Decent looking Betta Cave Ideas?

**Totenkampf** · 03-21-2012 01:06 PM

I am hooking my mom's betta up with something better than a 1 gallon hex and want to provide a cave for the betta (which they seem to require) without moving that stupid little castle into the eclipse 12 that i am cycling for her. any ideas on a diy cave design? i havent found any good driftwood with a nice pocket in it and seaching the web gets me goofy designs based on gluing sparkly rocks to a candle holder. not too natural looking. i have some nice palm trunk and cork rounds but they float far too well. If i could disguise PVC, without using blingy rocks, then that might be okay.

**eklikewhoa** · 03-21-2012 01:14 PM

Why do bettas need caves?

**Totenkampf** · 03-21-2012 02:11 PM

dont they really like overhead cover? this one sleeps in its little castle and when i researched it the concensus was to provide one unless i was allowing floating plants. if i cant find a good solution it might be an excuse to buy red tiger lillies again. i am playing with the idea of making a bonsai tree out of grapevine and peacock moss too.

**eklikewhoa** · 03-21-2012 02:15 PM

All the one's I have owned just stay near the surface or what not, never seemed to care where they rested.

**luvmycichlids** · 07-13-2012 04:46 PM

I know this thread is aging but I thought you might find this interesting. I never gave much thought to Betta's and caves until recently. I purchased a 20g used set up that came with a lot of extra's. The tank is for my my kuhli's and since I didn't want to be looking at a seemingly empty tank I added a male Betta, 2 female Guppy and 1 female Betta. One of the "extra's" that came with the aquarium is a rather large "crumbling" colosseum, I thought my Kuhli's might like hanging around, off and under it; which they do. But the 2 Betta's seem to really like it as well! There are like 4 entrance/exit openings in the colosseum along with rounded archway's and the Betta's are always disapearing inside using one entrance and coming out another. They will even swim through the covered arches at times as well. Also the two plants they like the most in the tank are the Hornwart and a Banana plant especially, they really like to rest on and sometimes under the leaves of the Banana plant. The Betta's really seem to enjoy this tank with all of its plants and the colosseum; feel really bad for the Betta's I've had in the past!!!

**Totenkampf** · 07-13-2012 04:52 PM

i ended up making a little cave with Seiryu stones and the betta sleeps in it every night. In another tank, the dragonscale sleeps in a hollow in some driftwood. I do think this is something important to their well being.

**troy tucker** · 07-13-2012 07:52 PM

I have a few batts that love to swim in and out of the rocks,plants, and driftwood. Most battas live in a little bowl by them selfs. When you put thim in a big tank. It takes a few days for thim to get strong enough to really swim around. They rest in the plants. Laying on the leafs but they start getting stronge. They start swimming all over.
I like they way they act in a big tank. They become more active...

**luvmycichlids** · 07-13-2012 09:45 PM

My female sleeps in the hornwart for now but hopefully that will change soon and I'm not sure where the male sleeps yet. It is unbelievable the difference behavior wise when Bettas are put in an aquarium instead of those small containers and vases!! It's cool watching the male fight his way through the water current and he is getting a lot better at it. I have never had a female Betta before so I was amazed at how fast they can be. The first night in the aquarium the little female came nose to nose with one of the Kuhli's, she looked startled and then she rammed his nose and the Kuhli swam away and hid again. Too funny!!