I recently became the owner of two crowntail bettas. I had been thinking about getting a couple but I wasn't quite ready for them at the moment. But after seeing the way they were being taken care of, I couldn't say no. They are currently living in 1/2 gallon "tanks". Now before ya'll get your education typy fingers warmed up, let me assure you that they will not be in those crappy little things for much longer. And I am doing complete water changes everyday and keeping them in the warmest room of the house. Not ideal but it's much better than the nasty brown skunk water they were in when I got them.

Anyways, I am setting up a 29 gallon tank that will be split three ways (I still want to get the HMPK I've been drooling over). That will give each fish a little less than ten gallons each with room for maybe a couple shrimps or something like that.

I got most everything that I need except for gravel and plants. For the gravel I want to go for natural looking river stones/gravel. Could I use the landscaping gravel that Home Depot carries?? The gravel at the petstore is really exspensive and I can get it much cheaper at Home Depot but I don't know if it is aquarium safe.

I was thinking about live plants but I think for now I am just gonna stick with fake plants until I can get the tank established and save up some more money (had to buy the whole tank setup because I found out the 29 I had already is cracked across the whole bottom of the tank).

I'm sure I'll have more questions as it's been aout five years since my last aquarium.

Manda in Seattle, WA

Too funny.. lol I'm sure they'll do fine under your watchful eye. I think the Home Depot gravel would be safe too. Maybe give it a wash and it should be ok.

I'd recommend the "Pea Gravel" from HD over the river pebbles and especially pond stone.

Ive used both.


There are several reasons I say this :

1) They are large enough that doing a gravel vacuum is impossible.
2) Because of their size, food will fall down in the cracks and crevices where the fish cant get to it.
Pretty soon you will have gunk all in the gravel, which you can't vacuum, and then you are fighting ammonia spikes.
3) There are many rocks with course surfaces and even sharp edges, so any bottom dwellers, foragers, scaleless fish, and especially burrowers will be at high risk for damaging themselves.
4) Unlike with aquarium prepared gravel that are relatively all a uniform size, there will be many fragments, chips, tiny rocks, and pebble pieces all the way down to sand sized that will be in the mix. I mean as in with one bag of stone, you'll easily have 2 cups of the stuff.

The pea gravel seems to be more rounded and smooth, as well as having a more uniform size. It's also small and light enough that fish can move through it safely, and performing a gravel vac should be no problem.
Just make sure you sift and rinse very well to remove any sandy fragments.

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150G, 1 shovelnose sturgeon 8", 1 polypterus endilicheri 9", 1 leopard ctenapoma 4", 1 Distichodus Sexfasciatus 6", 1 Farlowella acus algae eater 8", 2 silver dollars, 2 tank bred angelfish, 1 clown knife 11", 1 Jaguar hybrid syntadonis 4", 6 African cichlids 3+"

Yeah, the pea gravel is what I was looking at, sorry for not including that in the message (I was over excited about getting the tank!! LOL). I did plan on rinsing it really well to get rid of the dust and whatnot.

Really looking forward to getting this tank set up!!! It's been awhile since I've had a tank with fish in it and I remember how soothing it was to sit in font of it and just watch the fish swim peacefully around. Now I just need to research on tank mates to see if I want to put other fish in there. I kinda want one of those little frogs but I have no idea how to take care of one (I hate getting animals that I haven't researched atleast a little). I do plan on getting one of those Marimo Moss ball things! I've been reading about them and they seem pretty neat.

Manda in Seattle, WA

oh yea, Thank you both for taking the time to respond!! I really appreciate it!!


Manda

Those will be some happy fish!Im so glad to hear you are doing great maintenance on the tanks.

What light do you have?As for plants people here are pretty nice,and will have cheap plants for sale and some will even send a few for cost of shipping.

Please be sure to keep the temp up and cycle the tank for the fish.Though they are bettas they still enjoy fresh water.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Right now I just have the regular light that came with the hood. I do plan on switching out at a later date so that I can atleast try out the live plants. But right now my main focus is getting the tank set up and cycled and I'll worry about making it pretty later.

