# Iwagumi Style Tank -- Stressful for Betta?



## taquitos (Jun 27, 2013)

Still waiting for the perfect HMPK to come along in my life 

Until then, I will be planning his tank!

I really want to go with an iwagumi layout, but I am worried there won't be enough hiding places for the betta to feel comfortable.

Thoughts?


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Well I was thinking the same style just that you should maybe at some grass-like plants so he may have a hiding spots honestly my fish are okay being in the open now.


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

It will probably be fine if you could get some floating plants. Or have some giant hairgrass so it can find in something.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## taquitos (Jun 27, 2013)

litelboyblu said:


> Well I was thinking the same style just that you should maybe at some grass-like plants so he may have a hiding spots honestly my fish are okay being in the open now.


Hmm yeah. I mean I only wonder just because my current betta is not shy and he is out in the open a lot, but he likes to sleep in the heavily planted area of the tank 



tankman12 said:


> It will probably be fine if you could get some floating plants. Or have some giant hairgrass so it can find in something.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Yeah I don't really want any floating plants or giant hairgrass -- mostly low lying plants but hmmm


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Perhaps if you do the Iwagumi style up front and in the back let some dwarf haigrass be nice and tall. Or, I was trying to do this before but didn't have CO2 at that point, you could do most of it Iwagumi style and then a teeny forrest in the back corner of the tank with some fine leaf plant to make it seem like it's more off in the distance since that's most of the point with Iwagumi; depth and realistic hill type scape ^_^

I was thinking some decorative Rotala, a nice red one perhaps to contrast. Or actually, Pogostemon Erectus would look really nice too


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Maybe you could use the rocks to make safe little grottos throughout the tank for the betta to hide in or use the natural roll and rocks to create a hiding place somewhere within so that it is beautiful for you and functional for the fish C:


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## Kone Killer (May 10, 2014)

So the way I did mine was I made the back lower than the front. I sloped it back right at the middle of the tank. He can hide behind the main center rock, and has also started hanging out in the wisteria as well which runs along the back. Give me a bit and I will get pictures up.


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## Kone Killer (May 10, 2014)

It is a crappy picture, but you get the idea. Behind the middle rock, it is a bit loser than the front, so he can just chill out behind that if he feels like being shy.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Wow beautiful where did you get your rocks from ? Did you buy them ?


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## Kone Killer (May 10, 2014)

Thanks! I actually pulled these rocks from a little known rock slide area on Prince of Whales island in Alaska. My uncle took us to this spot when we were on a hunting trip. The rocks all have fossils of different kind of clams in them. I will try to take a better picture showing the rocks if you want. They are kinda cool... Having this tank makes packing these damn things around for all these years worth it.


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## Kone Killer (May 10, 2014)

Here are some close ups of them.. This was how I thought of doing up my tank when I first started thinking about getting one.


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## taquitos (Jun 27, 2013)

lilnaugrim said:


> Perhaps if you do the Iwagumi style up front and in the back let some dwarf haigrass be nice and tall. Or, I was trying to do this before but didn't have CO2 at that point, you could do most of it Iwagumi style and then a teeny forrest in the back corner of the tank with some fine leaf plant to make it seem like it's more off in the distance since that's most of the point with Iwagumi; depth and realistic hill type scape ^_^
> 
> I was thinking some decorative Rotala, a nice red one perhaps to contrast. Or actually, Pogostemon Erectus would look really nice too


Hmm yeah that could work. Maybe I will put some tall dwarf hairgrass... I don't really want to do a full CO2 system... Do you think liquid carbon will be enough to make the tank lush?



Crossroads said:


> Maybe you could use the rocks to make safe little grottos throughout the tank for the betta to hide in or use the natural roll and rocks to create a hiding place somewhere within so that it is beautiful for you and functional for the fish C:


Yeah I was thinking of maybe putting in a terracotta pot, covering it in gravel + rocks and having the pot opening face the back of the tank. I don't know if this would work though.. I could use manten stones to build up from there but I would be terrified of the pot breaking or something lol.



Kone Killer said:


> So the way I did mine was I made the back lower than the front. I sloped it back right at the middle of the tank. He can hide behind the main center rock, and has also started hanging out in the wisteria as well which runs along the back. Give me a bit and I will get pictures up.


That's a good idea! Thanks for the tip  And that is a great looking piece of stone!


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## taquitos (Jun 27, 2013)

Well I started the layout for the tank.









I was thinking of just dwarf hairgrass all over... Any other suggestions?

Critique welcome on the hardscape layout too 

This particular guy is not shy at all so I don't think he would be stressed living in this tank, even without many places to hide.


