Betta Bowl Big Enough?

[A.K.A Zak]

I don't know where this goes so fell free to put in the correct forum! My friend just gave my this nice little glass betta bowl, it's 4'' by 4'' round. this looks a tad to small for a betta but is it? what kind of space would they need, and how do all of you get yours to flare?

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I'm not sure about this (I don't own these fish and certainly am not an expert), but I think it'll do for one... I did a little bit of reading a while ago on breeding and Bettas came up. The book said that they could live in a muddy little puddle w/o problems. But I'm still not sure.

I actually wanted to know if a one gallon tank is big enough as a breeding tank. I'd like to know b/f buying any more fish.

 

[MAM]

well, yes, you could keep a betta in this. but i like soemthing a little bit bigger that i can put a small plant or two and maybe something for the betta to hide in (they like to do that sometimes). though many keep their bettas in these little bowls with no problems (just depends on the fish i guess). i have one betta in small "dual betta hex" (take two of your bowls side by side and merge, thats about how big it is), and he isn't happy in anything bigger, whereas my other two hated the hex but love their little one gallons. do some reading in the betta section.
as for flaring, just hold a mirror up to it every now and again, he'll see his reflection and think its another male and flare.

 

[AquaNut]

I sure wouldn't keep a betta in a bowl that size, but they'll survive in them. I must admit that I've found they're happier in smaller surroundings than in a big tank, but they still appreciate some room to move and swim. Plus, if they're in that small of an amount of water, it's going to become fairly polluted very quickly. Bettas are piggy little eaters and you'd be doing water changes twice a day to keep him in clean water. (I know nobody does w/c twice a day for their bettas, which only means he'd be spending a good part of his time in ammonia/nitrite polluted water) I have bettas in divided 5.5 gallon tanks, though.. which means they're only in a couple of gallons of water each, and this seems more than adequate for them. Just my opinion.

 

[A.K.A Zak]

well how about me putting my new betta in a 10 gallon with two fake plants, snails, and sand in it, oh and it will be lighted by a flouesent light. does that sound way better, and then i would only have to do a water chand 2 times a month.

 

[MAM]

some bettas would love that. you'll just have to see what he thinks.
BUT, you'd still need to do weekly water changes as with any other fish. but in abigger tank it will be less of a hassle.

 

[Duff_man]

some bettas would love that. you'll just have to see what he thinks


I think the same way

 

[fishymania]

I assure you that it's not to small because bettas could breathe oxygen both dissolved in the water and the oxygen above the waters surface.
The only problem with this is that your betta bowl will become very dirty within a short space of time and also your temperature could drop suddenly if pwoer goes out and this can premote stress and white spot but ideally, I don't think that you can fit a heater in that small of a tank so i do think that you're safe to go ahead with this

 

[A.K.A Zak]

thinks for the help guys.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi A.K.A. Zak

I think that putting him in a 10 gallon tank is a great idea! You could add live plants which would make it even nicer for the fish. (but then, skip the snails.)

Then, since it's a shame to have all that good tank space going to waste, you could add some cory cats. You could add lots of cory cats! Maybe 10 cory cats if you have a good filter and heater, which you really should have anyway.

You see, the corys live on the bottom and the betta lives on the top. It does work out well.

My betta, Ruby, lives in exactly that kind of set up and is one very happy betta! Right now I'm in the process of moving my fish around and upgrading some of my tanks. When I'm finished, I will have at least 2 more cory tanks to put bettas in.

 

[FishHeads]

I usually keep my Betas in 2.5 Gallon rectangular tanks...but right now they are all in Beta Hex tanks (the little ones) because winter is almost here and I am moving them into my fiance's mom's house for the winter break. My Betas hate small tanks. ...

 

[BettaBoyz]

it depends on the Betta. some Bettas likes smaller spaces, others cannot stand confined areas. i had a Betta that could not stand anything smaller than the ten gallon, one that started dancing away and looking better when i changed his water and put him in the hex (he's happier now, moved from a 2g to a .5g)

it depends on your fishie, but remember that if the Betta you get doesn't like his new home, get him a bigger one!

 

[White Whale]

I don't know where this goes so fell free to put in the correct forum! My friend just gave my this nice little glass betta bowl, it's 4'' by 4'' round. this looks a tad to small for a betta but is it? what kind of space would they need, and how do all of you get yours to flare?

I use to keep ALL my bettas in those jars and did a 50% water change every other day. It seemed to be okay for the first 3 weeks or so, but then Bulldog, Lionfish, and Rip Van Winkle became listless and began to go grey. Batman was the only one bubble-nesting, Telly seemed depressed. I guess it was contagious, except for one. Anyway, I got a divided 2.5, a quart drum bowl, and a Hagen 0.5 Betta Kit. I put the crowntails in the 2.5, Bulldog in the quart drum, and Telly in the 0.5 Hagen. All seem to be happy now. Each has gravel and at least one plastic plant to hide in. Batman doesn't flare anymore, but he my most active swimmer. You can feel him say "WOOHOO! I'm alive!" almost everyday he swims. Rip Van Winkle flares at anything coming near him. "MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!" Lionfish just chills most of the time. But when he flares, RVW backs down and then goes to Batman to show off. Bulldog is lively when it comes to feeding time. He's like a little puppy waiting to be fed. I don't think he realizes that his surroundings have changed. He just swims back and forth, or just sleeps until it's feeding time again. He's recovering from ripped fins he acquired during a water-changing accident. Telly is in my room. He LOVES his new crib. He watches me type on the computer. He sometimes just hides when I look back and sometimes he does figure-eights for me. He's still shy of my finger, but at least he acknowledges I'm there.

Like a few posters said: It all depends on your betta.

 

[guppymonkey]

Whenever I go to the pet store and see all those bettas in the tiny bowls I feel so sorry for them! I know that they supposedly like small tanks but it seems like a little fist sized bowl is too tiny for them. Unless you kept the temperature in the room in the mid to high 70s it would probably be too low for them anyways. It just seems like such torture for them!

 

[Inchworm]

I'd like to know more about how bettas live (in nature) in puddles the size of those little cups.

It just seems to me that they would evaporate too fast. And how do the baby bettas get from their nest to all these individual puddles at the rate of one fish per puddle?