Wild bettas - the saga continues

**Mudskipper** · 20th Apr 2010, 23:19

So...I failed and bought a 3-tier stand, some tanks...ok, more tanks than I even thought I would buy. The filters are all going and the tank cycling has begun. Even splurged on ADA Amazona II for the tanks. Now comes the green...I would like to plant the tanks to give the bettas some hiding places. This would, of course, be in addition to driftwood and anything else that can drain my pocket more but make the fishes more comfortable.

But the question I have is...what are suitable plants for such low light tanks? The usual Java Fern and Mosses...blah blah blah. Are there other plants that will help give the tanks some character but will not go into meltdown mode in the darkness?

I can't believe I'm doing this ... again.

**wllm33** · 20th Apr 2010, 23:34

mini nana on drift wood can be worth putting in.
For wild bettas you really don't need to put it so dark that you cannot even see the bettas.
hope this helps.

**Mudskipper** · 21st Apr 2010, 06:48

Thanks for sharing that piece of info. I was starting to worry about how I would see them. When I bought the tanks, I forgot to get black oyama paper on them sooooooo, in a moment of ingenious inspiration I wrapped the tanks with ... black garbage bags. Seems to work but it's so DARK!

So I went to the hardware store and bought a battery operated LED light and attached it to the frame of the stand with plastic ties. The thingy has two settings, one is high...quite bright, the other low. I've attached copies of photos taken in complete darkness with the light on.

Not sure if I like it. I may actually spend the exta to buy a plug-in lamp...who knows. We'll see. I'm unpredictable.

**johannes** · 21st Apr 2010, 09:13

I would suggest to use the normal aquarium lighting as it seems rather dark because the LED light is hung a little too high...

**Mudskipper** · 21st Apr 2010, 11:20

Funny you should say that. I was looking at the pictures (they were taken at 5:30 am this morning when I woke up) and thought to myself...I can't see *h*t in those tanks. Am gonna go look at some lights today after I get some work done. Must make money to spend money, after all.

**johannes** · 21st Apr 2010, 13:02

You can use a 2 ft (15W FL daylight tube) light for the two 1 ft cubes. Can save some cost this way. 15W is bright enough for you to see and not too bright for the fishes.