betta experiences with small floating logs

[riverrun]

I'm so sorry - I thought I'd posted these pics already. LOL.

Here's one of them - this is the "messier" looking one. I think it's a great way to add some character to the tank.

And here's the other one - you can see my male Betta Midas in there, holding his eggs/fry. It's amazing how much they love these little hideaways.

I hope these help give you some ideas for your retirement tank. I can really see how this would be perfect for your old fighter - it'll keep him near the surface and give him a place to chill. One thing I'd recommend is drilling a hole near the top, big enough for your betta to breathe easily. It's just like the betta log, but you have more control over the design.

[riverrun]

I picked up the PVC in the plumbing section of my local hardware store, already in this size - about 3in in diameter and 4-5in in length. I've also got some curved pieces and smaller straight ones, which my wild bettas like - the Betta Albimarginata, for example. The moss on my PVC tunnels is a mix, I think it's xmas and java - it was part of a big bunch a friend gave me.

As for your "retiree", I'd leave him in the kitchen if I were you. It's familiar to him, and I'm not sure moving him to the spare room would be the best idea. He's already not in great health, and going from a high-traffic area to a really quiet one might not be good for him.

[onixa]

Thanks riverrun, I'm thinking of swapping my long black waste pipe for something similar to yours - it looks like a toilet waste pipe, but then I'm no plumber. I had a go with Java Fern, but it just didn't work out. It wouldn't attach to the rocks I tied it to, and it started growing this stringy algae that wrapped itself around my other plants. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but in the end, I had to get rid of it. I might look into Christmas moss instead, since you've had success with it. Has anyone else had issues with Java Fern, or any idea what I could've done differently?

[riverrun]

Yeah, it's a toilet plumbing pipe I'm using.

I'm not entirely sure what went wrong with your Java Fern, but I usually just sit mine on a piece of wood or rock and tie some fishing line around the roots and the base. I don't really see the roots attach, but I'm sure they do - I just leave the fishing line on. I've had mixed results with Java Fern myself; it does great in one tank, but melts and falls apart in another. In the tank where it doesn't do well, the roots sometimes attract hair algae, so I just trim them back a bit. To be honest, I prefer using Anubias and Bolbitus fern for my rhizome plants - they seem to work better for me. And when it comes to attaching plants, I prefer using moss over Java Fern, but that's just my personal preference.