Ooo, I just read that the wire they use in these things can rust so I wouldn’t recommend it now. I don’t own one, but people are starting to complain about them. I swear, they were raving about 'em just days ago. :rolleyes:
http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=284&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=15&SearchContext=YTo2OntzOjg6IlNlYXJjaElEIjtzOjI6IjE1IjtzOjEwOiJEYXRhYmFzZUlEIjtzOjE6IjIiO3M6MTU6IlByb2R1Y3RDYXRlZ29yeSI7czoxNDoiQmV0dGEgUHJvZHVjdHMiO3M6NzoiSGVhZGluZyI7czo4OiJBcXVhcml1bSI7czo4OiJTZWFyY2hfeCI7czoyOiIyNCI7czo4OiJTZWFyY2hfeSI7czoyOiIyMCI7fQ==
Alright thanks! I’ll go with that heater then, it will let me upgrade my tank too if I want to later on. 
Hmm, yea if the wire rusts that is probably not a good thing. It looks like a cool product though. I’m still debating on what plants I want to get, so maybe I’ll try to get something with wide leaves for my betta to rest on.
Also, with a 6.6 gallon tank, would I have room for a tank mate? Not another fish of course (I know that technically you can keep a male betta with some other fish species but I really don’t think that tank is big enough) but what about a few shrimp or an African Dwarf Frog or something? Being a horse person it is hard for me to get out of the “herd mentality” :lol:.
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I have kept fish for decades, and always thought Bettas were beautiful but I just didn’t ever think I would have one. For one thing, our house is cold in the winter, often well below 70 degrees at night. However, a couple of weeks ago a friend was desperate to rehome one so I took him. This thread has been great because although he seems to be doing well in his cube, my husband and I felt he needed an upgrade. So, very soon he will be moved into a Fluval Edge, giving him swimming space, and I’m going to get some live plants. I have a 150 gal. tank with African cichlids (Aulonocara), and I long ago gave up on having live plants in their aquarium. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread, investigated the links, and I’ll report when my little fellow, as yet unnamed, has moved. Oh, and I did find a small heater suited for a Betta cube that works well, and I’ll move that into his larger digs.
[QUOTE=GotGait;6159988]
MH were pretty much the only lights back then that worked for reef setups. CF were ok for light corals. We had a giant clam that needed the strong lighting from HMs. Aw, my giant clam… 
Killed by a microwave burrito in 2000.
His name was Clamato.
shut up
:p[/QUOTE]
You do know you will eventually have to tell us the whole burrito story, right?
I had a reef setup for many years in the 90’s. Tons of fun, but boy, what a money siphon!
Now you’re all making me want a betta!
[QUOTE=SAcres;6161723]
Also, with a 6.6 gallon tank, would I have room for a tank mate? Not another fish of course (I know that technically you can keep a male betta with some other fish species but I really don’t think that tank is big enough) but what about a few shrimp or an African Dwarf Frog or something? Being a horse person it is hard for me to get out of the “herd mentality” :lol:.[/QUOTE]
The little bit I read about those frogs said that they were very sensitive and prone to skin issues so I stopped reading and nixed the frog idea. Maybe someone else on here knows more about them.
You can have a few Ghost Shrimp or Crystal Reds and/or a Nerite or Mystery Snail. The tank is too small for much of anything else.
Doooo eeettttt!!!
We’re up to four in my household along with all the other critters LOL
Two have 1 gallon tanks, not real happy with those but it’s what we’ve got. My daughter’s smaller Betta, Verne, is in one. And our big Crowntail, Vladimir, is in another. I wanted to switch Vlad to a bigger tank but then he developed a swim bladder problem that is not resolving and he can’t get around too much. He stays fairly upright and floats, though. He uses his plant to keep himself in one spot when he doesn’t want to drift.
Two have 2.5 gal bowfront Aqueon tanks that I rather like. I pulled the filter out of the Jules’ tank as I thought the current was too strong for him and didn’t bother setting it up for Dresden (Half Moon) when I set the tank up for him this week. The Bettas in them seem to like the space and patrol their borders.
