** Disclaimer: **
Please use caution when dealing with male bettas.
Do not put them in an undivided tank, or they will kill each other.
Always use care and common sense when dealing with your fish.
You may have bettas that are just the opposite of mine. This method, and the information contained in this instructable, is from my personal experience and online research.
I take most online information with a grain of salt, except for the information on Instructables, of course !
Here's a quick example: Online, I read that bettas do not like currents, since they live in puddles in their native habitat. This rules out the use of most filter units that work well.
My experience: I turned on the filter, which makes a current, and the betta investigated it, swam around in the current, and had no problems.
I keep it on the lowest setting, but still, all 3 fish have been in with the filter, and after a 30 second initial investigation, they have no problems with the filter or the current.
**** BACKSTORY ****
Well, I had a betta in the past, but one day he got his feeler caught in the marble-shaped glass beads on the bottom, pulled part of it off, got an infection and died.
He was a great fish, with lots of character (for a fish).
After that, it was about 5 years before I tried again. My girlfriend and I were shopping when we found 3 (yes THREE) betta fish. We couldn't decide which one we liked best, so we bought all of them, and housed each one in a separate glass vase.
Fish #1 (sail) and Fish #2 (poof) were in 1 gallon vases, and Fish #3 (shadow) ended up in the former betta's 2 gallon vase.
**** WARNINGS ****
I know that a lot of people say that these fish don't need a filter, swimming space, food,
and all kinds of other crazy stuff.
They may be able to live in a very small jar with no filter, but is that healthy for them ?
Do they like it ?
I say ======> NO !
The plant idea is also junk. These fish are meat eaters, and at some point they will nibble at the plant's roots when they are starving. The betta in a jar with a plant and no food is a BAD idea.
You have to maintain the roots and leaves of the plant to keep from having dead roots in the water, and you still have to feed the betta !
**** Back to the BACKSTORY ****
Long story short, it became a major pain to clean all 3 vases every 2 weeks. I tried a little filter that worked on the movement of air to draw water through the filter. It didn't really do much, except amuse the fish, and if you moved the filter (to clean it) it would release all kinds of junk back into the vase.
So I hit craigslist and purchased a 10 gallon aquarium with a stand and light for $15.
What a deal !
I had already seen aquarium dividers at the pet store, so I was ready.
Well, I thought I was ready !
Please use caution when dealing with male bettas.
Do not put them in an undivided tank, or they will kill each other.
Always use care and common sense when dealing with your fish.
You may have bettas that are just the opposite of mine. This method, and the information contained in this instructable, is from my personal experience and online research.
I take most online information with a grain of salt, except for the information on Instructables, of course !
Here's a quick example: Online, I read that bettas do not like currents, since they live in puddles in their native habitat. This rules out the use of most filter units that work well.
My experience: I turned on the filter, which makes a current, and the betta investigated it, swam around in the current, and had no problems.
I keep it on the lowest setting, but still, all 3 fish have been in with the filter, and after a 30 second initial investigation, they have no problems with the filter or the current.
**** BACKSTORY ****
Well, I had a betta in the past, but one day he got his feeler caught in the marble-shaped glass beads on the bottom, pulled part of it off, got an infection and died.
He was a great fish, with lots of character (for a fish).
After that, it was about 5 years before I tried again. My girlfriend and I were shopping when we found 3 (yes THREE) betta fish. We couldn't decide which one we liked best, so we bought all of them, and housed each one in a separate glass vase.
Fish #1 (sail) and Fish #2 (poof) were in 1 gallon vases, and Fish #3 (shadow) ended up in the former betta's 2 gallon vase.
**** WARNINGS ****
I know that a lot of people say that these fish don't need a filter, swimming space, food,
and all kinds of other crazy stuff.
They may be able to live in a very small jar with no filter, but is that healthy for them ?
Do they like it ?
I say ======> NO !
The plant idea is also junk. These fish are meat eaters, and at some point they will nibble at the plant's roots when they are starving. The betta in a jar with a plant and no food is a BAD idea.
You have to maintain the roots and leaves of the plant to keep from having dead roots in the water, and you still have to feed the betta !
**** Back to the BACKSTORY ****
Long story short, it became a major pain to clean all 3 vases every 2 weeks. I tried a little filter that worked on the movement of air to draw water through the filter. It didn't really do much, except amuse the fish, and if you moved the filter (to clean it) it would release all kinds of junk back into the vase.
So I hit craigslist and purchased a 10 gallon aquarium with a stand and light for $15.
What a deal !
I had already seen aquarium dividers at the pet store, so I was ready.
Well, I thought I was ready !
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Signing UpStep 1: Buy the components and set up the aquarium.
I cleaned the aquarium and rinsed it thoroughly. Then we headed to the pet store to pick
up the dividers (I needed 2)
When we arrived at the pet store and examined the dividers more closely, we realized that they were clear.
If you're not familiar with bettas, then let me explain.
If they can see each other they get very aggressive and try to attack each other.
I asked the guy that was working at the (commercially owned pet store name here)
if there would be a problem with the dividers being clear.
He said 'absolutely not'.
