# What plants do bettas enjoy?



## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

The title says it all: What plants do you find bettas enjoy? I have a 5.5 gallon long, divided tank I would like to convert to live plants, as I prefer live to fake and have a lighting fixture laying around and being wasted from a dismantled 10g tall that had been planted  Obviously this means they can be high lighting requirements, but I don't want any that require CO2 systems, as the only one I have I don't trust to use. 

I have gravel as substrate, with some boiled smooth, fancy rocks and fake 'silk' plants as decorations. The only live plant I have in there now is an Amazon Sword, who's life almost ended when I accidentally mutilated it when moving my other fish to a bigger tank. It *was* a nice top growth on a much more beautiful, tall plant, but since there was a good bunch of roots sticking out I figured i'd try planting this severed part in the 5.5g and see if it would live. And anyway, if it does live, it'll need to go into a bigger tank. <<; 

I'll be honest, i'm no plant expert, even if I have mostly planted tanks. :-? So it's probably best not to suggest anything that is suuuper picky, it'd be a 50/50 chance of survival :|


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

With a tank that size I would suggest smaller species. The amazon sword will grow very large. Try anubias, java fern, or java moss. They are all hardy and grow well in low light. If you want to invest in a stronger aquarium light that will open up the possibilities to plants that need medium to high lighting. One that I love is pygmy chain sword.


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## darkangel (Jun 11, 2013)

Try dwarf hygro, this is super hardy plant, its pretty hard to kill it. You can be given just a stem and it will grow leaves again, its pretty hard to kill. Its very fast growing and use up lots of nitrogen which is always good. My grows an extra inch every week.

I also recommend hornwort for the same reasons. 

Just bunch them up and it makes a great chair for any betta!


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## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

Yes, I know it will grow too large, it will be replanted into my 20g with it's 'mother' plant..if it lives ^^; I also have quite a strong aquarium light. It is the fixture from an old Fluval Flora, which I successfully grew several plants in before with only that light.

The Java ferns at my local LFS all seem horrid looking and brown, every shipment, so I don't want to get any of those..I tried to bring one back to life before..Yeah, didn't work <<; I was wondering if a Marimo moss carpet would be possible with gravel substrate? If so, what is the best way to create one?

I love the look of microsword and pygmy chain sword..I think I actually have the latter in my 20g, but i'm not sure- they were sold to me a 'grass', haha. My LFS doesn't label their selection most of the time, so the identification is left to me. Yikes. The thing with the 'grassy' looking plants, they arn't very leafy..? Would bettas really enjoy a plant they can't 'sit on' or hide behind?


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## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

@Darkangel - I love the look of both of those plants! I'll be sure to check if there are any ^^ Still wondering about the leaf thing, though..The dwarf hygro does look more leafy. I adore the idea of a plant carpet, but i've never managed to make one. Any suggestions on creating something like that..?

Edit: Oh, anubias are leafy..I'll definitely look for those too  For whatever reason I read that as 'anacharis', which I have and don't really enjoy. Need to get my eyes checked lol


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Get some frogbit! It's like catnip to bettas, I swear.


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## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

Sounds great! I don't recall ever seeing it around here though, hn..


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Cabomba is my Bettas' favorite sleeping spot. You can float or anchor. It grows fast so I have to trim mine frequently.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Marimo moss carpet might be hard to achieve since it is such a slow grower. Java moss is typically used as a carpet. Java moss is a slow grower too but it clings better than marimo moss. I had my marimo moss tied on to driftwood for close to a year and the threads that attached were too weak to bind it fully.


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## mushumouse (Dec 29, 2012)

seconding the java moss, my betta loves it & it's hard to kill. i used to have it growing really long on my driftwood, and my betta would stick himself in it to rest. he also likes the anubias nana a lot because it has broad, horizontal leaves he can rest on, but it's another slow grower, so i would spring for one that's already been grown pretty large if you buy an anubias. re: the frogbit, there are always a few people selling it on ebay at a pretty reasonable price, ime. once it gets going it really explodes, lol.


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## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

These are all great suggestions, thanks guys  It's unfortunate that carpets are so difficult to grow, they really make for amazing looking tanks. As for the java moss, if I do find any, I doubt it will be going to my bettas- i've been trying to find it for my livebearers for what feels like forever. I wish I wasn't so nervous about buying online- I wouldn't have to worry about IDing trouble or waiting for new shipments then. Ah well, eventually i'll be brave enough to atleast try ha


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

If you can find a fish store who breeds their own fish or shrimp, rather than ship them in, you can probably get your hands on pretty large chunks of java moss. I find all of the franchise stores here don't have breeding tanks. I found a breeder store and they just have tanks with pieces of JM as large as a human head! It was ridiculous. 

Or ask on online classifieds. You'll find some people are sometimes just wishing to get rid of the stuff, that's how I got my JM! lol It grows really fast in some people's tanks.


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## learis (Jun 1, 2013)

This is what I'm going to try. I'm all about minimal maintenance right now.

I love moss balls and I really want to get some floating plants since I don't have to worry about properly planting them and I imagine they're fine in low light which is what I want.

I was wondering if there were any floating plants that sort of have vines that hang within the water. The betta could then swim and weave through the vines and it might be fun for her. I think in their native home of Thailand they live in very heavily planted rice patties and shrubbery areas so I imagine they might be used to being surrounded on all sides by plants.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

If you want to grow a carpet, Planted Aquariums Central has several plants that are already matted--they should make it a breeze, really.

