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Has anyone had any trouble with keeping Bettas in tanks with sand?

After 2 males of mine died of unknown reasons, I started wondering what could have been the cause. I kept both of them in 2 gallon tanks with sand. I always did weekly water changes, sand vacs, and sand racks. My brother has a female in a tank with sand. The past couple days she has been looking like my two males did just before they died. My brother's wife has a male in a 1 gallon tank with marbels. And her Betta is by far the healthiest looking out of all four. All four Bettas were kept in the same local water, fed the same foods, and the same equiptment were used for all the tanks. So the only cause I can think of would be the sand.

What type of sand did you use?
How deep was the sand?
Did you clean the sand out really well?

My cousin has his betta with playground sand from Home Depot because he had an excess amount that he used for his turtle. The betta is still alive and flaring. I was also planning on shifting to sand, but I'm not sure, it might be hard to clean for me.

Best of luck on your next betta tank.

----edit---
Also forgot to add, he also has hornthwort (sp) in a 5 gallon all for his Betta and a few shrimps.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-26 02:39][/span]

if possible try to keep your betta in a bare bottom tank or bowl. it makes your life easier and protects the bettas from anything harmful in the gravel or in your case sand.

The sand I use is Quikqrete brand play sand.
I use about 1 1/2" of sand in all of my tanks.
I cleaned it as well as I could. Cup by cup, I rinsed and poured, rinsed and poured. I definitly took my time cleaning the sand. Plus, the Bettas are the only fish I have had problems with.

I will, with out a doubt, keep Bettas in bare bottom tanks from now on. Just to be safe. I can't stand losing Bettas to disease.

Did you mix up the sand a bit to keep air bubbles from forming?

At least once a week, I raked through the entire sand bed.