I do full water changes every week and the critters are thriving (other than poor Vlad and his little problem).
Well so far my supply list includes
6.6 gallon tank
Eco-Compete substrate (red)
Tetra Safestart
SeaChem Prime (do I need both the safestart and prime?)
Fish net with fine mesh
thermostat heater
Master test kit
I still want to get java ferns, java moss, and a few moss balls as far as plants go.
I’m still looking for something natural looking and brownish to use as a hiding spot for a betta.
This is already over my budget…sigh. :eek:
[QUOTE=Mara;6161867]
You do know you will eventually have to tell us the whole burrito story, right?
I had a reef setup for many years in the 90’s. Tons of fun, but boy, what a money siphon!
Now you’re all making me want a betta!:D[/QUOTE]
Oh yes, The Great Burrito Disaster of 2000 or when my BiL wiped out $4,000 worth of fish and corals… Ugh.
My husband and I left on a short vacation (4 days), and my BiL volunteered to check up on the tank once or twice while we were gone. We showed him what to do. Nothing hard, just check the temp, drop a couple frozen brine shrimp cubes in for the fish, make sure the pump was still running… Oh that last one is going to come back around soon.
So off we went. Had a nice time.
Got home, opened the door, and the first thing we see is our tank. Wait no, this wasn’t our tank because our tank shouldn’t look like someone replaced all the water with milk. Sadly, it was our tank. Everything was dead. Everything. My pair of clown fish, my Hippo Tang, my Royal Gramma, my little Green Wrasse, and my Flame Angel, my Cleaner Shrimp, my Banded Coral Shrimp, about 100 mini hermit crabs, MY GIANT CLAM and lots of coral. In the end, it was a total loss as he even killed my sandbed and all of my live rock.
And all because my BiL had to make himself a microwave burrito when he came over, while cranking our stereo, playing Playstation, and running god knows what else to blow a fuse. He then flipped all the breakers back on but one. The one the tank pump was running off. The tank he was there to check on. The tank he was specifically given instructions about the importance of the water pump. The pump which needed to be running at all times to oxygenate the water so the fish didn’t suffocate. The tank he had to walk past to get out the door and whose pump made quite a bit of noise when running. In any case, he didn’t notice it, and since we would be back in a day or two, he didn’t stop in again.
Now, it’s been awhile since The Incident happened, and because I’m rather fond of my BiL, I have forgiven him because he was truly sorry about what happened. Seriously, I think my husband made him cry. But, oh I was mad. It still upsets me just writing about it now. My poor critters. I tried so hard to take care of them. 
My BiL was actually over today and was watching Chips and asked why we had a battery backup attached to the tank. I just looked at him until he blurted out, “But I swear I won’t kill this one!”
No you won’t buddy.
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I’d say yes. It looks like SafeStart only speeds up tank cycling. Prime is water conditioner. You will use it every time you add any water to the tank because it dechlorinates the water and gets rid of heavy metals. It’s super important.
Oh and your list looks good, but add a stick on thermometer so you’ll know what the tank temp is.
Welcome to the world of being over budget.
Whoops, I did have a thermometer on the list…must’ve forgotten to type it. :lol:
That is SO terrible about your saltwater tank! I would have been furious and very upset!
What about any “first-aid” type items? Is there anything I should have on hand? Aquarium salt probably, but what else…
[QUOTE=GotGait;6161974]
Everything. My pair of clown fish, my Hippo Tang, my Royal Gramma, my little Green Wrasse, and my Flame Angel, my Cleaner Shrimp, my Banded Coral Shrimp, about 100 mini hermit crabs, MY GIANT CLAM and lots of coral. In the end, it was a total loss as he even killed my sandbed and all of my live rock.
Now, it’s been awhile since The Incident happened, and because I’m rather fond of my BiL, I have forgiven him because he was truly sorry about what happened. Seriously, I think my husband made him cry. But, oh I was mad. It still upsets me just writing about it now. My poor critters. I tried so hard to take care of them. :([/QUOTE]
sucks in breath
Oh…there are no words…
[QUOTE=SAcres;6161957]
Well so far my supply list includes
6.6 gallon tank
Eco-Compete substrate (red)
Tetra Safestart
SeaChem Prime (do I need both the safestart and prime?)
