Plan A Tank With Me

Hey guys! So I haven't written a genuine blog post in a very long time. I thought I would take you on the journey of how I plan and actually set up a tank.

Plans

I've been planning on doing a Walstad tank for some time (check my paws of help for more info on what a Walstad is ;)). I also miss owning Bettas as I currently do not own any, so I wish to make a naturalistic Betta tank while having it be filterless. It might not be a deep blackwater color as the plants need to have access to light but I want to create a naturalistic habitat with as much tannis as the plants allow.

Budgeting And Research

So my tanks at this point are decently cheap as I've been in the hobby for a very long time, so I have all of the most expensive hardware. All of my purchases at this point are the hardscape and naturalistic items.

I simply start out with a list of things I would like to acquire and list the prices I expect to pay. These are estimates as it totally depends and how much of the specific item, weight of the supplies (hardscape) and where I get it (lfs is more expensive than chain). Here's a photo of what I'm expecting to need. Minus chemicals that I use on my other fish tanks as I have those supplies and buy them regularly. I buy stuff overtime, especially when there's sales so setting up a tank is a less hefty upfront cost. That's my best tip, look and wait for sales on the more expensive items!

Also during this time period I do extensive research. Especially because I plan on doing a Walstad tank. I'm not going to show the Walstad research as I've done it over the past year and my notes aren't really in one spot. But I will show you how I personally note take on species I'm interested in. It's very important to know the care of the fish you want back to back before setting up the tank. So your parameters are perfect. I'm interested in keeping a species of Betta. I'm going to research wild splenden habitat parameters along with some similar species. Since finding wild Bettas really depends on availability at my local fish store/online I'm going to research a few different ones I'm interested in. So I'll know their care. Also because I'm considering ordering a fish online I'll research breeders or importers, of course this is a step that most won't do so I won't show it.

I research in multiple ways from online to physical book research. I'm going to rely heavily on a book for this research as I have an encyclopedia that has very trusted information, but I will still cross check it with other online sources.

I'm most likely going to go with Betta imbellis, splenden hybrid or a high quality splenden Betta. Betta imbellis are my top pick as they have the closet ph level to my water (my water is pretty hard and the less maintenance the better) as well as living in highly planted areas. They are naturally found in areas which have a ton of crypts, those are my favorite aquatic plant which just happens to be a plus. Also for being a wild species of Betta they are quite easy to find.

note that I do a ton more research, I just won't note take on it. I like to write down key points while I research I'll continue to read more about the specific species when it comes closer to actually obtaining it. I've also done research on wild Bettas prior to this as I've actively owned some. Meaning that I understand most of the basics to wild Betta keeping and just need to focus on the key differences between species.

Plant Choices

I simply personally like making a list of plant species I like or will be suitable for the aquarium. Since I'm making a naturalistic tank I take into mind the plants that are native to this fish, I'm not going to stick by that fully as I do need heavy cover and fast growing plants. I'll list my species and indicate if it's native to the region of Bettas, just cause I think it would be helpful to a lot of you as Bettas are the most common type of fish I see here.

- the genus cryptscryptocoryne (native to SEA)

- Java fern (Not native but now found in SEA)

- water wisteria (native to SEA)

- Tiger lotus (red variety is not native, green variety is native to SEA)

- ludwugia repens (not native but fast growing which is what I need)

- anubias (not native but a really hardy staple plant)

There's the list of plants I'm gonna look for personally for stocking. I need a very densely planted aquarium for the Walstad Method to work so I'm not going to stick to strictly native plants as I need some fast growers. Because Bettas are found in black water these plants are relatively slow growers as they don't get much light.

Conclusion

So there you go, heres part of my small process on how I begin putting together an aquarium. I think it's really important to show my process as there's not a ton of people showing specifically all the planning that goes into a aquarium. I hoping to post more as I prep my stuff, and actually set up the aquarium I hope to see y'all then. Feel free to ask me any questions.