Picked up this boy to refresh everything I know before breeding again. Since coppers are just one color I intend to work with, I may use him as a breeder. He still needs to grow into his fins though.

2.5 gallon betta tank and moss farm.



The betta. Sorry about the poor flash photos. It was hard to hold the camera, mirror, and lean over to get the picture without moving to much. If I didn't use flash, it would have come out as a blurry mess. I will get nicer ones later.

What a hunk! He's gorgeous, and I like your tank set up. He looks great in it. What do you do with the bottle off to the side? co2? I love the moss balls just floating there!

Yes, the bottle contains yeast, sugar, and water to provide Co2 for the moss. I'm having problems with it though. I think the majority of my yeast was expired. I also need a new diffuser.

The moss balls are interesting to say the least, but I intend to remove the moss from them once they start growing well.

With a tank that small have you thought of trying seachem flourish excel for you carbon? That is what I use on my 29 gallon and my 6 gallon. Easy to dose and much safer IMO then the diy co2 bottles.
I love your new betta he is a very very pretty.

Excel can be dangerous on small tanks due to easy over dosing. It can kill both fish and plants when too much is added. DIY Co2 produces very little Co2 and should be perfect for growing just moss. Now on harder to grow species and species that need high light, excel along with Co2 produces the best effects.

He is beautiful! I think he's the prettiest betta I've ever seen...wow

Wow, a silvery betta... I see something new on here every day! So pretty!

Wow, what a beauty he is!! I thought my betta was an unusual color, being pink, but I have never seen a white one!

Gorgeous!

a beautiful Betta !!! What kinda diffusion method are u using?

ooh what a gorgeous half moon!
fantastic coloring!

Wow, that is a gorgeous betta, his fins look perfect. I've never seen a pure white betta, then again I've never seen many bettas outside of my local petshops. The tank setup is very cool too.

can you post the instructions for that DIY Co2 bottle? I would be interested in trying it after getting a look at price of a store-bought one!

Nomi- There are 3 white bettas that I can think of; platinum, opaque, and cellophane. Platinums are opaques with a copper over layer. They can be a bit dull, but shimmer under light. Opaques are a gorgeous solid powder white color with no irredescence. Cellophanes have clear fins and dull white bodies.

small_ranchu- I just use an air stone. I test a few different types and pick the one that produces the smallest bubbles. There are fancier products out there just for Co2 but they are more money.

Chickey- Yeah. There are some commercial DIY kits out there, but they are costly. However they are cheaper than compressed.


Supplies:
A bottle that will hold enough for your tank size.
Tubing
Yeast
Sugar
Water
Hot Glue
Diffuser
Suctions cups(optional for the diffuser)

1. Take your chosen bottle and drill or melt a hole in the center of the cap. Make it slightly smaller than your chosen tubing.
2. Insert your tubing into the hole. Pull it until there is 1/2 and inch to a full inch on the inside.
3. Attach your chosen diffuser on the end of the tubing.
3. Use hot glue to glue around the tubing on the inside and outside of the cap. Wait for it to dry.
4. Put sugar in the bottom of your bottle. I put roughly 5 spoon fulls of sugar, but you can customize make your own portions.
5. Add enough hot water to stir and dissolve the sugar.
6. Once it is dissolved, add cool water to bring it down to room temperature. If it is still warm, wait for it to cool. Make sure your tubing is not touching the water in the bottle!
7. Once cool add your yeast. I put about 1 spoon full. Don't stir the yeast.
8. Screw your cap on and put it next to your tank.
9. The best position for your diffuser is near you outtake or in a current.

It can take a few hours for the yeast to produce enough Co2 to push through the diffuser. If nothing has happened after 2 days, you may have killed the yeast with water that was too hot, the yeast may be too old, or you may have a leak in your bottle/tubing. To test for leaks, hold the bottle under water. If there is no leaks, make a new mix.

That will make ethyl alcohol too. It's basically a recipe for making wine - though with just sugar and yeast it will be bad wine. Hehe...

See http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...st&p=716943 for the huge version of this.

I wonder if the alcohol fumes are bad for the fish. I hope there's good carbon filtration.

Thats very true, and when dumped out you will quickly recognize the fermentation smell. I know quite a few people, and I've read posts from many other and so far there hasn't been any ill effects from it, unless suction is created and it enters the tank. I even kept very sensitive shrimp while running a LOT of DIY Co2 on my tank, and they thrived.

There are even commercial products out there that use basically the same ingredients, but put together in a clean look, and the only complaints I've heard against them is the price.

Ha, I'm also using bakers yeast so its definitely no something anyone is going to want to drink. Your welcome to try it though!


Here is a decent article that uses the same method.
DIY Yeast CO2

Thanks for posting that! I am planning to try a plant tank. I tried once before but didn't have too much luck with it. I think it's because I didn't have the co2.

Beautiful new boy Sushi! Congrats!




I remember you helping me with my banana plants some time ago, and I tried your diy Co2 system, it works really well! My plants were much happier!

Here was the thread, there are some pics of the Co2 bottle thingy

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...c=56050&hl=

Then fish and shrimp must be party animals. Haha!

Chickey- If you need any help or information, let me know. I adore growing plants, both aquatic and land. What plants did you try growing? It could be you picked a bad match, one that was considered hard to grow or too delicate. Most stem plants are easy, but the fined leaved ones are a bit harder. Star grass is one of my favorites, and a medium difficulty. Water wisteria is also one of my favorites, and REALLY easy to grow. Star grass likes medium to high light, while wisteria will grow perfectly fine in low to medium light.I recommend both.

love-rabbit-fish- Hey! How are you? I've been away from Kokos for awhile.
Glad it worked out. Just like the plants on land, aquatics need Co2 to flourish.

BeancurdTurtle- Indeed. Shrimp are party animals.

Hi Sushi! I'm doing okay, summer's here so no worries about school LOL! Good luck with your betta breeding project, I bet there will be some beautiful babies!

Those moss balls are really neat. I have seen a few at mmm but there all brown. Your betta is very very pretty.

Yeah, the other week they had ones that were all brown but when I went back they had new green ones. I intend to remove the moss from the styrofoam balls once it has grown a little more.

New Pictures.

Beautiful pictures and a gorgeous betta

Wow Gorgous little man Sushi. Where did you get him? My white looked liked him. I miss him. He ended up dieing of dropsy. Your is so pretty though

you're apologizing for the quality of the photos?! those pics are amazing! What a beautiful fish!

He is just a fabulous little guy!!

he sure is a stunner