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Looking good. Are you going to use co2?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

If your going to use co2 I would recommend some staurogyne repents their pretty and like lots of lighting and co2 they don't need it but it would be great to have co2!!! 

And it looks very very beautiful.


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

With co2; hairgrass, dwarf baby tears, or the staurogyne repens.

With out co2; pygmy chain swords, crypt parva, dwarf sag, java moss, sp japan or christmass tree moss.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

I highly recommend pressurized CO2 and med/high light for Iwagumi set ups. Other thing dwarf hair grass loves is flow. I don't care what any one says, every single professional aquascape has awesome flow. Why you might ask, because flow can distribute CO2 every where in a tank, even the dead spots. Trimming also plays a big part. Trimming it makes it thick. Other thing that helps is getting loads of it and planting it every where. If you get it in bundles and break it in to small groups also helps. Plant it like a 5 sided dice 1 inch a part from each other.

Giant hair grass all in the back with dwarf hair grass up front sounds pretty cool.


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Ya almost every plant likes flow. A lot of people especially here say that plants dont like flow, i dont know why. But with the dwarf hairgrass, like tony said for the co2 thing. It will also help prevent algae.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

tankman12 said:


> Ya almost every plant likes flow. A lot of people especially here say that plants dont like flow, i dont know why.


Where have you seen that suggested? I've never seen anyone actually say that. Betta's don't like flow, that is certainly said but never about the plants...


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Actually quite a bit of people said it to me in the past, when i made a couple threads on my planted discus tank people said it. I dont know if those people are still around, but it was said.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh, well it's not too fair to say it if they aren't around anymore :-/

Anywho, taquitos, I love the rockwork! It's going to look great all planted up!


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Ya im with lil, it is really cool. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

To be honest some plants hate flow. After redoing my 10g tank and removing the baffle on my outflow canister filter, I noticed my Brazilian pennywort getting destroyed by the outflow. Only reason I removed it, was of course for my CO2 diffuser. But my half moon betta is actually doing pretty good even with flow in the tank so far. Will keep a close eye on my betta and will make adjustments if needed.


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## tankman12 (Nov 13, 2012)

Ya that is why i said almost every plants. I had that plant and it just kept breaking apart.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## taquitos (Jun 27, 2013)

tankman12 said:


> Looking good. Are you going to use co2?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I wanted to just get away with liquid CO2 (Flourish Excel) but I am looking into the possibility of DIY CO2.



litelboyblu said:


> If your going to use co2 I would recommend some staurogyne repents their pretty and like lots of lighting and co2 they don't need it but it would be great to have co2!!!
> 
> And it looks very very beautiful.


Thanks  I was actually thinking dwarf hair grass in the back (on the rocky area) with marsilea minuta in the foreground for difference in texture.



tankman12 said:


> With co2; hairgrass, dwarf baby tears, or the staurogyne repens.
> 
> With out co2; pygmy chain swords, crypt parva, dwarf sag, java moss, sp japan or christmass tree moss.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I'm staying away from moss as a carpet because I have tons of moss in my 10 gallon and if it weren't for my RCS they would be covered in debris lol. I love dwarf baby tears, but I didn't do DSM and they apparently spread much faster that way.



Tony2632 said:


> I highly recommend pressurized CO2 and med/high light for Iwagumi set ups. Other thing dwarf hair grass loves is flow. I don't care what any one says, every single professional aquascape has awesome flow. Why you might ask, because flow can distribute CO2 every where in a tank, even the dead spots. Trimming also plays a big part. Trimming it makes it thick. Other thing that helps is getting loads of it and planting it every where. If you get it in bundles and break it in to small groups also helps. Plant it like a 5 sided dice 1 inch a part from each other.
> 
> Giant hair grass all in the back with dwarf hair grass up front sounds pretty cool.


Thank you for the tips! I ordered a 48 light clip on LED so I believe that should be sufficient lighting. As for CO2, do you think I could get away with just liquid CO2 or would a DIY system work better?



lilnaugrim said:


> Oh, well it's not too fair to say it if they aren't around anymore :-/
> 
> Anywho, taquitos, I love the rockwork! It's going to look great all planted up!


Thank you! I find the hardscape always the hardest part! My boyfriend actually purchased some really great stones from the LFS a few days ago... he is doing a 15 gallon iwagumi and I am totally jealous! My koke stones are so teeny compared to his giant rocks lol but I wanted to give the fish enough room to swim around 



tankman12 said:


> Ya im with lil, it is really cool.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Thanks


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