Fish net with fine mesh
thermostat heater
Master test kit
I still want to get java ferns, java moss, and a few moss balls as far as plants go.
I’m still looking for something natural looking and brownish to use as a hiding spot for a betta.
This is already over my budget…sigh. :eek:[/QUOTE]
You can decimate that budget by dropping the 6.6g tank (which looks very nice, don’t get me wrong) and picking up a 10g. The 10s are the “standard” size, so they’ll only run you about $10 - anything that’s not standard is going to cost more, even (especially, IME) if it’s smaller.
For plants - look for Anubias barteri (if you end up with a small tank, you might look for Anubias barteri v. nana - it’s a smaller variety) - handles low light well, has nice big leaves, and is generally pretty hard to kill/not terribly needy.
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/cat/infoL3/23688/category.web
It doesn’t grow terribly fast, so you don’t have to worry about it overwhelming a small planted tank (this can be a problem). You will want to “anchor” the Anubias (or your Java fern), so find a nice piece of driftwood and tie it on. Eventually, the plants will attach themselves to the driftwood (kind of like poison ivy on a tree).
Moss balls have never done well for me or any of my fishkeeper friends, so I’m not a fan of them.
As far as companions - seriously, bettas don’t need them. And if you really do want a fancy betta? He’ll be better off alone - because other critters in the tank are generally going to be viewed as predators (and they’ll harrass/kill/or otherwise damage those beautiful fins) or prey (and he’ll pick at them and harass/kill/damage them) and that way you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues.
(If you must think of him as a horseperson, think of him like a fancy stud horse, who wasn’t lucky enough to grow up in a herd situation - he MIGHT be OK if you chuck him out with the geldings, but do you really want to risk a valuable (and largely unsocialized) animal on “might be OK”? The stud farms in KY certainly don’t.)
And jeez, GotGait! I think that the burrito incident sounds like a perfect example of justifiable homicide! Your BiL is a lucky, lucky fellow…
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[QUOTE=bdj;6162399]
And jeez, GotGait! I think that the burrito incident sounds like a perfect example of justifiable homicide! Your BiL is a lucky, lucky fellow…[/QUOTE]
My husband called up his brother and started yelling at him. My BiL wanted to come over and help “clean up the mess”, and my husband told him to stay away because, “She might kill you.”
The next few days were so awful I don’t even remember scooping out all our dead pets. Maybe my hubby did it. I don’t know. All I remember is being enraged and sad.
We did eventually get the tank set back up, but we never put coral in it again. We just had a few fish in it, and some of the live rock eventually recovered. When we moved, we gave everything to a friend’s boyfriend who had a monster 500 gallon reef. We had a lovely Purple Tang, a Lemon Angel, and a few others. I hated having to rehome them, but we were afraid they would die during the move. They did love their new huge(er) home though so at least there was that.
We decided we would never do a reef again unless we moved somewhere we could have a generator.
I love your stallion analogy. Bettas don’t need friends. I have a Shiba Inu and I always think of the Betta as the Shiba Inu of the fish world - it doesn’t like other males and usually only likes females when it’s time to breed and is perfectly happy being solitary.
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[QUOTE=SAcres;6161957]
Well so far my supply list includes
6.6 gallon tank
Eco-Compete substrate (red)
Tetra Safestart
SeaChem Prime (do I need both the safestart and prime?)
Fish net with fine mesh
thermostat heater
Master test kit
I still want to get java ferns, java moss, and a few moss balls as far as plants go.
I’m still looking for something natural looking and brownish to use as a hiding spot for a betta.
This is already over my budget…sigh. :eek:[/QUOTE]
A small bottle of Melafix is good to have on hand. I treat every new Betta with it or whenever they seem off.
[QUOTE=bdj;6162399]You can decimate that budget by dropping the 6.6g tank (which looks very nice, don’t get me wrong) and picking up a 10g. The 10s are the “standard” size, so they’ll only run you about $10 - anything that’s not standard is going to cost more, even (especially, IME) if it’s smaller.
