Bottled Bettas

[splendidbetta]

As most of you know, I am still just a kid. So I can't have the whole house covered in betta tanks, as the rest of the family would prefer to keep their sanity and have some place to live.

Which means that currently the maximum of 5 12 litre tanks in my bedroom on my desk, and the 3 foot 80 litre tank by the back door in the kitchen/dining area is my limit. I used to have a 12 litre tank against the wall on the kitchen bench, but the microwave now occupies that space.

That is all the tank space I have, unless I want to use the garage as well, which is open to the backyard so it gets really cold in there at night and the heaters can't compete.

So, I can't exactly keep 30 males in their own individual 10liter tank without finding a way to make them float in mid-air.

However I can comfortably house between 30 and 40 2 litre softdrink bottles cut at the neck-base in 2 large shallow 40 litre storage containers which are full of water with a heater. In my Bedroom. One on my desk in front of the tanks or behind, and one on my unused toybox which is more like a large stool/bench which sits beside my desk.

As for water changes: I plan to bring my 90 litre cube tank back from dad's house and have it on a table in the garage with 2 heaters in it (the heaters just can't compete at night with the cold, during summer prob only one heater, depends).

I will put my Fluval 2 filter and run it in there packed with filter wool and activated carbon.

The idea is to fill it up with tap water, add dechlorinator/conditioner etc, and let it age properly for a few days while the carbon absorbs chemicals etc.

That way, I can perform total water changes every 2-3 days on the bottled bettas without using direct tap water as I used to. After water changes using the tank water, I refill the water that was taken out of the tank with tap water, and let it be filtered for 2 days before the next water changes.

This water will also be used for changing the water of my other tanks.

Would this be a sufficient setup for housing for HM stock? It's far better than my previous method.

I hope my structuring of this post is comprehendable?

:D

[Chuckie]

Sounds like a good plan, as I know you will be diligent with the water changes.. Just make sure the males can't jump into each other's containers (ask Phil re this ) and that you can card them so they get proper exercise. I use strips of aquarium backing to card bettas that are jarred in water.

[splendidbetta]

I'm glad you think it's a good plan I will be diligent with the water changes. Part of the reason I used to slack off in the past was trying to get the tap water the same temp as the water in the bottles. Now it won't be a problem. And I'll be fitter from carrying buckets of water from the garage upstairs to my room. I am going to card the males with those plastic folder dividers/organisers that Mishy suggested ages ago. And I'll get some plastic mesh to cover the tops with.

[Bettabegood]

You're going to have ginormous muscles on your arms, Stefan, from carrying all those buckets of water upstairs! It sounds like a good plan (and very comprehensibly written up in your post). I use plastic mesh on top of tanks too, and it works really well. Sue

[najrick]

Sounds like a plan to me Stefan. We still use our trusty 2lt coke bottles as back up when we run out of room in the tanks and barracks. We cover ours with gutter guard. Najina

[splendidbetta]

:)

You're going to have ginormous muscles on your arms, Stefan, from carrying all those buckets of water upstairs!

I'll need to take care that I don't spill any water though, the stairs are carpetted

Any plastic mesh with fine weaving will do, yes? Whatever I can get more of for cheaper at the hardware store

LOL, I'll need to select the fish that I keep carefully, I don't want to run out of space. I could probably float extra bottles in the aging-tank if I need to jar more bettas... Females will probably be bottled too. My last attempt at a female tank was a disater that ended in all my tanks being bleached and the affected females (all) being culled due to not knowing the cause of the illness and my unwillingness to let it spread to my new imports :D

[VickiPS]

The 40L tub barracks works well -- I use one the same way.

One thing I found helpful as far as space goes. I made a trolley using two square steel pot plant stands on castors (you can get them at the Warehouse fairly cheap), screwed to a base of pine T&G offcuts. The tub sits on this under one of the tables in my work/fish room, but I can roll it out for water changes etc.

Heres' some pics:

[splendidbetta]

:) My tubs are about 3 foot long, about 30cm wide and 20cm high. Your ones seem shorter. Your trolley idea is fantastic! But unfortunately I only have one desk in my room and the space underneath it is for my chair. So I can't have that underneath my desk. But the trolley might be useful for something else Thanks.