My husband found a video on YouTube the other day about making a miniature pond for inside the house for a betta fish. The opaque walls make for a home more similar to their native habitats and we thought it would be a fun little project.
Essentially you take a good sized plastic or similar material plant pot that has no pre-made holes. Most of this kind are intended for you to drill your own in size/quantity based on the plants. We chose this pot:
It is roughly 11" tall and 16" in diameter. After removing an inch or two of water at the top to reduce jump-out risks, we estimate around 6 or 7 gallons of water. For just a single betta, this is a pretty good size. Ideally I would have gone for closer to 10 gallons, but our options when we got the pot were either this or a substantially larger pot (20-25 gallons) that we didn't have space for.
We got a male half moon betta for it (no name for him as of yet):
We did a black fine gravel for the substrate, and combined with the black interior color of the pot we wanted a light colored fish, especially since we wouldn't be able to view from the sides. We also added a bundle of anacharis and hornwort for the main plants.
We are using a small air pump powered sponge filter, a small flat heater, and have attached some existing pothos to the edge so the roots can help filter the water. Also added a small clip on light, but we may replace it with a small desk lamp later. It is just wobbly enough that I think I want to use something else long-term, probably something that doesn't clip on.
We also have a small plant pot hiding place for him if he wants it.
And a few of him and how visible he is in the pond.
Just set it up today, so the pothos is sitting odd, but the plants should fill out nicely. We may find a water lily or some java fern to round out the plants, but we wanted to see how the other two grew first.
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