# And ... Planted Wild Betta tank in the making



## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Last Friday we picked up a 20 gallon long tank to replace 2 5 gallons we currently have on a shelf in the bedroom. It's been sitting in the floor since we got home. A cold snap brought on a migraine and just didn't leave any extra energy to do anything with it. I figure if i make a thread about it, it might spur me on to actually get it up and planted. I've washed all the black diamond, washed the tank out and it's ready to go.. except for the me part.

Officially the last tank we will add to the house... didn't i say that when we got the 40B? and this is the 3rd tank we've added since then. LOL

For now the plant list for the 20 gallon, it's going to be a stem plant farm tank so will probably be a down right jungle in there. I'm thinking Rotala Najanshen, Rotala mexican argualia (thats spelled wrong), rotala rotundafolia, brown hygro, red melon sword (maybe). stargrass, green hygro, jungle vals, dwarf sag, 2 or 3 kinds of crypts to grow out, didaplis diandra, limnopihilia aromatica.

Hopefully sometime in the next month we will be getting 4 wild bettas who will call this tank home along with Ernie the Orange poso snail and 4 mini yellow rabbit snails.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

What sort of wild betta are you looking at getting? In a 20 gallon long there are certainly plenty of options available to you.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Betta albimarginata is the kind we are getting. So excited!


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Good luck with your tank and your albimarginata when they arrive. They are a great little species of mouthbrooder, particularly if they are your first ever wild betta.


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## Joshaeus (Dec 8, 2013)

Aren't albimarginata a little uncomfortable in the 80 degree plus water that the sulawesi snails prefer? I thought they were on the cooler end for bettas...


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Having never owned sulawesi snails I have no idea what their preferred temperature range is. 

Albimarginata do tend to prefer their water on the cooler side. However, they are one of the less fussier species of wilds so they would most likely be okay at a temperature of 80 degrees. 

I find there is quite a broad range of temperatures that people keep their wild bettas at. For example, I keep my coccina complex fish in the low to mid 70s, while others keep theirs at the higher end.


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## Joshaeus (Dec 8, 2013)

OK...well, at least it's not as big an issue as PH is for many bettas (which, again, albimarginata doesn't seem to care much about...I've heard of successful spawnings at a ph of 8! And this out of what is basically a blackwater fish!

Out of curiosity, but is channoides as hardy as its more orangish cousin?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

That's why I tend to recommend both species to those looking at getting into wilds. They are very forgiving of mistakes, and prolific as guppies once they get going. 

I've owned both species and they were basically the same. Only real difference between them was their colour and the fact that my channoides ate their fry while my albimarginata didn't.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

The 20 gallon is replacing the tank that the rabbit snails are in and we really have no choice but to put them in there with the wild bettas at the moment but I may put them into a different tank before the betta's get here, will really have to see if they continue to eat my plants. Seriously considering trading my mini yellow rabbits for malawa shrimp but Ernie the orange poso is staying, he was a surprise present and I love him! He needs a few more orange poso friends and I will actually UNPLANT a tank for them if I had about 5 or 6 to breed.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Any updates, peachii?


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Oh i forgot to post a picture of it. I did finally plant it but the wild's are on hold until the next batch are born. 

I will get a picture later today, it turned out well so far only been planted for a week or so so not much growth yet.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Here's a quick really bad picture, I'll get a better one tonight.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

It looks nice!  I've been wanting to get black sand for a while now ehhe.
Good luck with your wilds.


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## Plakatmasta (Jan 31, 2014)

Have your thought about dwarf hairgrass, could give it a nice natural carpet.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Plakatmasta said:


> Have your thought about dwarf hairgrass, could give it a nice natural carpet.


I have and there are a very few runners of it in the middle of the s. repens and Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, which carpets just the same growth wise as DHG. First tank with it in there, since it has no fish, the fish wouldn't let it stay planted in my big tank. Hoping it will carpet well so I can also use it in other tanks. DHG grows really, really slow for us since we don't use Co2.

The front area is basically a trial to see which of the 3 carpet plants grow faster. There is also a sprig of brown hygro that for whatever reason grows on the substrate and crawls instead of growing upwards, This would also make a very lovely carpet in a tank, so seeing if the higher light of this tank makes it change it's growth pattern.

Plant list for this tank is -
Blyxa
Jungle vals
Dwarf sag
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
s. repens
3 crypts - mioya, wendtii, nevelli?
bacopa carolinia
red ludwiga
a. reineckii
rotala rotundafolia
rotala sp. green
Dwarf green hygro
Brown hygro 
diaplis diandra
Limnophila Aromatica
anacharis
Hygro compacta

Undecided what I am going to pull out to put my Vesuvius sword plantlet in, but this tank si basically just a grow out and will change plant frequently as the mood strikes me.
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## Plakatmasta (Jan 31, 2014)

Ok nice you could also try some glossostigma although i think that grows quite slow as well, but looking forward to see how it will turn out.


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