Spotted gar in aquariums are pretty easy to care for. Make sure you have enough filtration because they grow massive. Twenty four inches in length is common.
More random aquarium-ness:
I am setting up a second, smaller tank. I am thinking of using black sand as I have read Sparkling Gouramis which I will be keeping look great with black sand. Can I see your planted tanks with black sand please, and if anyone keeps Sparkling Gouramis I’d love to see pics of them too. Thanks. The tank isn’t set up yet, I am either putting river sand or black sand and I want to see what black sand looks like before I decide.
Hi! Thanks for the add! I teach 5th grade science and math. This year I tried to set up a 10 gallon tank in my room that would not require a pump or filter and have a self contained food chain. This week I noticed there was not enough evaporation going on in my room so the water was becoming stagnant and I added a filter. My tank contains various plants to remove the nitrates from the water. Snails to act as a betta's food source and remove algae. A corydoras to consume dead plant material and algae.
I wasn't ready to add fish to my tank. I was letting my plants grow and get rooted. After the weekend, about 2 weeks of the tank being assembled, I was inspecting my tank and noticed I had had a snail population explosion. I then got a betta and a corydoras. The two are eating as many snails as they can, but there are so many that I am smashing them as I see them. If things were not going bad enough for me, 3 days after getting the beta, it died. Now I'm on beta number 2.
While my initial plan of no filter or pump did not go as planned, my students are enjoying watching the snails, fish, and plants do their thing. I know I have some golden snails in the tank but one snail has a black and orange shell. Any ideas what it may be? If anyone has any recommendations or suggestions on our ecosystem journey, I gladly welcome them!
A few questions about the tank. Did you cycle it properly before adding fish? Are you feeding the fish and snails at all? I was hoping not to eventually, but for now they are receiving food until we are better established. I think you will have to keep feeding the fish, I’m not sure how you would create a self sustained ecosystem in a tank.
So the biggest take away is that you should model your classroom aquarium after nature. In nature where the bettas come from... it rains almost daily... water changes are necessary to flush toxins and to replace lost minerals that your aquarium plants benefit form. Same in nature. So I would subscribe to a weekly water change of 85%. Control your feeding quantity and demuck your aquarium of decay. Snails are your gauge.. if they are exploding its because they have plenty of nutrition (decaying plants etc) Corydoras will benefit from a pellet food as snails are not in their diet as much as we may expect. Even a betta may not eat them. You can make a snail trap or have students as a project build one for you and then you can catch snails over night the following morning and you can eliminate your snail population that way.
Also a filter is an almost essential part of keeping a healthy aquarium, not only do they filter out the physical debris the beneficial bacteria get rid of toxic ammonia and nitrites from the water. Read up on the nitrogen cycle a bit to get an idea.
If you could get a much bigger tank it would be so much easier.. also more plants , like potplants above and a pump to cycle the water up and then a run back into the tank, get as many plants going as possible to keep the water clean. The snails for food idea is cool but keep in mind they will have other dietary requirements as well.
Corys need to be kept in shoals, and snails are not an adequate food source for either of those fish. Bettas are insectivores, and corys should be getting bottomfeeder food for the right nutritional balance. They don't eat algae.
These species also both need a heater.
What you are trying to accomplish is the walstad method, however it doesn't seem like you really researched into the species you want to keep and their needs as well as how to properly install a walstad system which will not only teach your students had husbandry but will end in your tank failing.
