Betta-scaping - do you or don't you

[zombieworm]

Over the years I have seen a lot bettas kept in their little tanks, and most have been very bare - maybe some gravel, and if they are really lucky even a plastic plant, although some haven't even had the luxury of gravel. On the other hand, I have seen some beautiful mini aquascapes in betta tanks on Google.
So for those of you who keep bettas (not including breeding tanks and such here), do you aquascape or not. I would be interested to see what other people do.
I'll start the ball rolling. I have two 21 ltr duos, and two 32 ltr trios, and below are pics.

 

[Caryl]

I would assume you would only have them in bare tanks if you were breeding them. Bare tanks must be boring for the fish and are certainly boring to view.

[zombieworm]

All the bare ones I've seen weren't for breeding, that was just how people kept them. But I expect that most people in a forum like this don't do that (I could be wrong though), and I'm really interested to see what other people do for their bettas. And maybe this can give people new ideas (i'd certaily likesome new ideas!), and even provide food for thought for newbies who have decided to get a betta and don't realize how much 'scaping you can actually do in a small betta tank.

[zombieworm]

Yup, some people choose to do to do that, and that's fine, but that is not what this thread is about. I'm not asking people whether they keep their bettas in big community tanks or not, I'm asking whether or not people who keep their bettas in 'betta tanks' - small tanks (hence the use of those phrases in the original post) - aquascape them or not. I'm asking to see pics of, and discuss, how people set up their small betta tanks, not setting up a discussion on whether people think bettas should be kept in small or large tanks.

Many people who keep bettas - especially people who keep quite a few - aren't going to have 10 or 20 200ltr community tanks to keep their bettas in.

[Adrienne]

When I kept mine in small tanks I did not aquascape the tanks.  That was just my personal preference.   I have seen several betta keepers in Auckland with small and lovely looking aquascaped betta tanks - yours look great.  JJWooble on here has/had hers in smaller aquascaped tanks last year but I don't know what she has now.

The smallest tank I had that was scaped with bettas was from memory a 54 litre tank that was a females only tank.  Made for a stunning effect with all the females colours.  I'll see if I can find any photos but they are likely to be on this forum if I do - just pre 2011

[zombieworm]

I thought about having a larger tank of females, but I've only ever seen females for sale once here. I bought a gorgeous blue crowntail female to breed with by beautiful blue crowntail male Reggie. She wouldn't have a bar of it though. She didn't just nip his tail, she pulled great honking strips off and ate them! Cannibalistic little snot. Needless to say Reggie wasn't too interested in her after that. Would love to see the pics if you find them 

When I first started keeping bettas, I didn't really aquascape - just sand, one live plant, and one small ornament. That was the most I had ever seen in a betta tank (no internet to Google back in those days!). I thought the tanks were too small to put much else in, and really, you can see the bettas better without much in the tank. Then when I started back up keeping bettas, and Googled bettas, I was really surprised to see what people were doing in the tanks. So I thought I would give it it go. I think it appealed to me because I am an avid gardener (or was, before the cancer diagnosis - not quite the same energy for it these days), and aquascaping is just underwater gardening really. I think what surprised me the most was that after the aquascaping - putting all that stuff in the tank - it actually looked roomier than when it was bare. Seems counterintuitive, but there you go. 

I also thought I wouldn't see the bettas as much, and for some of them that is true. Reggie will only come out at feeding time, but most of the others eagerly come out of hiding to greet me whenever I walk into the room. They love hiding in the plants, and Sasha (the blue and white one in one of the pics) likes the little hollow he has created for himself under the piece of wood at the back. 

I have Khuli loaches in the betta tanks as well. When the tanks were bare-ish the khuli loaches hated it - no place to hide - and would go frantic and get really stressed, and jump out of the tank, so I stopped keeping them in there. Now, with all the places to hide, they do great. Reggie likes searching his area to see if he can find them, then he sits there and stares at them until they move somewhere else - lol.

[blazin79]

I am just starting out again with fighter , but I do plan to aquascape all the tanks .. currently working to get the 4ft tank planted first .

I only have a few females and one male at the moment

Edited July 29, 2016 by blazin79

[Pennyleigh17]

This is my betta trio tank. I like to stick with a "natural" theme in my tanks by using live plants, driftwood and rocks.

[zombieworm]

I only use live plant too, but I do like my ornaments - a bit of an ornament junkie

I really like the colours of your middle betta. At first glance I thought it was ornament. - that blue is stunning.

[Pennyleigh17]

Thank you, yeah he's got beautiful blue, red, pink and purple colours through his fins and tail. I saw him and knew I had to have him!

I have to admit I do like the red column type ornament you have. Ive seen them at the shop and have been tempted to get one and break my natural look

[zombieworm]

Yeah, I liked the red columns when I saw them. They are a very earthy red, and give a nice Asian zen sort of theme, which doesn't clash with the natural themes at all - not like my mushroom house and the octapus dude from the new Nemo/Dory movie - lol.

[Pennyleigh17]

Im worried if i add ornaments (especially  ones with colour) that they would take away from the colour of the bettas. Do you find this at all? 

