My kid needed a betta right?

[ricbennett3]

This is my son’s betta, Darkin. I thought I’d take a second and document how he came to be today. It all started in Pet Co, naturally (gasp!, I know). 
 

I’ve had tanks on and off for 30 years, so was pretty happy to pick up this guy for my little guy.

My son designed his first tank. A little 2.5 gallon. Looked like this:

Eventually, I was able to talk him into letting me try, just as I was getting into the aquascaping idea. The tank went through a few versions:

At some point, I decided I needed a rimless tank, and got inspired by a photo I’d seen of a dragon stone tunnel and made this:

 

I never could get the plants to grow right, battled many types of algae, and couldn’t really get in there to do maintenance without knocking everything all over the place. I liked the look and managed to keep it functional about a year…which brings us to today. 
 

I decide I wanted to try a jungle triangle layout, so set Darkin up in a holding tank, and set this up:

 

SpongeBob had to make a come back, or at least my son convinced me of such.

 

Is this the only UNS rimless Aquascape with a SpongeBob house?  Maybe, but there’s also $60 in co-op plants, so…

 

that’s the story. Hoping Darkin makes the transition well. He’ll be in the holding tank another couple weeks while levels balance. Lots of re-used media and whatnot so shouldn’t be too long. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Very nice aquascaping! What sizes are the rimless tanks? I bet Darkin will love the live plants and the new area he gets to explore.

[ricbennett3]

On 5/20/2023 at 5:33 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Very nice aquascaping! What sizes are the rimless tanks? I bet Darkin will love the live plants and the new area he gets to explore.

The bigger one is a 30C (7 gallon). His new home is a 3.5 galling I think. I can’t remember it’s specs.

[nabokovfan87]

The fish looks great, the tank looks wonderful as well!  I'm excited to see how things develop for you and your son.

[JettsPapa]

I can understand Sponge Bob making a comeback.  I usually don't care for manmade decorations in my tanks, instead preferring just wood, rocks, and plants, but about a week ago my 5-year old grandson gave me a dragon decoration from Petco for my 62nd birthday.  It has a prominent place in my 20 gallon long tank.