Angelfire and Buddies

[Betta MVP]

I finally got a card reader for my digital camera after my kitty Toby ate the last wire, LOL.

Here is a pic of the setup I have with three 1 gallon pickle jars under an old flourescent desk lamp. Angelfire is in the middle and my newer crowntail males Merry and Pippin are on the ends.

[Rachel - old]

Wow! That pictures looks really neat with them all lined up like that! All of your guys are gorgeous! I especially like Angelfire's coloring! Their colorful plants are a nice touch too!

[Betta MVP]

Thanks bethie!

[duli]

Wow, they're all so beautiful! I especially like the one on the left. And those plants are exactly the type I've been looking for...something with a heavy enough rock that it stays on the bottom without being weighed down by gravel...as pretty as gravel is, I want to be able to do really thorough turkey baster cleanings. I was waiting for you to pop up with bettas named Merry and Pippin...I still need names for two of mine, something Tolkein-related if I can find something good...

[Betta MVP]

I got the plants from Big Al's online www.bigalsonline.com

I like them because they don't float. I was going to put some rocks in my jars, but it just makes cleaning more of a pain. I put two in each jar and put the bases up against each other. It makes a little tunnel type place for them to swim through and they like to rest on the leaves.

I need to get out the Silmarillion for more ideas on names!

[mickey85]

MVP, how often do you change the water in those jars?

[Betta MVP]

mickey,
They are one gallon each and I do a 100% water change every 5 days.

[mickey85]

cool. They look nice and I was thinking of getting a couple of those for Jake and another betta I'm wanting to get. They're probably cheaper than a tank setup!

[BettaBGood]

Wow! Pickled Splendens! ;D (These put Vlasic to shame..)

Seriously, BMVP, they're beautiful! (How many pickles did you have to eat to convert those jars to betta townhouses?)

[Betta MVP]

mickey,
Buying a gallon jar of pickles is a lot cheaper than buying a small tank, even if you don't eat the pickles and just throw them out, LOL. I peel as much of the label off of the jar as I can, then run them through the dishwasher without soap to get rid of any pickle juice and it also softens up the rest of the label so you can get it all off.

BettaBGood,
I eat a LOT of pickles, LOL. Seriously though, I have been saving them for a few years, I figured I would have a use for them some day. I looked under my sink one day where I was storing them and thought, "HEY! Betta tanks!" LOL

You know you are addicted to bettas when every empty container you find, you think it would make a good betta tank!

[Emerson]

Awesome! I can't quite tell, but it looks like Merry might have similar coloring as Bernadotte, my newbie.

By the way, how do you keep your plants from floating to the top? I wouldn't mind getting rid of all of my gravel entirely, but the plants don't seem to stay put!

Anyway, congrats on a very attractive group of gentlemen.

sef

[mickey85]

Sef, those look a lot like the plants I've got. They've got weighted bases that keep them on the bottom.

[Betta MVP]

sef,
I believe Merry is what they call a lavender betta, he has a pink body, blue on the base of his fins and red on the rest which makes him look kind of purple. I know it's hard to tell from the pic, but he's a crowntail too. I just took a look at the pics of Bernadotte, he's really cute!

The plants do have have weighted bottoms, i love them. Even in my big tank I have them just sitting on top of the gravel so I can move them around easily. If yours won't stay down, you could get some plant anchors for them. They work great, I used them for years. When I used to use plastic plants in my community tank, I would take off those plastic bottoms that you were supposed to bury in the substrate and wrap the anchors around them, it made cleaning a breeze.