# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Tank setup for Betta falx

## illumnae

I'm obtaining a pair of Betta falx for my 3 month old nano tank. Been struggling with what fish to keep in this tank and finally decided upon this since i managed to get a pair from genes  :Grin:  The tank is about 4 gallons (25 cm cube) and using Gex soil, with weekly Wondergro fert dosage and Excel 2-3 times a week. More details on the tank can be found here:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=33217

My questions are:
1) Is there anything i can do to modify this tank to make it more suitable for the Betta? 
2) Is the current HOB filter sufficient or should I invest in a mini canister like the Resun Cyclone CY-20 or the Boyu EF-05?
3) How should I go about getting a cover for the tank? Would I need to custom make an acrylic cover, or should I get those hard wire type netting from C328 and cut it into shape myself (and will this affect my lights for the plants?)

Any tips on how to keep the Bettas would also be appreciated as I have only ever kept show Betta splendens before, and those are really hardy fish!

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## valice

Use netting instead since you are using HOB filter. They can jump through the smallest of holes.

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## illumnae

thanks for the advice vincent  :Smile: 

how should i position the netting? drape it over the lights and HOB? Would it help if i go ahead with the upgrade from HOB to mini canister?

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## illumnae

another question sorry: what tankmates are good for the bettas? i currently have tiger shrimp and a zebra oto. considering adding another if c328 still has stock by the time i decide  :Laughing:  i just removed 5 axelrodia riesei and 2 threadfin rainbowfish from the tank

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## leeruisheng

What's a HOB filter? Head over ...... ? Sorry.
Your setup looks fine. I'm interested to know the suitable tyank mates too. Possibility of adding other tank mates depends on the betta. I've not tried falx before so hard to comment. But i experiment yamatos with mac and rubra. Only mac will not tolerate the shrimps.

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## illumnae

Hang On Back filter  :Smile:  it's one of those you hang over the back wall of your tank and it creates a waterfall effect into your tank. doesn't create very good circulation imo as the water falls downwards and the filter inlet is right next to where the waterfall falls into, thus having a turbulent area where the filter is and relatively still water everywhere else. i'm thinking of getting a 150-200li/hour canister with a rainbar...

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## leeruisheng

I'm using it as well. So far no problems. Some even manage to breed them with just a bubble filter.

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## illumnae

haha ok i'll save myself $20-$30 then and stick with the HOB filter  :Grin:

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## illumnae

anyone have any suggestions on a tank cover without interrupting the light into my tank?

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## illumnae

noone has any advice on keeping Betta falx? =(

I've just made an impulse buy of a mini-canister filter (don't know why, but i regretted it 1 minute after spending the money sigh) for the tank and done a major rescape as well. Managed to find some hard plastic netting from C328 to act as a cover too. will need to cut a new cover though when the mini-canister is cycled.

The male is chasing the female every now and then...don't know if it's aggression or he wants to breed. Hope it's not the former.

Current tank inhabitants are:

2x Betta falx (1 pair)
1x Zebra oto
1x Zebra snail
1x Yamato shrimp


Any suggestions on dithers for this tank? I'm thinking of 6 Boraras urophthalmus or Celestichthys margaritatus. don't want fish that grow too large and steal the attention away from the feature fish (the bettas).

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## illumnae

I also am thinking of replacing the activated carbon given as a filter media with sera/aquamedi peat granules to better emulate their natural environment (lower ph and stained water). is this advisable?

haha i feel like i'm just talking to myself looking at the previous few posts in this thread

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## doppelbanddwarf

Haha Yi Xiang I'll save you from the boredom of talking to yourself. I think boraras would do just fine, and also more likely to come from the same biotope.

As for using peats, I think it depends on whether your main focus is a betta biotope or a planted aquascape.

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## wasabi8888

Netting over the tank is fine. I use the lights to hold the netting in place...

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## illumnae

> Haha Yi Xiang I'll save you from the boredom of talking to yourself. I think boraras would do just fine, and also more likely to come from the same biotope.
> 
> As for using peats, I think it depends on whether your main focus is a betta biotope or a planted aquascape.


i'm thinking that with my black oyama background, a slight tinting of the water would not be too noticeable anyway, and peat granules while still tinting the water doesn't do it so drastically right? a slight yellow tinge i can deal with, just not dark brown water  :Laughing:

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## doppelbanddwarf

If brownish water is ok then I think you can go ahead with peat granules. Its better to place the peat granules in a plastic mesh before putting into your filter so that it wouldn't be too messy when they start to break down over time.

