Empty 10g. Plants and Dwarf puffers, or breeding bettas?

[calaustria10]

I have a 10g that I'm not doing anything with, and I was wondering what to do with it. I want to either plant it VERY heavily, and put 3 DPs in there, or breed bettas in it. I know how to breed bettas and take care of DPs. I don't know much about plants though. Any help would be appreciated there. I was wondering what kind of substrate I'd need for a heavily planted tank. I've seen lots of people suggest ADA. It can't be anything sharp though, because DPs are scaleless and will get cut up. Most likely some kind of sand. Then will I need to rig a DIY CO2 system? I don't need to be told about things like cycling my tank. I know my stuff about fish, but I can't say the same about plants.

Or, I could breed bettas. The problem is, I have no idea what to do with 500 betta fry. I wouldn't mind sitting on them for 6 months-1 year, but then what? Stores aren't going to buy them from me, and my town is way to small to sell 500 bettas.

[BettaLu&Meg]

well i do breed bettas and if your planning on keep somethin on the bottom of the tank 500 is not likely, also 50-150 is more the number of fry you will get from breeding in an area that size. i used 10gallons also. Putting somethin on the bottom of the tank when the fry hatched and are free swimming (after the 3rd day of hatching) will make it impossible for your fry to eat the live foods giving, being that they mostly settle on the bottom of the tank. leaving your tank without anything in the bottom is the best and easiest way to succeed in making sure your fry gets there food properly. Floating plants are perfect and fine for bettas. and most of the time are better when producing microbes. When snail, and bettas wastes are caught in the crevises of the plants over time micro-organisms produces thus giving your fry another source of food.

As for trying to make your tank 'natural', there is very little you can really do to make it completely that. Completely natural would be a muddy bottom tank with almost stagnant current and near-choked with driftwood and rotting vegetation.
and sand i wouldn't recommend for that size tank and will make your water quality poor quick. as for the substrate, personally i haven't worked with it but i know others that have, and once starting to breed they regreted it right away, due to distrupting the spawning process and killing there fry when trying to clean it.

The muddy part alone disqualifies a truely natural setting; sand is your next best bet, followed by products like Amazonia and Black Onyx sand (which can be mixed with Silica or Pool sand to create the desired shade)

What I would start off doing is selecting plants; It'll be very hard to make a complete Betta type biotope, as there is very little in the way of completely aquatic plants you can use: especially considering the fact that females in a group will NEED places to hide and breaks in the line of sight.

Now, you can find plants that are approriate for this; Large stems of Giant Hygro (Hygrophila Corymbosa), thick plantings of Water Wisteria (Hygrophila Difformis) are both good tall breaks for the line of site, both are proper in a SE Asian setting (though not occurring in the same habitat as bettas)

Mid level plants will be Java Fern (Monosorum Pteropus) attached to hardscape (driftwood or rough rocks) and most of the Cryptocoryne species (which require a nice sandy and deep substrate)

Of these, i highly recommend Crypocoryne Wendtii and Cryptocoryne Beckettii as both have done well in my lower light aquariums with a minimum of 'Crypt Rot'.

Java Moss (Taxiphyllum Barbieri, incorrectly called Versicularia Dubyana) can be useful as well, but must be kept in check, It should also always be rooted to driftwood, rocks or a framework lest it drift around uncontrolled making a mess (which is nigh-on impossible to clean out!)

[bettalvr]

I would suggest, as a starting point, that you decide which fish you want in the tank. Water requirements are different for puffers and bettas. Once that decision is made, it should be easier to determine appropriate plants.

[BettaLu&Meg]

yes puffers i really don't know to much about but the same friend from that tought me some of what i know from japan breeds puffers also so if you have anyquesiton maybe i can help or guide you in the directions for that topic, as for breeding bettas... thats all me

[bettalvr]

Puffers are different and there's lots of controversy with them. Many pet stores sell them as tropicals, but they are brackish! Their salt needs are much higher than bettas. I've personally observed them raised as tropical, or as close to tropical as possible, and there were health problems. Raised as brackish they were healthier and colors were so much more vibrant. They're easily raised, maintained and they're really neat little fish. Great personalities and fun to watch.

[BettaLu&Meg]

never watch nor worked with them, i always wanted to see one puffed up, watching them fill up with water and spines sticking out! i think it'll be intresting to watch

[bettalvr]

Yeah, they're fun little fish! And they're another one that identifies their caregiver quickly, they're smart too.

[BettaLu&Meg]

Nice sounds like my kinda fish, hmmm.. maybe one day ,
ok its past 2am here betsy! i gotta get some sleep, still recouperating and still got those damn stones in me being stubborn! lol TTYS!