I bit the bullet and decided to get a fish tank. This time around, I’m going to take the proper steps. In the past, I would buy a tank and some fish and get the fish into the tank the same afternoon. This round I will explore letting the tank grow organically with some strata and plants before I add any fish. This also gives me time to shop around for fish.
Today, I bought the tank. The tank is a Fluval Betta tank designed for bettas. The reviews say this tank is not worth it but after doing a few hours of research, I think this tank will do the job. I did not pay attention to water temperatures and found that my fish would jump out. I always thought it was because they were excited but I’m finding that it’s because the water was too cold.
With the tank, I also purchased Fluval Stratum. This is because I wanted a tank with live plants. The person at Petco said I should rinse the stratum as much as possible. I did at least 10 rinses and the water still came out dark like the picture above.
After a few hours of more research, the interwebs say that it is common for this stratum to be cloudy and that it will settle after a few hours or a day. We’ll see.
That’s it for the start of the betta tank. The next step is to shop for plants.