• Small Aquarium means less water which may need frequent maintenance schedules .
• Less Water means lesser options for fishes and more u stock in them , more they produce ammonia which makes it difficult to establish Nitrogen Cycle
• Although u feel happy , but fishes do get stressed due to environment created.

So beware of facts before bringing a small fish tank (< 5 US Gallon) and get ready to take care to keep your fish Happy .. 😊 😊

Let's see about my Betta Half Moon Tank (~2 Gallon) which is ~1 year old now and how do I take care of it.

Betta Tank

When you want to have a small aquarium , one of the popular fish that comes into mind is Betta . As we know, it is know for its character and its color full fins , It’s a hardy fish and taken proper care , U will love its behaviour .

Typically , it is recommended to keep a betta fish in a tank of 5 Gallon . They do good with a lot of hiding spaces and u should only keep 1 Male Betta in a 5 Gallon Tank (These are fighter fish , so beware of the fact 😁)

Betta thrive at a warmer temperature (25~28 Celsius) and need to maintain a pretty clean tank (No Chlorine + No Ammonia). They do prefer neutral PH as well.

In Wild , Betta Fish are found in shallow waters of rice paddies, ponds, or slow-moving streams. It is recommended to have a filter with a small water flow. Top Filter / HOB / Sponge filters suits these requirements.

Betta Care

There are quite a handful of requirements for Betta fish .. and important one is tank size . We do have a small one , so its very important to take proper care or else your fish falls sick..

First and fore most , I do water changes every week . Don’t every do full replacement , its always recommended to do 50 -60 % of water changes, which doesn't stress fish .

Next steps :

• A cup of Betta Basics which helps in removing chlorine , detoxifies ammonia.
• A 50w heater , which maintains the optimal temperature is installed.
• A small HOB Filter that suffices a 5 Gallon tank , which contains Bio Media + Mechanical filtration and if possible take one which has a control on flow rate (Less Flow Rate , better the fish)
• Do check for PH , Ammonia levels using API Water Test Kit mid of a week and see if we need any partial water changes (Which u don’t generally)

I do feed my Betta fish with Hikari Betta Bio Gold twice a day , which is one of the best food for Betta . My fish loves it 👍🏻

Ohh I didn't mention about other companions in my Betta tank. These are Apple Snails , pretty much bulkier and harder ones.

I brought them to clear any algae , food waste from the aquarium . They do there job very well and the environment does suit well (Neutral PH , Slight Warmer water).

Note : Feed these Apple snails with calcium heavy food , which helps to make there shells harder and brighter . I do feed them 3–4 leaves of spinach twice a week and Hikari Algae Wafers (half a tablet) once a week .

Finally..

As u see smaller the tank , more the maintenance . So make sure when u are bringing a small tank , Do understand about fish habitat in it ,time u can provide for it etc …

Before ending , let me show a small nano tank (1.2 US Gallon) . I brought this for planting my remaining grass of my planted tank. I did add couple of Ramshorn Snails and a lonely fish (Tetra may be , got it extra from my fish store) .

This tank is pretty low maintenance tank with a LED light(8~10 hours) , 50 % water change twice a week ,feed once a day ,no filter . My snails do a pretty awesome job in keeping it clean and neat 😊😊 😍

Two weeks back , when I decided to start aquascaping , I went to a pet store and brought my 4gallon (15 litres) tank . Since , it is my first time ,I was listening and watching the owner setup the tank.

• Reason for this tank is i felt to start with small and even it is better if we want to move it here and there (Leecom XE-400). This does come with a top filter , a LED 5 watt light(required for plants)
• Gravel (Contro soil) was laid and a water splinker is used to spray on it
• Low light plants like grass etc are taken and he nicely decorated the tank using Tweezers . It is recommended to keep tall plants at back and short plants at front , so that light is distributed
• Couple of rocks , drift wood etc are added to the tank as well

Next step is to cycle the tank and make the plants grow. As we all know , plants do need CO2, light and nutrients (macro + micro) to grow . I was suggested to go with API Co2 Booster, Seachem Flourish

Of course , Final step is to select fish for your aquarium . Since its a planted aquarium and tetra fish are well know for these , I went with 6 neon tetras plus 4 emperor tetras and food suggested for these fish is Hikari Micro Pellets.