He went on to inform me that after a few hours of seeing each other, the fish would calm down and there would be no real problems.
Not fully satisfied, I purchased the dividers anyway, and some small aquarium gravel,
(NEVER use the glass flat marble rocks - unless you want a dead fish) then headed home.
** These instructions come with the divider **
The setup was pretty simple. Trim the divider panels to fit, put the side channels on the divider panels, fit the stabilizer channels on the top and bottom, slip the entire assembly into the tank, then fit the clips over the outside of the tank and down into the channels to hold the panels in place.
**************************************************
The illustration shows you sliding the divider panel down into the channels, but the material is too flexible to do it that way.
Once the dividers were installed, we put the gravel in, then the plants,
and then (slowly), the water.
After about half the water was in I put the recommended water treatment in, then finished filling the tank.
Then I installed the filter, an Aquaclear power filter 20. It was the smallest one that seemed to have the best multi stage filter.
up the dividers (I needed 2)
When we arrived at the pet store and examined the dividers more closely, we realized that they were clear.
If you're not familiar with bettas, then let me explain.
If they can see each other they get very aggressive and try to attack each other.
I asked the guy that was working at the (commercially owned pet store name here)
if there would be a problem with the dividers being clear.
He said 'absolutely not'.
He went on to inform me that after a few hours of seeing each other, the fish would calm down and there would be no real problems.
Not fully satisfied, I purchased the dividers anyway, and some small aquarium gravel,
(NEVER use the glass flat marble rocks - unless you want a dead fish) then headed home.
** These instructions come with the divider **
The setup was pretty simple. Trim the divider panels to fit, put the side channels on the divider panels, fit the stabilizer channels on the top and bottom, slip the entire assembly into the tank, then fit the clips over the outside of the tank and down into the channels to hold the panels in place.
**************************************************
The illustration shows you sliding the divider panel down into the channels, but the material is too flexible to do it that way.
Once the dividers were installed, we put the gravel in, then the plants,
and then (slowly), the water.
After about half the water was in I put the recommended water treatment in, then finished filling the tank.
Then I installed the filter, an Aquaclear power filter 20. It was the smallest one that seemed to have the best multi stage filter.
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Hey all, I just got an answer back from Owens-Corning, the makers of the siding that I used in this instructable: "I am writing you regarding your question around the possibility of vinyl leeching once it is exposed to water for long periods of time. The vinyl siding or soffit in this case by its nature of chemical bonds will not breakdown when exposed to water, or leech any materials used in the manufacturing of the vinyl. Once the materials used to manufacture vinyl are combined the bonds of the material can not be broken down, hence the reason vinyl is 100 percent recyclable. In fact vinyl is used as a liner and cap for many landfills because it is inert and stable."
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The only thing I'm thinking is not good is the floating pellet-type foods. I had a Betta die on me and it looked like he was plugged up. When I watched the Betta feed, they attacked the pellets as soon as they hit the water, thus eating a mostly dry pellet. I think it may not moisten enough in their digestive tract which may result in a blockage. This, of course, is just my opinion, but I've switched to flake and haven't had an incident since!
My betta got a feeler fin caught in them while 'sleeping' and when he woke up and darted to the surface for air he pulled it off. The resulting infection killed him.
The only metal items are the clips that hold the dividers in place, and those are stainless steel!
It really depends on how aggressive your fish are, but most aren't as aggressive as mine are. Even the sight of a bright color sent them flaring.
Try your idea and let me know how it goes !
So anyways... I want another one. Haha. I got the Eclipse 5 Hexagon tank because I needed something that would fit in my room. I kinda wanted the standard rectangle they had in the same brand, but again, I needed something that was a space saver. So now I have this oddly shaped tank and I want to split it so I can add another Betta. This makes me wish I hadn't given away my 10 gallon tank a couple months ago though... oh well.
Anyways, I had no real point to this comment. I just wanted to thank you for the ideas. I saw a Betta at Wally World that I want. Most of them looked very sickly though. *sigh* Do you have any suggestions on a better place to buy a Betta? Petsmart's seemed okay and I know there is a Petsupermarket nearby. Btw, your tank looks really great! :)
Thanks for the positive comments !
I actually got mine at Wal-Mart... One tip that I got from a small pet store: Get a male betta that isn't big and flowery. The fancier they are, the older they are. If you get a smaller one that almost looks like a female, you will get to see it grow and get bigger due to your efforts ! Another tip that has been working for me: I pre-soak the pellets before putting them in for the fish. One of my betta's got a bloated belly from hogging down the mostly dry pellets, but since I've been pre-soaking them (in a thoroughly cleaned plastic soda bottle cap), that problem has never happened again. I just dip a little of the tank water into the cap, place the pellets in the cap for a couple of minutes, then suck them up with an eyedropper and pop them in for each betta.
You may be able to use my divider method in your hexagon tank, depending on its width. You can cut the piece as long as you want ..
An alternative would be to get a piece of plexiglass cut to the width and height that you need, then drill and de-burr it yourself. The clear divider may or may not work, though, depending on how aggressive your fish are.