OH how I love my new flat marbles on the bottoms of my tanks.
I used to use plain old gravel - and when I would rinse the gravel, pieces of it would always end up in the drain. I've been switching all my bettas over to minibows with flat marbles from the craft store (color coordinating with betta, minibow and decor, of course) and I just LOVE them versus gravel. They wash off so much easier and they don't go down the drain.

I'd recommend going and getting some, and switching from gravel to them. You'll LOVE em!

Yeehaw! :clap:

:o What about sand? I will never use anything else :) I think it gives a really nice, natural look, and it is sooo easy to clean. jay

Can you show us a picture? In the future I plan to switch to sand since they look more natural.

Waiting for my camera to come in the mail, and when it does, I will post lots :woo:

how do you clean sand? i also have those class marbles soo easy to clean just put them in the strainer and rinse them off

Well I have cycled tanks so I don't take the substrate out.

What I do is use a turkey baster daily to pick up all the stuff that falls from the live plants, and I also sift it gently with my finger to release any gasses that build up. This will also make some of the junk go into the filter.

It never goes in the sand itself, it just sits on top of the sand, so it is very easy.

I do 100% water changes every 4 days or so, so sand would be really messy for me. I don't use filters in any of my betta tanks cuz of the current blowing them around.

I don't have pictures of my tanks at the moment, but I'll steal the work camera tomorrow and see if I can get some. :)

Does this put any stress on the fish ???

I don't see why it would at all. Back in my water changing days, they definitely got used to it, and showed their approval with brand new bubble nests.

Fish get stressed, but I don't think they are quite that sensitive :) They are good at adapting, and I say the more water changes the better!

On my one gallon I did a waterchange sometimes daily, but mostly every other day jay

Nope :)
They get used to it - and I always feed them when they're waiting in their cups.
I do water changes in less than 10 minutes so they don't really mind. After the first 3 or 4 it's not a big deal to them at all - in fact a few of my guys swim right into their cups for the change.

BETTAMOMMA! Want to have a ride to walmart? LOL :laugh:
:BP:

:laugh: :lol: Yeev! We should hi-jack a cop car and paint it like the picture LOL. I hope this is appropriate. :lmao:

I love my river rock ^_^ and just last weekend I found these bigger colored rocks that some have a marbel pattern to them, very fun. Have a few strewn around everyone's tank. A splash of color :D
Tempted to get the flat-bottom marbels, but I had some several years ago with my first boys and they chipped a bit. Most likely because I had them mixed in with my river rock. :P Shame on me.

I love the flat marbles, too. I've got them in my 2.5 minibow with Hunter and Vince and they look soooooo nice. I'd have gotten more but they were on clearance when I got them and I bought all they had left. I still need them for my other three betta tanks. I also love the river stones. They give a more natural look and have the same advantages as the flat marbles.

I also do water changes twice a week and my guys have gotten used to it. Often they will bubblenest as soon as I put them into clean, fresh water.

Speaking of which, we are getting the rain now from hurricane Dennis and I had two bubblenests at home this morning and three at work. The only one who didn't was my little girl Lita. :wub:

i put these in mister peaches house. what i did is a took 4 boxes of betta gravel to one bag of marbles it looks so nice

:lol:

YES! Pick me up at 8!!

Know what's funny?
My boyfriend (who I also live with) is a police officer.

lol

mabye you should ask if there is a spare car?

awesome car is it really real?
i also do water changes every four days on all my 1g bowls. they haven't really gotten stressed should i say just tired.

TBH I prefer natural looking tanks, I'm really liking the cheapy dorset gravel from Wilkinsons, and 1 bag is perfect for a tank :) Not much, if any, goes down the sink either as its easy to decanter the water off.

I prefer natural tanks too. BUT... I'm moving most of my bettas into my son's room - and his walls are now painted an obnoxious blue and lime green so I bought a bunch of minibows and got flat marbles and decor to go with the minibows and fish.

The tanks that aren't in my son's room will still all have natural stuff in them but wanted to fun colors and stuff for his room.

haha i like all my tanks to have clear flat marbles and for all of them to match so they match the white furniture in my room. haha it is an excuse for my mom to let me have 7 tanks in my room haha :jay: :woo: