted that they get too thick for the betta to move. Depending on your filter, it might knock them around.  I use sponge filters which don't have that kind of issue but when I used a HOB filter, I sometimes had an issue with them getting caught in the flow and being pulled under and then pulled to the intake which caused a mess.

 

[attibones]

I've got a HOB for this tank, but my intake tube is very low, just above the substrate. However, the decoration I'm going to get is tall so maybe the floating plants would just get caught on it instead of getting pushed down towards the intake tube. But that's great that they are good for betta. I live the look of them and I want this fish to be well cared for.

 

[Joshwainwright]

I prefer natural looking tanks so this "dragon" doesn't sound good to me but you never know, I might grow to like it once you've got it set up and put some photos on
 
Floating plants should be fine, if you have flow that's good for a betta then you're probably going to have flow that's good enough for floating plants. Which are you thinking of?
 
A couple of easy suggestions:
Hornwort
Water Wisteria
Water Sprite
Duckweed (more of a pest tbh)

 

[attibones]

I'm almost definitely getting hornwort, but I think I like the look of water sprite too. I'll also have some taller plants as well as a few mosses and grass-like plants. 
 
The dragon looks aged, which I like, and I'm hoping that with the plants it will look like an ancient ruin that was thrown in the water and got covered with plants. I'm thinking I may try to get some java moss to grow on it. I'm going to get it today, and if I remember, I'll take pictures of it this afternoon.

 

[Joshwainwright]

Maybe my mind will be changed by the moss then, moss looks great on everything!
 
Looking forward to the photos 

 

[attibones]

If photobucket will work, I'll be able to post the three pictures I took. I think it looks really great, especially because the cylindrical tank makes the decoration look much larger. The downside to this dragon thing is that it will make planting a little tough. It should be okay though.

Oh! It has a bubble stone in its mouth too, so I'll probably connect one of my spare pumps to it too. I had this stone in an old betta tank, and that particular fish loved it.

Okay here we go.

Without light:

With blue light:

And with the white light:

The tail end looks a little distorted, but it will clear up as I shift around and stuff. Sand should be in the tank tomorrow. That will look nicer, I think.

 

[Mamashack]

An interesting journey I've just found.
Am watching closely as I'm setting up a betta tank too altho my cycle was slowed down by a pH crash. Seem to be back on track now tho.

 

[TallTree01]

Nice looking dragon. If you had some moss running up it it would be good.

 

[Shelster]

An interesting journey I've just found.
Am watching closely as I'm setting up a betta tank too altho my cycle was slowed down by a pH crash. Seem to be back on track now tho.

Mamashack, I can't wait to see yours, please put some pics up to treat us

Attibones - I also like natural set ups but your dragon is pretty impressive, and yes I think it will look good with moss growing on it, I think it will suit a betta very much!

 

[Mamashack]

MIne will be terribly boring by comparison - I have no sense of style whatsoever! lol
I'll show a picture of the end product hopefully with a happy betta in it when that happens

 

[Shelster]

MIne will be terribly boring by comparison - I have no sense of style whatsoever! lol
I'll show a picture of the end product hopefully with a happy betta in it when that happens

I'm sure you will have! (Style & happy betta)

 

[Mamashack]

I hope so too if I can just get the bacteria back up to full munching strength!

 

[Joshwainwright]

I reckon I could grow fond of the dragon with some moss growing up it, not just yet though
 
The bubbles could be interesting too! 
 
It's definitely not like me to enjoy something that doesn't look natural

 

[attibones]

Haha. Yeah. The bubbles look really great. Once I get the plants in and the moss growing, it should look stellar.

I usually have natural tanks, too, but as this one is in my bedroom near my ten gallon, I thought they needed sort of similar themes. The ten gallon has some fake bonsai trees and a wonderful little elephant. I love elephants. My largest tank is all natural, except for two adorable little gargoyles that are hidden amongst the flora. I think they protect the tank.

Now I just have to either get my java moss in my big tank growing, or buy more moss. I have a bunch of moss balls. I wonder if those would do well? Hmmm...