Very bare 10g for male betta

[Duckquarium]

I feel like this tank is wicked bare, should I stick some gravel in there???
I don’t mind the soil personally I wanna see where the carpet heads off to.
I don’t have a lot of experience with growing aquarium plants so I honestly have no idea what it’ll look like I just put stuff wherever I could.
Lava rocks are such a pain in the ass.

 

[connorlindeman]

One suggestion: Floating plants such as water sprite will be nice. super easy to grow and wont require ferts. I sell some on eBay if your interested.

 

[outofwater]

One suggestion: Floating plants such as water sprite will be nice. super easy to grow and wont require ferts. I sell some on eBay if your interested.

When I did some "pet sitting" for a betta a few months ago, the water sprite seemed like the plant he enjoyed the most for cover and to rest around, definitely recommend that. Hey @connorlindeman what's your ebay store/ID? And sprites can be floaters as well as planted, is that right?

 

[connorlindeman]

When I did some "pet sitting" for a betta a few months ago, the water sprite seemed like the plant he enjoyed the most for cover and to rest around, definitely recommend that. Hey @connorlindeman what's your ebay store/ID? And sprites can be floaters as well as planted, is that right?

Ill dm you the link to my store. Yes water sprite can be planted as well.

 

[connorlindeman]

When I did some "pet sitting" for a betta a few months ago, the water sprite seemed like the plant he enjoyed the most for cover and to rest around, definitely recommend that. Hey @connorlindeman what's your ebay store/ID? And sprites can be floaters as well as planted, is that right?

oops idk why i typed ebay its actually etsy. sorry about that

 

[Duckquarium]

oops idk why i typed ebay its actually etsy. sorry about that

I like Etsy better anyway that’s where u get cool rocks for your tank.
I would definitely be interested in any floaters with lots of roots.
I like rocks too tho, especially porous and cool looking ones.
What’s your Etsy store ID

 

[connorlindeman]

I like Etsy better anyway that’s where u get cool rocks for your tank.
I would definitely be interested in any floaters with lots of roots.
I like rocks too tho, especially porous and cool looking ones.
What’s your Etsy store ID

I just sent you a dm

 

[Sgooosh]

I just sent you a dm

can i have it too?
i don't sell much on etsy but i wish to learn from the masters

id add some moss (christmas) or suswassertang to the rocks so that the betta will not scratch himself because the rocks look kinda sharp

 

[Duckquarium]

can i have it too?
i don't sell much on etsy but i wish to learn from the masters

id add some moss (christmas) or suswassertang to the rocks so that the betta will not scratch himself because the rocks look kinda sharp

They’re definitely sharp, all three rocks have terrestrial moss on them right now time will tell if it can grow underwater or not. You can’t even see it if it’s outside of the tank so I’m not even gonna try to take a picture.
They’re more of a betta deterrent since initial stocking had 5 shrimp on the list and it would appear that he has eaten the smallest one.
I also have undersized filtration on this tank so it can’t hurt to have some super porous rocks to help harbor nitrifying bacteria.
I wanted to use bigger ones but I thought it was a better idea to keep them minimal so I don’t end up with a bunch of torn fins on this guy.

 

[Duckquarium]

can i have it too?
i don't sell much on etsy but i wish to learn from the masters

id add some moss (christmas) or suswassertang to the rocks so that the betta will not scratch himself because the rocks look kinda sharp

The one with the most moss on it also had to be drilled 10 times to get it to sink, so it has a bunch of shrimp tunnels in it now, hopefully that gives them a place to spawn and hide without becoming betta food

 

[Sgooosh]

The one with the most moss on it also had to be drilled 10 times to get it to sink, so it has a bunch of shrimp tunnels in it now, hopefully that gives them a place to spawn and hide without becoming betta food

cool! what drill did you use? i am interested in doing this with rocks of my own

 

[Duckquarium]

cool! what drill did you use? i am interested in doing this with rocks of my own

Any old drill works just fine, keep the bit wet though.
However, my regular old craftsman hammer drill did have a bit of trouble, I recommend using an impact with 1/4” hex, Bosch makes masonry bit for it.If you want you can use a diamond holesaw, and only go halfway through, then use a screwdriver to chip out the center and you’ll be left with a flowerpot.
You can do this to pumice as well.
You can drill any rock really but the more porous it is the easier it will be.
Also if you can break pieces off by hand (you can with these lava rocks if you get a good grip) then that will also be a good indicator that it’s going to be fairly easy to drill.
When it comes to drilling rocks it doesn’t get any easier than red and black lava and pumice.

Video for reference

 

[Sgooosh]

Any old drill works just fine, keep the bit wet though.
However, my regular old craftsman hammer drill did have a bit of trouble, I recommend using an impact with 1/4” hex, Bosch makes masonry bit for it.If you want you can use a diamond holesaw, and only go halfway through, then use a screwdriver to chip out the center and you’ll be left with a flowerpot.
You can do this to pumice as well.
You can drill any rock really but the more porous it is the easier it will be.
Also if you can break pieces off by hand (you can with these lava rocks if you get a good grip) then that will also be a good indicator that it’s going to be fairly easy to drill.
When it comes to drilling rocks it doesn’t get any easier than red and black lava and pumice.

Video for reference

thanks so much!
does the pumice used for sinks work?

 

[Duckquarium]

thanks so much!
does the pumice used for sinks work?

I’ve never tried to use it in an aquarium. But horticultural pumice should in theory eventually sink and work for substrate. It’s the same material as the scoring stick or your girlfriends pumice stone, if you want to use that in your filter as bio media, I don’t know if the price point is worth it or not but it should be just as good as ceramic. But some large pumice stones will float for literally years before they become water logged enough to sink.
I don’t know if drilling pumice will work as good as it does for lava rock but there is the possibility that it could.
As long as you can get them to sink they’ll work just as good, and yes it’s the same material but you’re going to want to find a natural sample.
If you go on google shopping and search “pumice stone rock sample”
Keep in mind that when you drill these you might find large open pockets of air which can truly become large enough for you to lose small inverts and even fish in them. If your aim is just to make shrimp tunnels I recommend using a rock that you don’t have a floating issue with, make sure it sinks on its own just fine so that you don’t have to worry about hitting a giant pocket of air that you can’t get your shrimp out of.

 

[hansgruber7]

Throw some floating plants like frogbit in there and maybe some java fern is pretty easy. You could plant some dwarf sag. It's definitely looking pretty bare in there.