…
As far as companions - seriously, bettas don’t need them. [/QUOTE]
Even though the tank is cheap, filters, hoods and lighting aren’t. Not always, but occasionally, it can be cheaper to buy a kit. As long as what’s in it isn’t low quality. For the reason that a 6 G tank is limited and you may want something different after the Betta is gone, I agree to get the 10 G, though.
Bettas certainly don’t need companions but sometimes it’s nice for us to have more than one fish in a larger tank. I had Corys and various Bettas together for years (in a 30G) without any issues. They appeared to enjoy watching the Corys but never touched and the species used the tank in completely different ways. Finding the right other fish and being ready to separate if it doesn’t work out should always be factored in. Just like horses. :lol:
Haha Corys. This video is why I want to get Corys for my big tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkd12eyyo6M&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The poor Betta can’t keep up with them. :lol:
I don’t really have a lot of room so a 10 gallon wouldn’t work for me. the 6.6 gallon is long but it isn’t tall so I can fit it on a bookshelf.
This is already going way over my $100 budget with no way I can see to bring down the cost.
Tank $40
Test Kit $26
Thermometer $2.39
Prime $3.99
Substrate $24.99
Safestart $7.99
net $.99
Heater $17.99
Hidey Rock $9.99 (not sure if I’m going to need to keep this with the plants and driftwood I’m getting
Driftwood 3 pack $17.37
Java Moss-5 tablespoon sized clumps $14.90
Betta Food $2.99
Moss Ball 3 pack $15.79
Java Fern (3) $10
Pigmy Chain Sword $4.95
Moss Covered Driftwood $16.59
Have I gone completely overboard on everything? I want a heavily planted tank for sure, and I want to try to cover all the driftwood with moss, plus moss going up the back of the tank (if I can figure out how to do that).
Maybe I’ll eliminate the moss covered driftwood and the hidey rock. That cuts things down to under $200 at least.
[QUOTE=GotGait;6163716]
Haha Corys. This video is why I want to get Corys for my big tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkd12eyyo6M&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The poor Betta can’t keep up with them. :lol:[/QUOTE]
Those are some stressed fish. I would separate if that’s what they do all the time. :eek:
When you have 6+ Corys, they group together and stay mostly on the bottom, like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWIVCdLOImw&feature=related
Or this. You can see a Betta lurking in the background. :lol:
[QUOTE=SAcres;6163720]
Have I gone completely overboard on everything? I want a heavily planted tank for sure, and I want to try to cover all the driftwood with moss, plus moss going up the back of the tank (if I can figure out how to do that).[/QUOTE]
Yes. :lol: If a planted tank is your priority, there are a lot of things you can do without now.
Your best bet is to start slow and grow your own things rather than putting a lot of money into something that you will make mistakes with.
I don’t know much about planted tanks so I could be wrong, though.
That’s a few too many for my tank. I will stick with 6-8. :lol:
SAcres, I would drop all that expensive driftwood for now, or just pick one. Driftwood can cause the water to turn brown unless it’s already pre-soaked. Looks like this stuff is since it has plants on it. Get one and see how big it really is in the tank. You might not want any additional pieces once you see it. I wouldn’t get the hidey rock. Mine doesn’t spend anytime in the cave I built. He likes being up top where he rests on the leaves.
I believe she’s added more Corys since then. I saw this video in a post on the Betta forum. She said her Betta eventually stopped trying to wrangle them because they were too fast.
I can’t decide if I want Pandas or Sterbais. My parents had a big tank since before I was born, and we had Panda Corys. Eventually they got old, and since my dad wanted to get out of fish keeping, he didn’t replace them when they died. So we got down to one and he was my favorite. His name was Spot. Duh. Anyway, I don’t know how many “Spots” there were, but my dad kept replacing him and prolonging his hobby that he didn’t want to do anymore because I loved Spot. I think I was 8 when Spot finally died for real. I think he was probably Spot the 3rd.
