Reddit reviews Hagen Marina Betta Waste Remover for Aquarium

It started very slowly a couple-few weeks ago but I’ve been so busy with work I haven’t had a chance to do anything about it yet unfortunately. I have a gravel vac and a siphon starter but I’m thinking about getting this bulb syringe thing to remove Betta poop instead.

Advice from a fellow Canadian in a small city;

• Save yourself the trouble and expense of buying tank pieces separately and buy a kit that includes filter, hood, and tank (all major chains have them, Petsmart's own brand Grreat Choice is cheap and awesome and frequently on sale), that being said I also recommend a 10 gallon, it sounds big I know but trust me when I say the extra space is worth the significantly reduced maintenance and happy healthy fish.
  
  
• If you have the budget (aka extra $10), get live plants (not Marimo ball, those do nothing except look pretty), swords are excellent, hardy, and super easy to care for (PJ's Pets has a lot of cheap plants, lucky you! jealous).
  
  
• Use sand instead of gravel, it creates a healthy environment for beneficial bacteria to grow and that keep your water parameters in check.
  
  
• If you do choose to go with gravel, you don't ever need to change or rinse it (other than the first time), just use a gravel vacuum or betta waste remover ^^lol ^^turkey ^^baster to siphon out the detritus during water changes and you'll be set.
  
  As for your fish;
  
  2 potential culprits; fin rot or tail biting.
  
  
• Fin rot results from poor water parameters, fins literally begin to burn from the excess ammonia and rot away. It's easy to fix in most cases but can quickly become advanced fin rot and/or body rot in which case your little buddy is a goner. Providing a clean environment with fixed water parameters will allow the fish to recover on his own (very quickly!) but some people do choose to also try aquarium salt treatment, the latter is not a necessity unless the rot is quite bad.
  
  
• Tail biting results from boredom, poor water parameters, stress, and/or filter being too strong. This can be easily fixed by providing a change in environment or a clean tank with many hiding spots and places to explore, reducing filter current (a ton of ways to do this), keeping the tank dark (no lights in or around it) for a couple of days, reducing reflective surfaces (from the inside sometimes the glass can turn into a mirror for the fish so covering the hidden sides with black paper/background is beneficial).
  
  I hope you enjoyed this novel, best of luck!

You know a lot about betta tanks! Can you tell me what would be the best way to clean the gravel and log in my tank? A gravel vac seems like overkill, I was thinking about getting one of those things that look like a turkey baster to suck up the gunk that will accumulate along the bottom. I'm also planning a 20-25% water change every week, but I figure since it's not much, I can just scoop out the water with the plastic cup that my betta will come home in today (yay, I'm so excited to meet him!). Good plan, or no?

Having bred them a few times before and daffodils. I'll share my advice. 45 gallons is enough tank if you only keep the breeding pair. These fish are protective enough that they will run off bigger fish. My dad has a daffodil/julie pair, in a 125gallon, and the daffodil (4" mouth to tips of tail wisps) runs off a Frontosa that is 7 inches long and massively larger body wise. Best to just keep the mated pair in there. Take note that you won't have to get the young out of there, as each brood helps take care of the next along with the parents, which is kind of cool. I've kept plecos in the same tank, but they have to be larger so that they don't get picked on (think fully grown bristle-nose), otherwise they will get picked on / bite by the brichardi.

Getting a pair for mating... buy 6 to 10, and as you see fish get ostracized / chased to the corners of the tank, get them out of the tank.

Maybe get some clay/terracotta pots (don't get ones that have cement lining in them) put them on their sides for breeding, and/or break them in half. Soak for 5 to 10 minutes in bucket of water, get a masonry drill-bit, drill holes in a line up the sides, bottom; and whack lightly with a chisel and hammer.

Get an air stone of some sort in the tank, be it a bubble line, or an ornament, or a sponge filter (over filtering never hurts). Gravel is just fine as long as it's small, like pea or smaller sized, they'll dig and move things, be sure nothing will fall over and crush them (had this happen once or twice). Make sure to have driftwood in the tank, and remove live plants. Lake Tanganyika does not have natural water vegetation (plants) and they will uproot / rip up your plants. Water changes, they can survive/thrive in hard water, you can do weekly/bi-weekly/monthly water changes and they'll be ok.

feeding the babies, yes, you'll need Small Fry Starter Formula , and I suggest a turkey baster for feeding. You're going to get a little cup, put some tank water in it, then suck it up with the turkey baster, and put it near the fry to release and feed them, sounds weird, but it works.

Also, if you want more cichlid info... heres a book by a world renowned cichlid guy.

edit note: spawning cycle, assuming they keep at it, is about 3 weeks between broods.
edit note 2: changed encapsulated brine shrimp eggs to Small Fry Starter Formula