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## illumnae

any idea how brown it will get though? if it's like ketapang extract i think i'll forego it and go with adding more filter media instead  :Opps:

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## leeruisheng

I've tried using half packet of Sera super peat for a 2ft tank and it's quite tea brown. Depends on how much you're using.

How are the current tank mates doing?

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## illumnae

the current tank mates are doing great so far. even a tiger shrimp (i thought all were gone but apparently i still have 1 left) foraging for food right in front of the bettas was left alone as of this morning. I released the zebra snail and yamato shrimp in last night so can't give good feedback there. the zebra oto seems to be doing well too. so far the only aggression i've seen is the male chasing the female around at times.

As for the peat, it'll be about 1/4 of the volume of an eden-501 type of mini canister. 1/2 of the cavity is taken up by the sponge, 1/4 by ceramic rings and currently the last 1/4 is activated carbon. i'm thinking of removing the carbon and replacing it with peat. it's probably going to be less than a handful i think

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## leeruisheng

Initially my rubra male was chasing the female ferociously for a couple of days but after that I saw them mating. Better cover well and observe(might need to separate) cause I think nicktc lost his female due to harassment. Seldom see lfs selling B. falx.

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## illumnae

cover's been made so that's one worry out of the way...hopefully the male won't harass the female to death  :Sad:

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## illumnae

Here's the current setup (sorry card reader spoilt so this photo is even poorer quality than usual as i'm using my hp camera):

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## illumnae

the female has a slightly frayed tail now  :Sad:

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## illumnae

so, is there any way to "promote peace" between wild bettas? the male is chasing the female more and more aggressively daily...she's now constantly either hiding or on the run.

or are there "sneaker males" in bettas as well like with apistos, and my dominant male has caught on to the act and thus is harassing the subdominant? the female has a black edge on the anal fin, but the spotted tail (with no black edge) on the tail. there are some faded red markings on the anal fin too, but not the full fin like the male and not as deep red as well

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## wks

Yi Xiang, do what the _Betta splendens_ breeders normally practise: keep the female betta in a floating container. The male can see her but he cannot 'touch' her. :Grin:

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## illumnae

can't, the tank's too small to do that  :Sad:  i was hoping something like dither fish would help spread aggression from the female

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## wks

One more solution for you Yi Xiang. If you have space, put another nano tank beside the current one. So the male can see the female fish.

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## illumnae

haha i'll put her in the Ap. bitaeniata tank in a clear container maybe?  :Grin:  that's the tank sitting next to the betta tank at the moment (it will be moved to office sometime) and these days i see the bitaeniata male flaring alot at the bettas...guess bettas and apistos do look slightly similar  :Laughing:

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## trident

yixiang,
finally got your wild betta falx! having fun?

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## illumnae

Haha yep Richard, they're pretty interesting I guess, just that the male's pretty aggressive so the female's always hiding.

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## illumnae

after switching to a mini-canister and putting some peat granules into the filter, my bettas seem more active and there's no browning of water yet. it seems that there was some courting behaviour, but i'm not sure as i'm not familiar with betta behaviour.

i see the male chasing the female, but not as aggressively as before, and instead of just running and hiding the female darts away then comes back and swims past/close to the male before being chased again...is this normal?

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## illumnae

well i just added a school of exclamation point boraras in (supposed to be 10 pieces but i only count 9 now for some reason  :Sad: ), hope it helps to dither aggression away from the female!

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## illumnae

haha i figure i'm talking to myself mostly because noone else besides eugene has any experience with betta falx?  :Laughing: 

anyhow, can anyone advise me on how to tell if a mouthbrooding betta has bred? i can't really tell, but the male has stopped harassing the female (it's either they bred or the boraras have achieved success in dithering aggression) - in fact the female now chills near the male, and the gill covers of the male seems wider set than before, and he hasn't been dashing to the surface to gulp for air like previously. He also lost some colouration that had been developing intensely before today.

i'm not familiar enough with betta body form, so i don't know for sure if his mouth looks bigger than before...are there any other ways to tell if mating has occurred?

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## leeruisheng

Seems like AQ doesn't have a strong wild betta community. Well you could post at bettabite.com or petfrd.com for more responses.

You may want to take a look at my _B. krataios_ post. I've just uploaded a few shots of the male mouthbrooding. Take a closer look at his lower jaw and you should be able to see him holding the eggs. It's slightly transparent.

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## illumnae

ok thanks ruisheng  :Smile: 

i agree, AQ has a stronger apisto (myself included) and shrimp following than wild betta  :Smile:

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## illumnae

the male started chasing the female violently again...is there any way to induce them to get along or are they just gonna be eternally incompatible?