I highly recommend this seller, too. I have been extremely happy with the plants I've gotten from them.


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## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

Dwarf water lettuce has long "tails" that hang down. Fish love them.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

There's some frogbit on the Tropical Fishkeeping Forum classifieds. I got mine from this guy earlier. They came in looking great!

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/aquarium-classifieds/frogbit-173041/


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## mushumouse (Dec 29, 2012)

amazon frogbit, dwarf water lettuce and red root floater all have those nice long roots, and are all available on ebay and aquabid most days. i personally have never had any luck with finding floaters locally, except for duckweed. lesser duckweed and greater duckweed do also grow some trailing roots, though they're much shorter... if you live near a pond or lake, you could probably pull some right out, though you'd have to be extra careful about quarantining it before adding it to your tank. also, if you add lesser duckweed to your tank, don't expect it to ever leave, haha.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Dwarf water lettuce, frogbit, water sprite, and my personal favorite is Antler Fern. My giant Harley is right now, sitting on the middle of the antler fern lounging like he is king of the tank staring at me on the computer. It's lights off so he is supposed to be "sleeping", it's the cutest thing ever. I hope he does it when the light comes on because i need a picture of this! It's just now grown big enough where he can sit on the middle of it.


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## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

I love that one plant site, but I think it only ships to the US? I actually live in Canada- just now realized I didn't have that in my profile -.o This is another reason for my hesitation to order online, I fear shipping costs will cost an arm and a leg..Damn border :-(

Mm..I only have one pet shop that sells live plants or fish within hours (and hours xOx) of me, and I don't believe they breed their own fish- excluding cichlids, as there always seems to be tanks filled with tiny babies of those. I did ask the main fish person/owner if they ever got Java Moss in and he said rarely- I assume if he had any himself, he would've offered me some, as he's offered to make me tank lids and such before la

I'll be heading to the store today or tomorrow to see what can find


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

One of the big plant retailers online has a Canada division actually, it might be the one she posted.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

I don't recommend any type of moss because they do much better in colder temperatures. Most of mine has died off or is barely growing and when it does it grows all stringy looking. Java fern and anubias work well. Anubias plants have bigger leaves where as a Java fern looks, well, like a fern lol. I find my bettas love anubias to sleep on and hide in. Also pretty much any type of Cryptocoryne plant does well just be sure not to disturb its roots when its roots are established or it will melt.


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## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

Back from the store and I have a few purchases ^^ Two anubias for each side of the tank, some cabomba to float, and a plant I thought was a java fern but..I doubt it now looking at pictures of them. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow to see if anyone can identify it.

Is there any special way I should float the cabomba, or just plop it down in the water? I put the ends of a couple in the gravel, and poked the stem of another through the divider to keep it in place, but i'm not really sure if I should do this or not. I almost bought a Cryptocoryne, but it was very small and the idea of it being destroyed if I accidentally disturbed the roots was too intimidating. Maybe if it was a better looking specimen I would've given in, but it really was very..tiny. And sort of sad looking :<

I think I will continue to look for frogbit or dwarf water lettuce online..I just love the leafy top floater look, though I am loving the cabomba (wow, just can't seem to spell this right without going back and checking every other letter, lol. I keep typing it as: comba, camboba, combaba, etc. One of those words my brain won't compute @[email protected]). If moss is a bad idea I may give up on the carpet idea, unless I can find a 'grassy' plant carpet instead. Maybe clover or dwarf pennywort (not those really look grassy, but they are pretty >> <<)? If any of these outgrow the tank I have multiple other places to put parts of them in, so i'm not really worried about that, but does anyone have experience with them?


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## learis (Jun 1, 2013)

An additional note to add though is that my betta was introduced as a baby at the time my dwarf gourami was in there, so she sort of grew up with him. That might contribute to her not being hostile to him.

I also think fish that are very quick typically don't piss off the betta as she simply can't keep up with them. When she was in my community tank I also had some black skirt tetras. Sometimes she'd try to nip at them but they just did a quick dart away and she ended up leaving them alone (lol, maybe my betta is just lazy).


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Nice! I don't have any experience with pennywort or cabomba but dwarf sagittaria is a small grassy plant that spreads with runners. It only grows to about 2 - 3 inches tall so I love it as a foreground plant. It spreads quicker in my NPT than in my tank that has Eco-Complete substrate I've noticed.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

I don't know about cambomba (sp) but if it's a stem feeder like hornwort and anacharis you can float it. If it's a root feeder, you'll need to plant it.


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## mybabyjets (Jun 4, 2013)

are Aponogeton good with bettas? or good plants to have? and can i keep them with my goldfish


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

aponogetons grow quite big  gold fish might eat them
cabomba can be grown floating (mine is!)
dwarf sags have been known to grow more than 7in, mine are 5in


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## mybabyjets (Jun 4, 2013)

aokashi said:


> aponogetons grow quite big  gold fish might eat them
> cabomba can be grown floating (mine is!)
> dwarf sags have been known to grow more than 7in, mine are 5in


thank you


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## Marlow (May 29, 2013)

Oof, busy non-stop week. Finally here are some pictures of the tank and that unknown plant. 

















It still looks kind of barren, but i'm not done searching for plants @[email protected]










Anyone know what this is? It seems to be pretty big, I hope it doesn't outgrow the tank .___. It's divided into three now, but will soon be split into two..My third betta, Cobalt, is too fragile to go in here, so he'll have to stay in his 1.5 gal


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

No idea what that plant is but its really pretty. I love the pink edges on the leaves, I want one!!!


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