Indoor Mini Pond

[pretends2bnormal]

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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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Love the idea but careful Betta are jumpers

[Bogertophis]

Bettas are such beautiful fish (& so many are treated horribly in tiny bowls)...this is very cool.

[pretends2bnormal]

Love the idea but careful Betta are jumpers

Yeah, we're working on a lid idea, but for now are leaving the water fairly low to help deter that. No guarantees he won't jump of course, but getting a circular lid that is the right size just didn't happen today.

I'll probably go back to the hardware store tomorrow and look for one of those clear plastic plant saucers; the kind you usually put beneath plant pots to catch water and see if one fits closely over the top edges of this. Cutting plexi, especially in circles, is not one of my skills, and I didn't think of the other thing until just now...

Our other 2 betta have proven to not be jumpers (our mistake leaving a lid open from feeding a few times before noticing the following day). They're both female, but I don't think it matters for jumping.

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[pretends2bnormal]

Bettas are such beautiful fish (& so many are treated horribly in tiny bowls)...this is very cool.

I feel really bad too because I'm sure my sister or I asked for a fish once, but I remember my parents having them in ~1 gallon "betta bowls", no filter, but weekly 100% water changes. Well before I was old enough to be responsible or know better, but still sad. (Even sadder, that situation is really far from the worst.. especially not now there are tiny betta cubes barely bigger than the display cups... probably about 5"×5"×5". Those are so much worse.)

Only thing worse (and only because it is that much more horrifying) than bettas in tiny bowls are the people who think it is okay for goldfish too. Overheard someone at a pet store trying to convince the associate to sell them 2 feeder comets AND a 4-5" koi (they didn't know the difference, girlfriend just liked that particular color).. and said their bowl at home was "this" size and held up a 0.5 gallon plastic bowl on display and that might be a generous volume estimate on my part. Luckily the associate convinced them to buy a 20 gallon kit with filter, only get the 2 small comets, and that they would need to upgrade the tank size later.

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