The inspiration for this project was to be able to bring a piece of my aquatic hobby to my place of work, so "small" was key.

Not willing to settle for a "Betta in a bowl" solution, I began work on this 2.5 gallon with the intent to accommodate not only a custom background, but all things standard to a functional aquarium. Those being regulated temperature, good lighting and filtration.
DIY Aquarium Background
Betta Paradise
So far so good with our mini aquascape. The Betta is healthy and active and has many visitors in the office throuout the day to keep things interesting.
Peaking over the top of the left side of the background, is evidence that our bubble powered filter is still in quiet operation.

After some time though, it was evident a more efficient filter design was needed.


Click the image below to check out the new and improved spice bottle power filter design.
A few months have past and some improvements have been made. In addition to the new Spice Bottle Power Filter, DIY Pendant style LED lighting has been added.

Six .oz juice cups were fitted with standard medium base bulb sockets from the hardware store and power cords cut from 6' extension cords. The cups were spray painted inside and out with flat black paint to hide the hardware and shade the light.

A medium base 1w led bulb made by Lights of America was used in each fixture.
In addition a red, white and blue Crown Tail Betta was added. Our previous Veil Tailed tenant is healthy and happy back home in a larger community aquarium.

New aquatic plants were added as well including a young Cardinal plant and Micro Sword.
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Click the play button to see a short video of this DIY aquarium background and the stunning Crown Tail Betta showing off his colors.