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## illumnae

turns out i got a sneaker male and the alpha mauled him so badly i put him into a hospital tank to recover. with no sneaker male to chase, the alpha turned on my zebra oto instead and now mauled the zebra oto to near death...don't expect it to last beyond tonight. this betta killed a fish 5x its cost =(

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## wks

Yixiang, after observing your betta tank yesterday and now reading your complaint, I have to conclude that the current setup is too small for this aggressive betta. Its better to transfer the fish to the bigger 5 plan tank beside your bed. Move the apistos over to the betta tank.

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## illumnae

yeah i suspect so as well. when i read up on bettas, it seemed that people were having success keeping pairs in 5 gallon tanks, which is the size of mine. but i guess it's more the exception than the norm. anyhow, the aggressive bugger is alone in the tank with 8 boraras which he can't catch, so he's unable to go on any rampage anymore after killing his 2 other slower tankmates so i'll leave him there for now. as you could have seen, the tank's too cluttered for me to net him out unless i destroy my scape.

i will never move the Ap. elizabethae to the nano tank...they're too precious to me to squeeze them into a tank that small. only reason i put the bettas in was from what i read as mentioned above. my elizabethae are worth 70x the betta pricewise and infinately more valuable to me subjectively. these bettas were just for me to try out something new...i still much prefer apistos  :Smile: 

i'll possibly put a lone apisto male in there when i manage to get this guy out of the tank. seems like bettas doing well in a 5 gallon tank is more myth than reality!

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## wks

Its ok to destroy your scape. I can take over your plants. :Grin: 
Maybe you should sell the pair away and get a smaller species like Betta channoides. The 5 gallon tank is more suitable for their sizes.

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## leeruisheng

I hope it does dampen your joy in keeping wild bettas. But in a way it's good cause it's challenging you. 

So what are your plans now? Getting them a mate? 

Did you manage to see them flare? Nice right?

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## illumnae

haha nice when flaring yes, but the flaring doesn't happen too often. i'm left with just the alpha male now as the sneaker and zebra oto have passed on. no idea about my plans yet. don't think i'll get this guy a mate. he doesn't deserve one!

i'll either get a pair of channoides/albimarginata like jason recommended or just get a lone apisto male in there

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## Cacatuoides

Go for channoides!!  :Jump for joy:

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## wks

Yixiang, besides the two fish which you mentioned, you should consider these as well:
a) B. coccina
b) B. brownorum
c) B. livida
d) B. rutilans
e) B. persephone
f) B. tussyae
g) B. rubra

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## illumnae

based on what's currently available in the market, i have 2 choices:

1) a pair of B. channoides
2) a group of 5 B. rutilans (they can't be sexed accurately it seems, so getting 5 seems safe for a pair to form hopefully...if not i'll have 5 little guys swimming around since they are really small anyway

i've fished out the aggressive falx and he's sitting in a temp tank now

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## leeruisheng

Also seen recently _Betta albimarginata_. I'm not sure about _B.rutilans_. Used to keep a small group of them in a 2ft tank but still appearing with torn finnages. You could try as long as you like.

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## illumnae

i saw albimarginata too earlier this evening together with raja, rutilans and channoides.

picked channoides and rutilans as raja was too big and i didn't like the black spots on the head of the albimarginatas

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## leeruisheng

Ok then good luck with your new fishes.
Btw channoides and albimarginata looks very similiar. Differences that I know off are shape of head and banding on the tail. Take a look at this channoides http://www.rva.jp/labyrinth/betta_channoides.html also do spot black spots on their head.

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## Cacatuoides

where did you spot so many bettas?

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## illumnae

the channoides didn't have black spots, that's why i was tempted by it =)

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## wks

> where did you spot so many bettas?


Eman, that must be Yixiang's favourite lfs-polyart and C328. :Grin:

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## illumnae

this tank now houses a pair of B. albimarginata  :Evil: 

i was gonna get channoides, but this particular male albi at c328 was too nice to miss out. it had full orangey-red colouration despite having just arrived and still stressed in the bag

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## illumnae

seems like quite a stable pair...the male's returned to full colouration from 3 minutes after i released him into my tank. both are exploring and not fighting/chasing each other like the falx did

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## Cacatuoides

Congrats on your new acquisition bro!! They are very beautiful even when in relax state....more stunning coloration when breeding time  :Jump for joy:

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## illumnae

provided i don't get a sneaker again...otherwise no breeding  :Crying:

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## wks

If your latest collection has a sneaker, I don't mind taking over. :Grin:

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## esng

Hows your fish coming along?

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