Beta Wall Tank Build!

[bugs713]

I started this build about 20 minutes ago and I am already done!

I got the tank (about one gallon) on Amazon for $16 shipped, $12 for the motion sensor LED at lowes, $5 for the ornament/media and $9 for the beta at Petsmart.
So, $42 for a cool little hallway tank that lights up whenever you walk past it.
I have of course named the fish Master....:dance:

 

[Nibrown9]

Nice Phil!

 

[brian cummings]

Cool. I had one of those betta wall hemispheres when I was a kid
,

 

[Da Kind Reef]

Thats sick bro

 

[abbaskyle]

Awesome

 

[SKAREEF]

Sweet. :eek1: I would love to see what you could do when your board. Maybe the 2000+ Neons idea????

 

[SKAREEF]

Oh ya, forgot to ask, did you quarantine the PetSmart beta?:deadhorse1:

I just had to say it.

 

[Kalakuhan]

Pretty cool Phil, and i was thinking the motion sensor was for the fish :fun2:

 

[Lambert58]

Where's the sump and skimmer? On the other side of the wall? ;-)

 

[coralreefjunkie]

Thanks, Phil, for the inspiration. You just gave me an idea for my office at work. Since I don't have enough desk surface area, I can expand to the walls.

 

[Rippinfrags]

That's awesome, thanks for sharing!

 

[bugs713]

Thanks all!

Oh ya, forgot to ask, did you quarantine the PetSmart beta?:deadhorse1:
I just had to say it.

Of course I quarantined; he was in the QT bag for the full 30 minutes before I dumped him in the tank....:lmao:

Where's the sump and skimmer? On the other side of the wall? ;-)

Man I thought about making this a mini micro pico, it would be cool to have a little reef in the hall. :lol:

 

[bugs713]

Thanks, Phil, for the inspiration. You just gave me an idea for my office at work. Since I don't have enough desk surface area, I can expand to the walls.

Trevor, here is the link to the aquarium. Shipping is free if you are a Prime member AND shipping was crazy fast!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PTRJKA/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[macboat]

This was indeed really clean really cool. Now I am wondering about the maintenance...

 

[bugs713]

This was indeed really clean really cool. Now I am wondering about the maintenance...

The maintenance will be easy; remove tank from wall, pour fish and water in bowl, rinse tank/media under sink faucet, refill half with RODI, put a few drops of water conditioner in, make sure temperature matches, pour fish and half old water back in. Done. This is my monthly beta tank cleaning procedures that work great; I had my last beta, who recently died, 39 months.

I also feed only once a week and use Hikari Betta BioGold food; I normally have a live plant in their tanks also.

IMO/IME, a betta is not a happy, healthy fish when kept in a cup size container! They like to swim around, explore and rise and lower to the surface.

Betta's are some cool little fish!

 

[zrogst]

I'm concerned actually that 1g might be too small for a Beta (just my opinion); do you have any filtration or a heater at all for him? Once a month water changes can't possibly be enough can it?

 

[bugs713]

In the past, I have had Bettas in larger tanks, such as a 20g+ and their long flowing fins get ragged and torn from all the swimming they will go. While one gallon is small for normal fish, it is huge for bettas; just look at the Betta tanks they sell.

Most Betta keepers use the tiny cup volume size containers as the fish will display his fins most all the time, kind of like a living picture frame - IMO, that is too small and not a happy fish.

Betta fish are air breathers and could survive in mud if they had to. Filtration is not needed for them and IMO/IME heat is also not needed as long as the water temp stays between 60 and 90 degrees with the norm at 80 degrees.

Also having a small live plant helps to keep the water clean and healthy. I try to grow my fresh water plants from bulbs, so this tank does not yet have any plant life.

As I said, I have been keeping bettas this way for years and have always got several years of life from them.

 

[coralreefjunkie]

Thanks, Phil, for the link. You are correct. Even though some may consider it an ethical issue, these fish survive in tiny spaces and are everywhere in Vietnam, where I grew up. They live and spawn in the rice paddies. Vietnam has two distinctive seasons: wet and dry. During the dry season, these guys get into the hoof prints of the water buffalo and hibernate in the soft mud/muck. When the monsoon rain came, they would eat the mosquito lavae and start the spawning process all over again.

As a kid, I used to raise them for fighting. I know; it can be perceived as BAD here in the US. I remember one of my fish won a fight and I got a big bag of new marbles. That was one of my memorable moments as a child...

 

[SKAREEF]

Thanks, Phil, for the link. You are correct. Even though some may consider it an ethical issue, these fish survive in tiny spaces and are everywhere in Vietnam, where I grew up. They live and spawn in the rice paddies. Vietnam has two distinctive seasons: wet and dry. During the dry season, these guys get into the hoof prints of the water buffalo and hibernate in the soft mud/muck. When the monsoon rain came, they would eat the mosquito lavae and start the spawning process all over again.

As a kid, I used to raise them for fighting. I know; it can be perceived as BAD here in the US. I remember one of my fish won a fight and I got a big bag of new marbles. That was one of my memorable moments as a child...

Better than you fighting and loosing your marbles.:spin2:

 

[Weyrman]

You could put a matching tank on the opposite wall and the betas could stare at each other.

It's been a couple years since I had a beta. You may have gotten the itch to get another beta tank going again Phill.