[zombieworm]

It depends on the betta. Some colour are more suited to the natural setting, but others do well with colour. The tank section with the mushroom house and octopus is being saved for a black betta I'm getting. I think the bright colours will show him up better than the natural colours. Sasha, my blue and white, is in a natural themed section, but would have also looked great in a winter (or 'Frozen' themed if that had been something I liked) setting. That would have really showed off his blue. If your betta has several colours, choosing an ornament that matches one of the lesser colours will bring that colour out - like accessorizing clothes or picking cusions for the sofa - lol.

Also, bettas quite like bright colours. I actually keep a stash of small, colourful ornaments which I put in front of the tanks, and swap around on a regular basis. The bettas are fascinated by them, and spend time looking them over (except Reggie - the only that fascinates Reggie is the khuli loaches).

The Asian style betta ornaments go very well in the natural settings though, like a little zen garden type thing.

[JJWooble]

I had various betta tanks at one stage - here are some photos, although some it woudn't let me upload. At various stages there was a duo, a trio, a fluval chi 21 litre, an aqua one 9 litre (would not recommend, I quickly upscaled this tank), and a 30 litre tank. I eventually ripped the dividers out of the trio which was where my last boy was happiest. Can also post up pictures of the fighters if you're interested.

Ended up scaling down a lot since finishing uni and my last little guy decided to go for a skydive so I no longer keep fighters.

Some variations on the 30 litre scape:

The fluval chi:

The Trio and duo at various stages:

 

 

[JJWooble]

I liked to focus on live plants/rocks/driftwood more than ornaments as I found fighters were wonderfully talented at ripping their fins on anything that gave them a good enough excuse. They /love/ having plants near the surface to sleep etc and my last little guy would sleep in an offcut from my fluval 306 canister filter hose as it would float (hence the bits near the surface in the last picture of the previous post). Longfins in particular will also use these to rest in during the day. My first little guy, Momo, had a pothos leaf as a hammock (photo is of him just leaving it, the forum wouldn't let me post the photo of him actually sitting in it lol). I would change the scape regularly or with the trio, swap fighters between sections, so that there was always something new to explore. Having good lids is a must and they CAN jump through the gaps for the trio/duo lids so I would advise caution on this as thats how my last little guy went. 

 

Sanitychelle has some pretty stunning betta tanks. 

 

Edited July 31, 2016 by JJWooble

[Pennyleigh17]

 

I like your trio with the dividers removed. Looks lovely like that

[JJWooble]

It was my favourite of the lot I also had a stage where the trio and duo were pushed together and I had a lot of plants coming out of the back, which was pretty cool also. But always worth giving a fighter a bit of space to strut their stuff

[zombieworm]

I like the way you have wood and plants coming out of the tanks. Sadly, my Bengal likes water and loves fishing, so everything has to have a cover. And yeah, they can jump out the little holes - I lost my elephant ear that way. The ones with the really fancy (heavy) tails don't seem to though.

 

[zombieworm]

I only keep the ones that are really poncy - i.e. have very full/heavy fins and tails (and a couple of elephant ears). They do really well in the smaller tanks because they aren't as active. Mine spent a lot of time sitting on the plants at the surface as well. They do like caves though.

I was looking at trying to get some of the floating logs that Fluval make for bettas, but they don't seem to have them in NZ. I haven't been able to find something suitable/safe to use instead yet. I'll see if I can find something like what you used.

I don't use plastic plant either. Apart from an aversion to plastic plants (each to their own though), I think the points on the leaves are a too sharp, even on the softer ones, and the bettas are too likely to rip their fins - as you said JJ. I always rip the plastic plant bits off the ornaments when I get them (even though that is half of what you are paying for - lol). The silk ones would probably be fine though, and the silicon ones are good. At one point, when I didn't have anything else to put in one of the tanks yet, I put a large-ish bright yellow silicon 'coral' ornament in with one of the bettas, and he loved it - he would swim in among the polyps like a clownfish.

[zombieworm]

This Eli before he commited hari kari. He liked sleeping in the dragon's arm.

 

[SanityChelle]

I love to scape my fighter tanks. I find they naturally interact with the environments so much better, sitting on plants, pushing their way through if they're after something.

Below is a 20l Chi, a 30l Leo (was used and scaped for fighters up until recently, either a single male or a female sorority at one point ), and a 60l sorority with mollies and swordtails. All have lids even with plants sticking out the top.

I have had breeding tanks in the past, and tended to have them pretty bare, save somewhere for the girls to rest like a small terracotta pot etc.

[zombieworm]

What are the plant you have in the bottom photo? I find it really hard to get plants that don't shoot straight for the top and take over the tank - in all my tanks, not just the bettas. I really need plants that stay short, so I don't end up with lots of bare sand.

Love your aquuascaping, you have a real talent for it.

[SanityChelle]

Thanks so much! I love scaping, it's like mini gardens.

I don't really like stem plants, I find you end up spending way too much time trimming and replanting. Short plants I use are anubias, Java fern (both of those attached to rocks or wood), different types of crypts, and mini chain swords.

[gligor]

Nice tanks! What are the plants in your second tank SanityChelle? The ones that are coming out of the tank? Or are those just plants you have planted in pots behind the tank?

[SanityChelle]

They're definitely in the tank. From left to right there's a spiderplant, a plant that I've completely forgotten the name of, a decent bit of pothos (which is a wonder nitrate eater!), and a type of palm in a pot sitting inside the tank.