A Planted Betta Tank

As any aquarium enthusiast would attest, the visual impact of a planted tank is beyond anything else. I have always measured myself on my success as an aquarium enthusiast with setting up a stable planted tank and believe me, it is a lot easier with betta when you start setting up a planted tank.

Usually any planted tank requires a lot of planning, hard work and some ingenuity to look stunning. Moving substrate, placing the plants and fertilizing the plants with regularity and maintaining a good photo window is essential to ensure your tank looks lush and healthy. While using substrate like AquaSoil is essential for plants with a deeper rooting system to flourish, fertilizers are equally important and if you do not dose in a balanced manner, things can go awry pretty soon.

High end versions require using CO2 diffusion to generate creation of Carbonic acid (which is formed when Carbon Dioxide diffuses in water). Low end tanks function with no CO2, little to no fertilization but proper lighting. I have had more success with Low end planted tanks and hence preferred going that way.

Whatever your choice, always ensure that the light is not too bright for the betta, as it usually tends to hand around the top of the tank with its bubble nests. Having sufficient space for the betta to move around is also another important aspect you need to pay attention to.  I am always partial to the Giant Mint variety of plants along with the Bacopa Monieri and the Caboomba varieties.

I am currently experiencing a lot of success with the fanwort as well.

I currently have 3 Bettas in 3 spacious bowls with plenty of lighting as my daily pick me up. I love watching the betta feed first thing in the morning and it helps me start my day with a peaceful frame of mind.

Aquariums and the charms of maintaining one!

Maintaining aquariums with pet fish is a demanding but well rewarding hobby. You can get hours of pleasure by just watching your favorite fish frolic around in the aquarium or stay amazed by the antics of your favorite invertebrates like snails, shrimp, crayfish or crabs.

Fish keeping, while attractive to many at first sight, also require dedication and consistent maintenance to ensure you succeed with your hobby. As a child, I was awestruck by the variously colored fish swimming around in the huge cement tanks that my grandfather had built in his backyard. Curiosity got the better of me and I started pestering my grandfather with questions about these fish and I would get a wealth of information through his patient answers. My grandfather used to work in the fisheries ministry of the government and was very keen in the indigenous population of fish that Tamil Nadu boasted of.

As a teenager, after pestering my parents for years to allow me to keep a tank, I finally managed to setup a beautiful aquarium with decorations and fish which were very locally sourced from near my house in Ambernath. The joy of spending hours, searching for the exact color of the tail in a guppy, getting the right stones to retain a natural look in the aquarium backdrop is immense and cannot be put together in words. A simple natural setup with a cove at both the corners of the 9 gallon tank was what I started with. A few guppies and mollies helped me learn about responsible fish-keeping.

Although it was already the age of  the internet, I was yet to discover the treasure chest of information which I have today thanks to intelligent fishkeeping friends and websites on the internet. Most of my experience was first hand, thanks to my Local fish store guy convincing me to buy everything and anything I saw or displayed an interest in. As I grew older, I grew wiser and progressively increased the volume of the aquarium I maintained. Helped on and encouraged in no small amounts by by uncle, my cousin and my grandfather who were delighted to get another keen aquarist in the family.

I progressed from the 9 Gallon to a 20 Gallon and now have 2 tanks, a 55 Gallon and a 9 Gallon planted tank. This progression left me with a few wonderful moments and a load of ideas on how to work smart. To put it simply, an aquarium has to be setup and then continuously maintained. While both setting up and maintaining can be done easily and in affordable ways, splurging a little more can help you achieve a tank which is so beautiful, you can engage everyone who visits your house for hours together. It also helps in calming you down, if you have hypertension or diabetes and are prone to low blood pressure as well.

I started with a low tech, non planted tank and today after nearly 10 years into the hobby, I have been to successfully maintain 2 different planted tanks. The reason behind my recent success is down to reading and researching a lot on what I should be doing and what I should look to actively avoid. There are a load of forums online where you can look up details on fish, setups, challenges and DIY solutions. I have been able to maintain a low tech planted tech without splashing a load of money by working smartly.

I have kept a variety of species from aggressive fish like Severum, Gourami, Betta and Angels to community fishes like mollies, common plecos, sharks, knife fish, corydoras, loaches, tetras, barbs , oddballs like the spiny eel, the peacock eel and even an odd invertebrate like the apple snail or the Malaysian trumpet snail (which are thriving in my tanks now!). Shopping for stuff like filters, decor and plants can be done online and offline, but due diligence has to be paid to researching what you want and knowing whether it will work with your setup.

I normally reserve a day once in 2 weeks to prune my plants and perform general maintenance like cleaning the filter foam and performing a water change. However, I always read up whenever I have the time. Do write in if you too love maintaining an Aquarium and feel every second spent cleaning and maintaining it worth hundredfold!