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Anonymous
Sup /an/

A week ago I came to you needing advice on my new betta fish.

I ended up upgrading him to a 10 gallon tank. The tank has no plants yet, but it has 25 lbs of gravel and 20 lbs of zebra rock. He's freaking out again, but I think he's gonna be happy based on the sugguestions of posters here.

I named him Napoleon. What does /an/ think of a 10 gallon tank all to a betta?
>> Anonymous
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shitty webcam is shitty
>> Anonymous
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>> Anonymous
that's a huge tank for just him. Are you going to add any more fish?
>> Anonymous
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Betta fish belong in 1 cup bags of water, not 10 gallon tanks.
>> Anonymous
>>326751
Good idea, OP. Unless you manage to majourly screw up, your betta will be extremely happy about 10g and you will enjoy its splendid colours for few years to come.
Plants are not neccesary, but they will be deffenite improvement.
I would not add any new fish right now - let the internal biological equilibrium to return to normal. Later you might add some corries or other small fish. Just dont add anything with large fins or anything that looks like another betta.
>> Anonymous
OP here.

This is the first fish I've ever owned and he's totally wigging out right now.

At least he learned to stay away from the filter. The water spilling in took him for a wonderful tumble.

He's a pretty fast swimmer. It will be interesting to see how big I can get him.
>> Anonymous
>>326764
Do you have any tests for ammonia/etc? Did you dechlorinate your water and allowed it to get to room temperature?
Active fish is good, as long as it is not dying convulsions.
>> Anonymous
>>326766

I don't have the test kit but I followed the recommendations with the starter kit and rinsed all the rocks and gravel, and ran the filter/pump for two days before putting him in. The water was the same temp in his cube as it is in the large tank.

I'll get a heater for him tommorrow. The starter kit came with a trial sized Tetraaqua or something, it's 1 teaspoon to every 10 gallons of tap water to dechlorinate it.

Is the nitrogen cycle really in danger of doing anything to him while the tank cycles? The tank/kit was designed for goldfish which are infinately messier.
>> Anonymous
>>326777
Bettas are capable of taking oxygen directly from atmospheric air bypassing the water, this is the reason bettas can survive in caps. Cycling shouldnt harm your betta in any way if you continue the way you do now. Just dont feed him too much.
For dechlorination I use Prime. It smells like shit, and it works.
If you can, google your city water supply to find if they use chlorine or chloramine. Chlorine simply evaporates with time, for chloramine you need chemichals to take it out.
For now it seems you are doing fairly well.
>> Anonymous
Good job, OP. If you can start growing some plants later on, he'll be even happier. They like to hide in the leaves. I recommend some Java Moss on those rocks, and some Java Fern, Vallisneria, Amazon Swords, and Anubias. All very easy to grow.

Make sure to keep the tank closed... they are excellent jumpers.
>> Anonymous
You are going to have to wait for the nitrogen cycle to take place. The ammonia should spike, then nitrites, then nitrates. Once nitrate levels start to rise it means the cycle is complete. To regulate nitrates you have to do water changes. A 10 gallon tank is great but not necessary for a betta, a 2.5 gallon aquarium would be fine. Keep in mind you could add more fish safely after three weeks; try some different types of small tetras. Avoid gouramis and other larger fish which the betta will probably fight. For plants you should have a full spectrum bulb, 6700K, recreates natural sunlight. You can find a cheaper "natural sunlight" fluorescent bulb at Walmart or something to fit into your light fixture. Just stick with java fern, java moss and other easy plants that don't need anything special. After a couple weeks you will probably start to get brown algae growth, but this is normal.

Good luck with the tank! You are starting out way better than most other people.
>> Anonymous
You doing pretty damn well. My uncle and dad are good but if you pull this off correctly, you'll be great.

Keep it up.
>> Anonymous
Hey, cool. Question, how many inches deep is your substrate? 25 pounds seems like a lot to me. I usually keep the substrate 1-2 inches deep to make cleaning easier, unless if I was using a planty bottom (ie. Seachem Flourite, Baylee's BB, etc) and planning on putting in a shitton of plants. Your choice, though.

Do you know anything about the nitrogen cycle? I'm assuming you know a little bit, since you mentioned it. Having a single betta in a 10g and letting it sit for a month or two will probably cycle and stabilize your tank.

I personally think you should get more fish. There's a lot of space in a 10g for a betta, and having other fish in there would be enriching. As someone else already mentioned, stay away from gouramis. Also, any fish with a long flowing tail--most famously, fancy male guppies--should be kept away. Any nippy fish are also not suitable (tiger barbs, skirt teras, columbians, etc), and some overly hyperactive fish can stress your betta with their activity (zebra danios are the only ones I can think of right now). And the most obvious one, do not get fish that won't fit comfortably in a 10g.
>> Anonymous
>>326928
A few fish I would definately recommend would be corydoras, a small catfish... the perfect citizen in a community tank, however you would need about 3 or 4 of them because they school-- even better if you can get corydoras pygmaeus, because you would be able to fit up to 8... an added benefit of the catfish being they stay underneath the betta as to not invade his space; maybe a NON-NIPPY community tetra, keyword being non-nippy, in a tank this small you will only be able to fit a few... a lot of tetras get nippy with other fish in the tank if they don't have enough fish in their school; maybe some kind of barb, like a cherry barb or harlequinn rasbora; kuhli loach might work, just make sure your tank is thoroughly cycled and you research them a little first. You could also put inverts, if no fish appeal to you--there are a lot of very pretty varieties of shrimp, a lot of them beneficial to the system as they pick up all the waste and uneaten food in the tank, as well as snails, which can help deal with algae if you get it.

Sorry for the long-winded post, please ask questions if you have any OP.