
New Betta Tank Set-Up?
Well, after my Male Betta passed away two monthes ago, I’ve decided to get 3 female bettas to keep in my 10 gallon tank. Are water surface skimmers good for them? They take out oily, organic film and scum from the surface. And are heaters and filters good? I saw this filter that includes an oxy surface skimmer in a magazine. It seems perfect but I’m not 100% sure… Do you think my betta’s would like it? There three-level intake system extracts water from the surface, middle, and bottom for complete aquarium filtration.
And what water conditioner would you recommend for betta’s? Would Stress Coat work? If so, can it mix with a product made from Tetra called “Blackwater Extract” or should I just put a little bit of Aquarium salt mixed with Stress Coat?
Has anyone tried Atison’s Betta Food?
Or Hikari Betta Bio-Gold?
Any recomendations for PET betta foods? I’m not gonna show them.
I’m not sure what you saw in the magazine add, but I recently purchased this for a catfish tank where I was getting the same organic film: http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/10591/product.web
I was sort of leery of them when I first saw these advertised, but I saw one at a discount pet store near me and decided to give it a try. They actually do work, but it takes a while to get them adjusted so the flow from the top is correct. I haven’t tried it with a betta tank, and the only problem I could see is that the food would have to be places somewhere on the opposite side of the tank so they didn’t go through the overflow.
Once nice thing that I liked about this model is that the upper part that strains the water floats, so it adjusts itself to account for evaporation and topping off – that’s more than the protein skimmer I have for my saltwater tanks will do!
As far as water conditioner, that will have to depend on your water chemistry if you use tap water. Call your water company’s office to find out if they use chlorine or chloramine to treat your water. If they use chloramine, make sure you find a product that specifies that it REMOVES chloramine, not “breaks the chloramine bond”. If it’s the second, it destroys chloramine, but releases chlorine and ammonia into the tank – either of these can kill a fish! If what they use is chlorine, any product that says it removes chlorine will do. Some products will remove both, but the dosing is different, so you really do need to know which is used.
A good betta pellet is the best staple food. I’ve been using Omega One betta pellets and my fish seem to like them. I also replace some of their meals with frozen bloodworms, and frozen daphnia, and sometimes give them live mosquito larvae (I have a clean water source where I can collect them). The more variety you can give them, the better the nutritional balance of vitamins and minerals. I even give them a pinch of a cooked pea with the skin removed one meal a week for fiber to prevent constipation, to which bettas are prone.
Here’s a very good website with more info on bettas and food, housing, breeding, etc.: http://www.bettatalk.com/
Katadyn Hiker Pro Water Filter Demo





