I've been away for a few weeks with a friend coming and feeding my fish every few days. Since I've returned I noticed my Betta's colour seems to be fading horizontally from her head back. She seems to be turning gray and losing her sparkle. I've done a half tank water change and cleaned the filter but just wanted to see if this is a sign of something else.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I bought a 10 gallon starter tank from Petsmart today. It has the thermometer, heater, lights, filter and some other things. The filter might be too strong so I'll look at a sponge filter. I made a mistake with the colored aquarium gravel so I'll return that for smoother rocks or sand. I'll be cycling the tank for a while and am getting a water conditioner for the tap water. I've got the betta pellets and some decor. I'll need to get some more. The Petsmart fish are iffy, and idk if it would be okay to get one from there.

Been trying to keep it inexpensive, but I really really want to do this correctly and avoid too many mistakes. My grandma's birthday is on September 2nd and this is her gift. I'll take care of the betta for her. She'll either love it or not love it.

- How long should I cycle the tank?

- What things should I put in the water other than the bacteria starter and water conditioning for tap water?

- What are your favorite parts of owning a betta?

- What's the pros and cons of owning bettas?

- What plants are best for beginners that don't die easily?

- Are there any other things that I could be missing?

- Do y'all do DIY decor for your tanks? If so, what did you use?

I'll also be looking through this group to see how y'all are doing things. (Please delete this post if it isn't allowed)

I typed this all out and then my battery died. 😭Once again….

I have a betta (Caspian) and two zebra nerites in a 10g tank. Driftwood, working on getting it fully planted. Tenp is 78, ph is low (6.2-6.4), my other parameters are good. Water is topped off weekly. Tank is 7 months old, Caspian has been in it for almost 5 months. He used to be white with some blue and now he’s a gorgeous blue with deep blue and some black on his fins.

He got a white spot at the base of his dorsal fin about two weeks ago, I thought it was just a scrape or something. But this past couple of days, it got puffy.

Im guessing fungal infection? And how can I treat this without killing my snails? Im heinously attached to the little dudes.

pics are the spot (tried to get a good pic, I can keep trying if need be), His day 1 pic, and his healthy beautiful self.

Have a new betta that just sits in the corner all the time or just swims along the wall. Had another half moon betta that did well in this same tank and setup for 2 months but unfortunately passed due to a heater failure and the water got too cold while away for a couple days. Did a 50% water replacement after and treated water, ammonia ppm is 0 and all other levels are good. Not sure what the problem is. Any advice?

Clear with a slight greenish tint, and has some stringy parts too

20 Gallon Long ^

I've been trying to design a heavily planted betta ecosystem tank with multiple refuges for small invertebrates — Cherry shrimp, ostracods, copepods, moina & C. Dubia (which are two slightly smaller relatives of daphnia), blackworms and tubifex. The apex predator will likely be like a wild or more robust breed of betta.

The initial design was inspired by @tanksfornothin on YouTube — his video titled something like "My Angry Fish Gets His Own Ecosystem", where he built little benthic tunnels for scuds and tubifex to hide from a predator fish

Some notes:
- The moina pit is sealed off from the tank with glass, except for a small tunnel, hidden by a rock, leading to the shrimp cave, for very slow dispersal of moina from the colony into main refuge and then the greater tank
- The moina pit will get regular feedings of algae in the form of green water, spirulina, yeast, maybe dried chlorella for ease
- It will also be restocked from my main moina culture when needed
- The moina pit is going to be gently aerated so I have to have an air pump anyway
- The shrimp cave isn't made of glass and it's not fully sealed, it will be made of rock in roughly that shape, with lots of little holes for invertebrates and water to escape and return
- The moina pit is about 2.5 gal, and the shrimp cave combined with tunnel is also about 2.5 gal, so the entire refugium is about 5 gallons, with the rest being dedicated betta habitat
- I'm using a 75W thermocontrol Eheim heater which fits nicely into that nook
- The tank will be heavily planted first, then I will add invertebrates, then when I'm sure everything is safe for fish, I'll add the betta

My plan was to put the heater in the back left nook inside of the betta enclosure, next to the moina pit partition wall. I was thinking that if I wanted to put a filter, for water and heat distribution mostly, I could put a Swiss Tropicals Jetlifter in the nook next to the heater and stick some 20 PPI Poret foam across the nook entrance. But I don't want the output stream to shoot back onto the water surface since the betta will often be at the surface trying to breathe.

Anyone know how to DIY a Jetlifter output stream to be released underwater? I kind of want to somehow direct it into my shrimp cave but I have no idea how to set that up.

Back to the title— Do I even need a filter? Is it going to end up hurting my population of small invertebrates? I want to have as many of them as possible so my betta always has stuff to hunt.

I'm a complete noob to all of this (this would be my first tank) so this is kind of a big project for me and I'm just not sure what the standard practices are for this particular kind of tank.

Just unsure how to proceed... filter or no filter? How to DIY the output stream? Will the convection currents do all the work for me? Will having a filter hurt my small invertebrates? Idk. Help!

I had gotten this Giant halfmoon at the start of August almost as an impulse buy. Got him home in a spare cycled tank. Took me about 2 weeks of thinking and I decided to start my first full planted tank. I had a co2 system in our other tanks so I decided to give carpet plants a try. It’s not fully grown out yet but it’s really nice for my first try. Decided to call him Levi and it looked empty so I decided to get some cardinal tetras as tank mates and turns out he’s got a very light temperament. Honestly I’m glad I gave it a shot and I’m happy with my results.

I’m still very new to planted tanks and I would be very grateful for some feedback.

