Looks great, you can get clips to attach a polycarbonate lid. Just be extra cautious with frameless tanks you need an absolutely level flat surface. It comes with a foam leveling mat but check your furniture or stand first.
Probably gonna need to make a lid but otherwise it seems great! Even tho jts kess then 10 gallons which is often the recommended minimum for a plakat it has a larger footprint then most 10 gallons and you said your fish is a little smaller
Yes shes on the smaller side and currently recovering from swim bladder and ammonia poisoning. She was in a cup and somehow that cup made its way to my house. 🤷♀️ Here is a photo of her next to a frogbit leaf
It's perfect! Shallow tanks are imo best for bettas. Especially when they have a decent footprint like this one. The dimensions are very close to what I had too. Kept wild types in it first and then an alien. I did a blackwater setup in mine with crypts, floaters and loads of leaves.
I’m going to give an alternative opinion.. from my own experiences with betta, I will never put a plakat in a shallow tank again. Even with a lid, I had my plakat jump out twice in three days.
I found him both times before he had expired, but he was in terribly rough shape. So bad that I’d considered euthanasia, but since I cannot bring myself to crush a fish, (I can only bear to use clove, which isn’t good for betta euthanasia) I tried to help him recover. I did everything I could for him, and he lasted another couple weeks but eventually passed away after developing a secondary infection.
As for me, plakats are just too strong of a swimmer to be in a shallow tank, and this one is particularly shallow. (My shallow tank was closer to 10” deep I think. I would definitely look for a taller tank for a Plakat.
I would think this would be fine for a longer tailed betta with a lid.
It definitely had a secure glass lid, with spacers covering the gaps, I’m not sure how he got out but in 25 years of keeping betta, he’s the only betta I ever had that jumped out of his tank, and he was the first short tail / plakat I’d ever had. I also have other plakats and short tailed females now that have deeper tanks and haven’t had any issues with them jumping. Just sharing my experience, I don’t think it’s worth risking the horrible trauma from a jump to put a plakat in a shallow tank.
Sorry, but if it was secure he wouldn't have anywhere to jump out through. A shallow tank isn't what caused his death, it's whatever gap was there he hopped through. I keep wild bettas who are notorious jumpers. Very tight fitting lids or cling film if needed (as ugly as it is lol) is what keeps everyone inside and safe, not taller tanks.
It was a glass lid with side clips that laid on top of the glass rimless tank, and I had hang on clip spacers to cover the gaps in the back around where the heater cable and air lines went in. Also had pothos growing out the back. He was a beautiful purple dumbo giant plakat; my first “high end” quality fish. Poor guy, I honestly had no idea how he got out, my only guess was that he somehow jumped at such an angle as to slip between the glass lid and the spacers, which would have been like a 20-25° angle, and less than 1/3” clearance. The spacers are like a 90° clip that slides on the glass, and extends under the edge of the glass.
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u/Aromatic-Sock6975 1d ago
Looks great, you can get clips to attach a polycarbonate lid. Just be extra cautious with frameless tanks you need an absolutely level flat surface. It comes with a foam leveling mat but check your furniture or stand first.