5gallon Long ???? Heaters Filters And Aquascaping

I'm new to fish keeping and it safe to say I'm addicted !! Basically after I purchased my first tank.I went on the hunt for more lol any way I grabbed a bargain and got a 50 odd litre(10 gal) a 25 litre (5 gal) and a 20 litre for just 40 pound .  To cut to the chase the 25 litre (5gal) is unique I can't seem to find any similar on any website or forum, it's 24 inches long by 8.high and 8 wide. I wanna  do some mad natural looking aquascaping and would just like some suggestions of what other peoples thoughts or what u would do with the tank ? I'm thinking betta fish with some natural lookin aquascape ascending left to right(such as a rock one end representing a mountain sloping down towards a beach or jungle seeing as the tank has alot of length in comparison to it's height and width. Also its hard finding heaters smaller than 8 inches could I place it on a planet and any ideas on filters.Share your ideas and opinions they will be much appreciated p.s this is my first aquascaping project

You can put heaters at a slant; lots of people recommend it. The reason is that the hot water rises up, fools the thermostat into thinking the whole tank is that warm and the heater shuts off. I can't quite see that myself as the water flow from the filter should sweep the newly heated water away before it has chance to rise.
But there are a few makes of short heater around. 25 litres needs a 25 watt heater. I have two - one Sera, one Visitherm. The Visitherm is just under 8 inches from the bottom of the tube to the top of the knob on the top of it. The Sera is a tiny bit shorter as that had a wheel to alter the setting rather than a knob. Though it sounds as though they'd still need to be on a slant in your tank.
As for filters, I'm not sure. The one I have in my 25 litre betta tank, and the 25 litre quarantine tank isn't made any more. For a betta, you need a filter with a gentle flow (and the flow can be turned down on mine).
Be careful with small filters, some of them have awful media inside. My small filters are Hagen Elite Minis; the replacement for them is the Marina i25, a good example of what I mean by awful media. The Elite mini has just one sponge and is fine for a betta. The i25 has a cartridge containing zeolite and carbon, that's all. Zeolite should not be used in any filter, in my opnion, and I don't use carbon.
Maidenhead Aquatics (they are on-line as well if there isn't a branch near you, though you'd be better seeing it in the flesh to make sure it would fit in your tank. ) sell the Aquamanta IFX 50 which is what I'll probably get if my filter stops working. It says it has an adjustable flow rate and it shows a spray bar attached. It is easier to "adjust" a filter with a spray bar by covering the spray bar with a piece of netting, or even a section of a pair of tights. But it does say that it performs mechanical, chemical and biological filteration - the chemical could mean carbon or even zeolite. I would use neither, just add a bit more sponge.

I'm not very good with plants so other people will need to advise you there. But I can tell you that whatever decor you put in a tank with a betta needs to be smooth. Rough decor or sharp edges can damage a betta's fins. There is something called the tights test - run an old pair of tights over the decor and if they snag, it will potentially damage a betta. Small rough areas can be sanded smooth, but that is impratical with large areas. And bettas are curious fish; they will squeeze through holes to see what's on the other side. They will try to get through holes that are too small and get stuck. If your chosen decor has a hole that a betta could get stuck in, find some way to enlarge it, or block it.


And on a slightly different topic, in fishkeeping, it's American gallons (except for some British medications, which is why it is safer to use litres for working out the dose). It is always US galls when sites talk about tank size for stocking. So 50 litres is 13.2 US galls; 25 litres is 6.6 US galls; and 20 litres is 5.3 US galls.

Just to get this straight in my head - you are talking about the very long, thin, shallow tank that's 24 x 8 x 8 inches? I thought you said for a betta?

That is a small tank for a shoal of fish, though not as bad as a typical 25 litre tank as those don't have much length to them. You might get away with half a dozen fish that grow to 1 inch max. Something like one of the Boraras species, or a Microrasbora species or Danio erythromicron. Have a look on Seriously Fish to see which would suit your water pH and hardness. Or if you fancied a challenge, a 1m 2f trio of Dario dario, the scarlet badis.



Don't replace the sponges in a filter until they begin to fall apart. The manual will probably tell you to replace them every so many months but ignore that as it's only to make you spend money. And when they do need to be replaced, do a bit at a time. One thirs is the max amount that should be taken out at one time, with at least six weeks between portions.

Another sign that the filter needs cleaning is if the outflow slows down a lot. Then just squeeze the sponges in water that you take out during a water change. Don't go mad with the squeezing, just get the loose muck off.

Thanks , and iv jus researched the Dario Dario species and ther beautiful I think if I can find them or if my LFS can get hold of them that would be a good choice ,thanks again.