How do we care of these plants ??

As mentioned earlier , Plants do need Light , Co2 + Nutrients to survive.
It is recommended to keep the light on for 3 hours in morning , 3 hours in evening daily to provide light to tank

Note : Excessive light do increase algae , which is harmful for fish and of course , it hampers growth of the plants as well

For Co2 , As instructed on bottle of API Co2 Booster , I used to add daily x ml in the tank in the morning when light is ON

For Nutrients ,Seachem Floruish is a good starter kit to make plants grow and excel colours . I used this twice in a week x ml as per instructions on bottle.
But as time progress , based on plant species , we may need to add more nutrients for planted tank as nutrient deficiency do start showing up

I do consider other seachem products for adding nutrients to planted tanks .

• Seachem Plant Enhancer Pack , which help in providing basic macro nutrients (Nitrogen , Phosphorous , Potassium) . Do use them at care , as Nitrogen is harmful for fish and excess Ammonia levels may kill fish
• Seachem Flourish Iron , which help in providing iron to plants
• Seachem Trace , which do help in providing micro nutrients for plants . Excess use of these may kill the plants. If u are using Flourish (which was explained before) , this may not be needed.

Every Week , It is recommended to change 10–20% of water and once in two weeks , changing 40~50 % water change. This helps in adding new nutrients back to tank and keeps cycle rotate.

Species for Planted Tank

As mentioned earlier , on day 1 of the tank setup , I brought 6 neon tetras and 4 emperor tetras .

Tetras are peaceful fish and strive and bring colours if kept in group of 6 or more. It is recommended to keep pair for gallon .
These tetra fish are generally schooling fish , which always strive to move in groups , if not stressed and suitable environments to live.

It takes a day or two to show there active behaviour in tank , as they are shy and needs time to adapt to new tank + environments

On day 3 , I added 4 more fish (Rummy Nose Tetra) , which as well are one of the best schooling fish and 6 (Red cherry shrimp) ,which helps in removing algae , eat bottom sink food .

These fish need a ph level <7.0 and water temperature need to be in 21 ~25 Celsius . Water should be soft acidic in nature to make them strive better.

Recently 2 days back , I did add 2 Ramshorn snails and 2 Cory Cat fish.
Main reason to add these species is to clear out the bottom left over food by tetra fish and keep water clean

How do we care for fish in Planted Tank ??

While setting up a tank , I add dechlorinator to remove any chlorine in tap water. Chlorine is harmful to fish . I recommend using API Tap Water conditioner , which do work as intended.

Once fish are added to the tank , it is recommended to add live beneficial bacteria which helps in starting the tank cycle. These bacteria converts Ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates(less harmful ) for fish .
I do add API Stress Zyme , which helps in starting the above process.

I feed these tetras every day twice (morning + evening) . It is recommended to feed them amount what they eat , and clean up any remains in 5 minutes.
Hikari Micro pellets , Freeze Blood worms are the food which i use to feed them

Weekly once , It is recommended to change 10–20% of water and do test the water Ph, Ammonia , Nitrites/Nitrates levels in the aquarium .There are many kits available to do so , but API Fresh Water Master Kit is one of the best in the market . I do this once in a week (mid ) and take necessary actions .

Once in two weeks , it is recommended to clean up filter and change 40~50 % of water . Do add Chlorine + API Stress Zyme as per instructions to continue nitrogen cycle..

Links for My Planted Tank

a) https://youtu.be/EjIZG2HqnLA

What’s Next ?

Although , This is my first experiment for the Planted Tank , It turned out to be better . I do have couple of Fresh Water Tanks (Oscar , Gold Fish , Betta ) as well maintained for a quite time ..

Do expect some tips and facts of above tanks , and further updates on Planted Tanks ..