40 Gallon Breeder Community Journal

[Alex S.]

Hi everyone! I've never kept a journal on my fish keeping journey before, but I figured this would be a great project to start one on. This is my 40 gallon breeder tank that I am hoping to turn into a planted center piece community tank.

I got this tank last Christmas and it used to hold my two comet goldfish. I know, not exactly the most ideal tank size, but I bought them going absolutely nothing about fish keeping, and they're the fish that got me into the hobby. I grew them out for almost 2 years from a plastic fish bowl, to a 10 gallon tank, and eventually to this 40 breeder. I learned a lot with those fish and they were really special to me . Unfortunately back in May I went on a weekend trip, and when I got back there was a bad ammonia spike from them being over fed while I was gone and they ended up passing away. I definitely learned some things from that experience, but I was so devastated I almost gave up on the hobby.

After a bit of time, I decided to pick the hobby back up and start this project to reignite my interest. I had been keeping this betta in a 5.5 gallon tank on my desk, so I decided to give her a major upgrade. I wanted to document this journey so I could look back and see the progress I've made.

Right now the tank consists of my one betta and two nerite snails. It has mostly artificial plants, but I have planted som val in the background that will hopefully eventually fill in. I currently have a small school of neon tetras in quarantine that will be my next addition to the tank to make sure by betta is cool with tank mates. Long term I plan to have all live plants, and a couple more schools of fish, and upgrade my lighting. I would love to get everything at once and make the tank look amazing from the start, but unfortunately I'm a broke nursing student and don't have the money for that. But hey, I figured it would be a fun project to build something from the ground up and watch it grow.

If you guys have any comments or suggestions I would live to hear them. I'm still very new to the hobby, but I love to learn and I wold love to know as much as I can about aquarium keeping! I hope you guys enjoy this journey with me!

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Alex S.

[Guppysnail]

I love the color splash in the decor and your treasure chest. I enjoy having fun with my scapes vs playing by traditional aquascape rules. 
 

Your betta has the cutest little grumpy face 🥰 Does he have a name?  Many of us name our nerites also  Did you name yours?

 

[Alex S.]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:41 AM, Guppysnail said:

I love the color splash in the decor and your treasure chest. I enjoy having fun with my scapes vs playing by traditional aquascape rules. 
 

Your betta has the cutest little grumpy face 🥰 Does he have a name?  Many of us name our nerites also  Did you name yours?

 

Thank you so much! The treasure chest was a Christmas present from my sister, so it’s a special little thing I like to keep in there. 😊

I actually haven’t given any of them names yet. What’s bad is I sit there and talk to my betta when I’m feeling her, but I just never got around to giving any of them names. 😅

[Rube_Goldfish]

That looks like a great start, and I bet your betta, name or not, loves all the swimming space!

[Vicki]

I adore your blue Betta! She’s absolutely an angel - my favorite color, to be honest. I’m really sorry for your awful loss, but I’m glad you managed to stick around. It’s not always easy. I’m finding (and being told often) that patience is a virtue in Aqua-land. I think your Aquarium is lovely and wanted to let you know that you’ve got the best of help available in this forum. So hang in there - everyone here remembers that they started from ground zero. 🙂

[Alex S.]

On 8/12/2023 at 5:00 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

That looks like a great start, and I bet your betta, name or not, loves all the swimming space!

Thank you so much! She really does! She loves to explore every inch of the tank! 

On 8/12/2023 at 7:12 PM, Vicki said:

I adore your blue Betta! She’s absolutely an angel - my favorite color, to be honest. I’m really sorry for your awful loss, but I’m glad you managed to stick around. It’s not always easy. I’m finding (and being told often) that patience is a virtue in Aqua-land. I think your Aquarium is lovely and wanted to let you know that you’ve got the best of help available in this forum. So hang in there - everyone here remembers that they started from ground zero. 🙂

Thank you so much! 

[Alex S.]

8/15/23 Update:

First round of neon tetras are looking pretty good in quarantine. I'm starting out with a group of 6 (2 were a bit camera shy) just to see how it goes, but I plan to add more. If all goes well, they should be hitting the 40B in a couple weeks. Fingers crossed they get along with the betta!

 

[Guppysnail]

I kept neons with my betta. They did fabulous together. 🤞🏻

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I had my own over feeding tragedy so my sympathies! 
 

Love the start and that bettas a stunner! 
 

I think schooling fish in a 40 will give the betta enough room to not feel threatened by the school. Slowly stocking like this is a great way to do it! 
 

Thinking ahead where are you at with going live with your plants? Are you doing a mix of plastic and live? Thought I saw some Val? 
 

Have fun and looking forward to your progress! 

[Alex S.]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:47 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I had my own over feeding tragedy so my sympathies! 
 

Love the start and that bettas a stunner! 
 

I think schooling fish in a 40 will give the betta enough room to not feel threatened by the school. Slowly stocking like this is a great way to do it! 
 

Thinking ahead where are you at with going live with your plants? Are you doing a mix of plastic and live? Thought I saw some Val? 
 

Have fun and looking forward to your progress! 

Thank you so much! The plan is to eventually have the tank fully planted with live plants! I don’t have the best light right now, so I didn’t want to by a bunch of plants and have them die on me.
 

Nursing school is taking up most of my money right now, but the goal is to maybe upgrade the light for Christmas 😅. I’m hoping by then the Val will be decently established at least, and when it gets good light it’ll spread like wild fire. By then I’ll probably go ahead and replace out the rest of the fake plants with real ones! 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Alex S.

[Alex S.]

8/29/23 Update:

The neon tetras are officially out of quarantine and in the 40 gallon tank. They seem to be doing pretty well with the betta. The betta will chase them around every once in a while, but the more I watch it seems to be more out of curiosity than aggression. There has been no flaring or nipping. They typically interact with each other for just a few seconds, and then go their separate ways. It’s looking like I’m going to be able to pull off this project.

Next on the agenda is to build up the school of neon tetras, and figure out what else I want to put in the tank. As of right now, the plan is a school of rasbora hets, and a couple kinds of corydoras. If anyone has some ideas, on what might look good, I would love to hear them!

[JE47]

Your tank looks amazing and I am sure all your inhabitants are loving all the space. I know having a betta being introduced to a community aquarium can be stressful like will they go on a murder spree or not but it is nice when they turn out to be peaceful. I also have a betta in a community setup and he has not killed anyone yet. I will be excited to see your corys I love corys they are so goofy and derpy looking.