# New to planted betta tank



## tlaine (Aug 18, 2017)

Howdy!

I'm new to having a betta and planted tank. 

I just wanted to thank y'all for being here and all the great advice y'all have on these forums. They have helped me a lot when trying to figure out how to properly set my tank up. It's a 5 gallon Marineland Portrait.

I've attached photos of the tank and one of Samurai "Sammy" my betta. Sorry about any glare on the tank glass, it sits on my desk at work.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Wow! What a beauty and what a great tank set-up!

If the plant back left is an Anubias make sure you don't plant the rhizome. Keep us posted and......


Welcome to the Forum! :wave:


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## tlaine (Aug 18, 2017)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> If the plant back left is an Anubias make sure you don't plant the rhizome.



I had wondered about that. One website said it could be planted, others say not. If I pull it out of the sand and put a small pile of the white rocks over it to just hold it down, would that be ok? Or should I just glue it to a bigger stone?

It's been in there over a week and seems to be doing ok, but I definitely do not want to kill it.

And thanks :-D


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

If it has roots you can plant those or weight them down with stones; it's the rhizome that can't be buried. I use plant weights to hold Anubias down and it eventually roots. Or, you can tie with cotton thread or fishing line as long as you don't tie too tightly and bruise the rhizome. I've done that, too.


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## tlaine (Aug 18, 2017)

I've had the tank for three weeks now, so far so good, two out of my five plants died (those two looked sad when I got them). 

The others are doing ok: the Anubias congenisis still looks great (haven't pulled it out of the substrate yet); the water wisteria is looking wimpy but still alive and hasn't changed in looks for the past couple of weeks, but my Staurogyne replens was looking the same but now is starting to look kind of iffy. 

Today I put some root tabs in the substrate, one on each side of the tank in the middle. I usually dose with Flourish once a week. Should I start dosing with Excel to help the plants along more or do you think that would be overkill?

Sammy is happy as a clam, loves chasing bubbles and leaves that happen to float to the top of the tank or peeping at me from inside his cave, or begging for food. <3


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Did you plant the Wisteria? I let my stem plants float until they develop roots. It won't hurt to use the Excel; I've never noticed that it helped but that doesn't necessarily mean anything as I'm often hit or miss on dosing. Many times plants "melt" and then rebound. This is especially true of Cryptocoryne species which I can highly recommend as beginner plants.

Substrate ferts should help the replens.

Did you order your plants online or do you have a local source?

BTW, I just bought my first Crowntail...actually, two. Ridgley and Kudzu.


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## tlaine (Aug 18, 2017)

The two plants that died out (turned totally black) I purchased from a seller on Amazon. The other three, the ones that are still living, I purchased from PetSmart. I already notice a big difference after one day of inserting the root tabs near the plants. They look much better and are standing up straighter. 

Yes, I planted the Wisteria, one of the three stems I got didn't make it, but the other two are looking ok (not great, but just ok). They look like little palm trees in the back of the tank. LOL

Crowntails are so beautiful, congrats on picking some up!

I included a photo of my tank again, with Sammy peeking out from the top cave, I just love his little red stripe on the top of his head. Sorry for the glare on the glass, I work in a library and there are many, many lights.


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## Lekoguy (Dec 1, 2016)

Your tank looks great!

The plants seem to be doing well and I love the "palm trees." Once the wisteria has fully settled in, it will take off like crazy and you will become skilled with a mini-machete.

Aah, the Joys of Fertilizers


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