Betta Fish Question!

by **jd153** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:43 am

Greetings,
I was looking online for some information about Betta fish environments and came across this website. My girlfriend has a Betta and I am interested in helping her aquascape her tank.

First I was wondering if drift wood would be ok to add to the tank? I have seen that you are suppose to boil the wood before putting it in the tank and wonder if there is anything specific that needs to be done in that respect. Along that same line I was wondering if I could simply use any wood found in the forest and boil it until there was no longer dark water? Or rocks?

Lastly I have seen many amazing aquariums using different forms of stem plant and java/anubais. What would be the best for a Betta? or does it really matter?

by **margojnab** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 9:37 pm

Hey jd,
I think it's sweet that you're helping your girlfriend with her fish tank.

I wish my husband was more interested in mine.

But he has many other redeeming qualities, so he's a "keeper"!

Anyway, I think Betta fish enjoy any live plants.

They do not like strong currents.
And they need the water temp to stay between 70 and 80 degrees F.

I've also heard that they don't do well in those Betta set ups with a plant in a glass jar
and the Betta lives among the roots...
However, I'm not sure if that is true.
Maybe someone else here would know about that?

by **djsnowman06** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:59 pm

I would avoid forest wood. some species of trees are toxic, such as pine. also rotting wood would be a problem, as well as certain types of rock will degrade. if u insist on collecting local samples, i would suggest any river rocks, granite or marble, as for woods do a lot of research into toxic woods and take only woods that have been dried white.

by **jd153** » Tue Feb 05, 2013 12:15 am

Thank you for the responses. I believe that I will play it safe and go to the pet store for my "wood" pieces. Better safe than sorry. Also my girl seems to know a lot more than I initially thought. She schooled me on what plants I could get. I guess this isn't her first Beta experience :/ thanks again!

by **Alasse** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:01 am

^^^what a load of bunkim!! someone needs to inform themselves

Boiling the wood - it has a dual purpose of opening the fibres of the wood to make it sink quicker and for faster removal of tannins

Wood is great in a tank, i have it all my tanks (self collected) and none of it is covered in **white anything/sludge or any other nasty lol It is actually a great benefit to some fish if the tannins are left to release naturally in the tank (resulting in tea coloured water)

**Wood will get a while slime on it when first in the tank, it is perfectly normal and perfectly safe. Fish and snails will forage on this. I repeat it is a normal part of the wood going from dry to waterlogged.

I also have planted tanks and they certainly are NOT dirty. Plants require maintenance, same as any tank does. Many a planted tank is actually healthier than an unplanted one, in that the plants help to keep the water 'sweet'

Salt is NOT a requirement to keeping fish. I do not salt any of my tanks unless the fish themselves are saltwater or brackish. Freshwater fish do not require salt, adding it does nothing more than irritate the fish into producing a thicker slime coating to protect itself. Use as a medication is then not as effective. Leave the salt out of freshwater tanks!

Making you tank as natural as possible is important to the fish, plants, wood, rocks etc are all in natural waterways to some degree, they also belong in tanks!!

Funny i have wood/plants and no salt, and i have not had a case of 'fungus, sludge, algae, fin rot, and mouth fungus' in my tanks in over 15yrs *LOL* If you have any of the mentioned problems its certainly not the wood, plants or lack of salt that is the problem!!

Betta Fish Question!

5 posts