i have posted an explanation of my 10g DIY co2 setup in the Tropical Plant section of the forum for u Layne. hope it helps

Thanks! I had forgotten how much those systems cost store bought....it will be much nicer to make one at home!

The tetras are not advisable in a community with a male betta especially a ten gallon...I have kept both tetras and bettas (over 600 bettas at one time) and the two just dont mix you either end up with dead tetras or finless bettas I have had both in the past through trial and error

heres an extract from one of my LFS websites

Quote:

Avoid aggressive tankmates that may nip the Bettas fins. These include tiger barbs, large gouramis, , black tetras . Avoid slow moving tankmates that the betta may nip. These include guppies, neons, small tetras, angelfish, goldfish. Possible tank mates include Dwarf Gouramis, Head&Tail Lite Tetras, Moons, Mollies, Catfish, Small Red Tail Shark.

Although I wouldnt agree with the red tail shark as they tend to show a lot of aggression if solo

often the 'rules' are bendable and depends on individual fish and enviroment, i have learned.

i have a male beta in a 40g tank with 10 black neons and 5 harlequins. the neons stay clear of the beta and he generally doesnt bother with them. the harlequins dont touch the beta but occasionaly if he is feeling aggressive he chases them about the tank a bit. they are all too fast though and dont seem to bother much. again this is in a 40g tank where the harlequins have enough room to get away a 10g tank may not work the same and the harlequins could end up too stressed.

i have also kept guppies in the same tank. the beta didnt bother with the guppies and they tended to stay out of his way, but i ended up removing the guppies as 2 juvenile ones started to nip the betas tail a bit when he was passing.

trial and error helps as does having a sympathetic LFS that will swap fish.

i occasionaly hang a mirror on the tank. it stimultes the beta when he's bored and has pros and cons. sometimes he is too busy with the mirror to bother with other fish but sometimes he gets that wound up he'll chase the harlequins about the tank a bit. thankfully as i said they dont seem to be bothered by it much though as they are fast enough and have enough room to get away from him.

thinking about it, to be honest i'd think twice about putting a beta in a 10g tank with other fish as the mix will be hard to get right and the smaller space may cause more aggression and stress to all involved.

it probably depends on the fishs' tempermant somewhat.... if the betta is causing a problem, I can simply take him out. I have an extra a five gallon tank with a pump... this will be plan b assuming he doesn't do well....

I don't know what happened, but today I found my betta dead. He was just fine yesterday. The cories in the 10G are still doing fine. Maybe I'll try something else other than a betta next...but I loved my little guy, he was so pretty and friendly.

i think what was happening was that as the beta ate food, scraps were falling around him and a couple of the young, stupid guppies associated his tail with food scraps and kept nipping at it.

sorry to hear ur beta died Kristin. any idea what happened, did it show any signs of illness atall? the most common thing i've seen with betas is they get internal diseases. the main symptom of this is a bloated tummy and sticking out scales. did u have the guy a long time? maybe it was just old age.

He wasn't showing any signs of illness at all. He was friendly and always swam to the front of the tank when I came near. He'd just been doing that the night before, and then I found him dead the next day. Maybe it was adding the albino cories that did it. They're all still alive and healthy and so are the other fish that were in the tank before, but maybe it was something they brought in that killed my betta. Or it could have been old age as he was rather large, or quite possibly because he was a Walmart fish.

Well, I'm doing what I should have been doing from the start with that tank, and using it as a QT now. Its occupants are 2 emerald cories, 3 albino cories, and 2 baby yo-yo loaches, all of whom I'm going to move to the bigger tank once I'm sure that tank is healthy again (it's under quarantine for neon tetra disease).

Then I'll probably keep the 10-gallon cycled by keeping some snails and guppies in it, and still use it for quarantining new fish for the 55-gallon.