I do however know exactly what I want to do with the tank as far as a "theme". I've got this cool upside down broken urn decoration that I was using in one of my snake tanks. The snake never even glanced at the thing so it'll be the centerpiece of the tank (once I clean the snot out of the thing of course). I want to have some driftwood in the end compartments with the bettas and plant a bunch of plants around everything so that it kinda looks like at some point in time someone dropped a broken urn in a stream and left it. It looks REALLY cool in my head, I just hope I can make the tank look like what's in my head!!!! lol


Manda
(sorry about the change in username, the forum wouldn't let me sign in with Facebook like I was doing yesterday so I had to register with the forum again)

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Manda in Auburn, WA

29 gallon freshwater community tank. Lots of plants,10 Zebra Danios, 6 neons, 2 ghost shrimp, 1 mystery snail, and 1 trapdoor snail.
<---- Click to help me grow!!!

WOOOOHOOOOO!!! Tank is getting put together today. Can't wait to get it cycled so I can put the fish in it!!!

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Manda in Auburn, WA

29 gallon freshwater community tank. Lots of plants,10 Zebra Danios, 6 neons, 2 ghost shrimp, 1 mystery snail, and 1 trapdoor snail.
<---- Click to help me grow!!!

Aha! Something I can help with!

I know more about frogs than most other critters (with the exception of ferrets. I know more than I care to say xD)! With completely aquatic frogs we have two species: the African Clawed Frog and African Dwarf Frog. You will see them interchanged and combined in every form imaginable. Let me give a quick run down.

ACFs grow to about the size of your hand. They come in grey/brown/green and albino. The front "hands" have no webbing and their skin looks and feels smooth. Their eyes are on top of their heads. These guys will eat ANYTHING that moves and many things that don't. If it fits in their mouth they eat it. If it doesn't fit, then they will drown trying to make it fit. They are like T-Rex and only see movement. Tank size is 20 gallons for one, 10 per each additional frog. The can and will cannabalize if the other frog is small enough. They can not survive on flakes and pellets- these guys do best hunting for live foods. Feeder guppies are the only safe fish to feed (and gives great exercise!), f/t bloodworms, appropriately sized superworms (crush the head or they can bite....ew), and of course crickets are great food. These guys are VERY fun to watch but must be kept away from non feeder fish, snails included. Gravel is dangerous, they can eat it; sand will irritate their skin; smooth stones larger than their head or bare bottom is ideal.

ADFs are adorable lil things! They only grown an inch or two, look and feel rough, front "hands are webbed" and their eyes are on the sides of their heads. These guys look kinda like they were run over compared to the ACFs "chubiness". ADFs prefer to be in groups, I would suggest 3 in a 10 gallon (max) and one per every 5 gallons after or so. They like cover and hidey places a lot, especially if you have fish in the tank. Peaceful small fish that can't eat the frogs make good tankmates. I know of many people with Bettas and ADFs together. ADFs eat f/t bloodworms as a staple, small crix and other creepy crawlies that fit in their mouths are great. Variety will have a healthier froggie. Mine loved live tubifex worms, even if they took over my tank lol! They are a bit more delicate than ACFs, but still a great frog for novices. They are fine on normal gravel but sand will irritate. If you do choose to add an ADF with your Bettas please make sure the piggie Betta doesn't eat all the food on the lil guys. They are notorious for that!

If you wanna try something different I say go ahead with an ADF! If you ever have a big tank and want something different, get a couple ACFs then. Currently I have 3 ACFs that entertain me to no end. I handfed one for some time when he was younger to help bulk him up. Now when I put my hand in the tank he bolts over and will sit in my hand! There are also some very beautiful and rare color morphs you can find from breeders. ADFs, although SUPER rare and I only know of a handfull of them, can be found albino if you are super lucky. I've only seen pictures of two. They pop up in stores randomly and are gone super fast.

Hope my rambles helped! Good luck with your Bettas and the tank! (Go for the HMPK!!!!! I am JEALOUS you have access to one!)

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