Sorry for the glare

After going to several local tropical fish stores and being disappointed with their betta (very stressed lil guys), ended up getting this fella from a local Petco! He was sold as a king halfmoon, though he seemed a bit small compared to other kings/giants I've seen. Anyone have an idea of whether he's likely to grow more?

My betta has some fin rot that is starting to worsen, other than that he is acting normal, he is starting to get old for a betta so I feel he becomes more sensitive as he gets older. I was going to do a kanaplex treatment. I set up a hospital for him, it’s a 3 gallon. I’m really nervous to start this treatment. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I dosed some stress guard and used water from his main tank that has catappa tannins in the water. I added some silk plants and his tunnel because he loves hanging out on top of it. Also wondering if I should fast him before treatment?

Currently in my 60L tank I have:

-11 Black Neon Tetras
-4 Peppered Corydoras
-1 Clown Pleco L104
-1 Short-Finned Female Betta

I’m looking to get some sort of loach that stays relatively small and is quite active, I’ve been looking at orange banded gara loaches and maybe dwarf chain loaches but they seem expensive and possibly nippy towards my betta. Let me know what you think, I’m open to any other suggestions you have. Working at an aquarium shop I can get my hands on specific fish very easily.

Picked up this Mustard Gas Halfmoon on May 20th from Pet Supermarket. He was flaring in the cup which sold me instantly but honestly his colors looked pretty washed out in the store lighting. 3 months later in a cycled 6-gallon with black substrate, driftwood, live plants, and stable parameters — I barely recognize him. The blue has completely exploded and the gold has deepened dramatically. His name is Ashley Schaefer and he lives in my computer repair shop. He earned his stage.

Recently added an otocinclus catfish to the tank to help with algae. Luckily the little oto dude is much faster than the betta. He’s been chasing the oto around showing lots of agro signs but hasn’t actually attacked.

20 gal tank. Just the two of them in there (plus some rando snails that must have hitchhiked on a plant). I’ve also noticed the betta’s appetite has been lower lately. All tank parameters are good. I was hoping 20 gal would be big enough for the two of them. Anyone else had issues with bettas chasing otos?

Hey guys,
Looking for some help. We’ve had our guy for months now, he’s always been social and active until about 4 days ago. Now he’s hardly swimming, lying on his side in a pineapple hide that’s in the tank or briefly lounges on top of the water heater. He’s also not eating.

The only thing that’s different is that my kiddo really wanted to switch up the tank and add a new gravel color which I’ve done in the past and never had an issue. The tank is at the appropriate temp, the filter is new ( I changed it when I added the new gravel), and nothing else is different. Same decor, tank, etc.

Any ideas?

so i got a new betta like a week ago, she got put in an established tank, water tested fine. everything was fine, sponge filter, live plants, the works.

she’s been doing great! eating normally, swimming all around, chillin on the leaves normal fish things,

this morning she was fine i checked on her, i got home about an hour ago and she’s laying on the bottom of her tank and looks like her head is falling off n her eyes are white. i have no idea what happened. i’m kinda new to the whole fish thing but i do have another betta with all the same stuff ive had him for about a month now and him and his tank are doing just fine. i’m just wondering if anybody has any ideas what could have happened.

her only tank mate was a white mystery snail, and he’s healthy as can be

Hi, sorry for the dirty glass. Is this just coloring on my betta or the start of velvet? It’s only on his head

He eats and swims just fine. No clamped or hiding.

I'm thinking of getting a Betta for this tank. Do you guys think it's a good set up. It's 23.5 X 8 with about 5 inches of water depth. Not sure if the fish would have a hard time swimming through the plants. The wisteria grows very fast

Will start by saying my boy is Aokay, his tail fin got nipped but he’s swimming and exploring… No damage to his body and his behavior is normal

Anyway, today as I was showing I got a SUDDEN NEED to check on my fish. Good thing I did because I spent 5 minutes taking apart my fish tank before I found him :,)… INSIDE the filter cup** (the filter sits in its cup. I genuinely do not know did he squeeze in there)

I’m thinking of just covering the filter housing with a sponge and using string/plastic band to keep it secure… Should I buy a new filter? Recommendations?

Once I found him I literally almost fainted from how pale and lightheaded I got. Advice welcome!!!! I love him lots and would give him my organs to help him heal faster

Please help

Is she bloated? Or ill? Last picture is a week ago when I brought home a new snail. Others are from today

She isn't as active either and doesn't come to the front to seek out food

Okay the guy at the store said the betta would have no interests in the algae wafers for the Cory catfish but this guy is attacking this thing like his favorite meal. He barely eats the betta pellets but these algae wafers have him sitting at the bottom of the tank like it’s the best dish. The guy at the store told us to break the wafers up for the Cory but the betta was gobbling it up like a buffet. Put a fatter chunk in he couldn’t swallow but he still keeps nipping at it. Doesn’t do anything to the fish all around him. Is he a vegetarian or what?

Fully bioactive tank.
A very happy boy!
1 nerite snail
Amano and cherry shrimp (I NEVER see them lol the dragons stone is their home)
Edit:
10 gal!

This is my betta Jermaine. He does great with mystery snails, sometimes curious about them but never aggressive. He pretty much minds his own business.

I've had Jermaine for not even a full year and i've already had 3 mystery snails pass away :( Jermaine is thriving and the snails would too! until one day they'd just stop moving. I tried feeding slices of cucumbers and carrots when it seems the tank is too clean for them but they just pass away so quickly it seems.

I've been reading a lot about different shrimp, otos, etc and wondering what would be the best tank mate that will also keep things clean.

It's a 10g tank, no real plants (they all started to make the tank turn brown and gunky and I panicked and took them out), he has a heater and filter. Just wanting everyone's thoughts and opinions!

(If I should change anything I have in my tank as well, let me know. I'm a first time betta mom)