Betta in an unfiltered tank

[Jo]

I don't like to keep fish in an unfiltered tank, but Huey (my betta) really doesn't seem to like the filter in his tank...I turned it off last night to see how he was and this morning I noticed that he was looking a lot happier and had even blown his first bubble nest!

I'm concerned tho about what not having a filter will do to him....can anyone give me some advice on how to keep the tank clean, how many water changes to do...?

Also, been contemplating putting him in a smaller tank as he seems a bit overwhelmed by the 7.5g...got a smaller, probably 3g I think, not claculated it yet, that I will be happier in I think...BUT...if I'm having it unfiltered, how can I cycle it without a filter, I have only ever cycled WITH a filter.

All help would be gratefully received!

 

[wuvmybetta]

It will cycle without a filter, all of mine have ,the bacteria will grow on plants,decor and in the substrate, water changes should be done weekly,if you keep him in the 7 use a gravel vac, if you move him to something smaller use a turkey baster to remove debris

 

[Jo]

and by vacing the gravel I won't be removing all of the bacteria...?

 

[Cali]

I keep my bettas in 1 gallon fish bowls. I do 100% water changes every week. I thoroughly rinse the fish bowls along with the substrate, condition the water and add my bettas.


How come I am not rinsing away beneficial bacteria? I thoroughly rinse the bowls. Is that weird that the fish never have any problems after such a thorough cleaning?



Another thing that's been on my mind....I have NEVER cycled my betta fish bowls. When I get a new bowl, I just rinse it and add the water (plus conditioner), the substrate and the fish. I've never had problems. Is this weird? I mean, are you supposed to cycle a fish bowl, too? I had no idea. Funny an uncycled bowl never bothered my fish.

 

[akhtar]

thats what i was thinking, wont it suck all the needed bacteria out?

 

[akhtar]

well cali, i used to have a 1 gallon bowl, and it was very hard to clean evry 3-4 days, so i got a 3 gallon tank, i like 3 gallon tanks best, if uv noticed

there small, easy to clean (25 percent weekly, and clean filter) and its very rewarding, i think u should get him a 3 gallon tank , i got mine for £9,

and a internal power filter, (with ajustable nozzle) put it on its lowest settings and the betta should be fine, infact happy, coz u wont be scooping him out anymore, and he'll have more swimming space!

thats my opinion, up 2 u though!

 

[Cali]

i think u should get him a 3 gallon tank , i got mine for £9,

"him" I've got 4 bettas...2 females and 2 males. I have NO room in my apartment for four 3-gallon tanks.


My guys a happy in their 1 gallons. They love them...My 100% water changes every week don't seem to be too much to me. It works out fine, IMO.


Thanks for the input, though...I know different things work for different folks.

 

[wuvmybetta]

no geeza, you won't remove all the bacteria, it will be growing all over everything,your just removing the nasty floaty stuff

uncycled bowls are fine for some, the way I see it is.....in an UNcycled bowl,your betta is living a lifetime of ammonia poisoned water ,it starts off clean but by the 3rd or 4th day it should have ammonia in it ,small doses of ammonia,but ammonia just the same

 

[Cali]

no geeza, you won't remove all the bacteria, it will be growing all over everything,your just removing the nasty floaty stuff

uncycled bowls are fine for some, the way I see it is.....in an UNcycled bowl,your betta is living a lifetime of ammonia poisoned water ,it starts off clean but by the 3rd or 4th day it should have ammonia in it ,small doses of ammonia,but ammonia just the same

Interesting. It doesn't seem to bother them. I completely change their water every 7 days...

So exactly how are you supposed to cycle a fish bowl? By the time the cycle is complete, I'd imagine it'd be time for the next cleaning.

 

[wuvmybetta]

cycling a bowl takes quite a while,at least 6 weeks.....you'd have to do at LEAST 3 partial changes a week just for the betta to remain in good health. But if you have aquariums,you can just use some of that water or gravel as a starter

 

[Cali]

cycling a bowl takes quite a while,at least 6 weeks.....you'd have to do at LEAST 3 partial changes a week just for the betta to remain in good health. But if you have aquariums,you can just use some of that water or gravel as a starter

Oh, so what you would do is keep the fish in his bowl, but do more frequent water changes during the week. Then, once the bowl is cycled (6 weeks), you can do water changes less frequently. Makes sense.


...well, I've had my bettas for well over 6 weeks and I've always done just one 100% change every week for all of them. It's never harmed them as far as I know.


Interesting, though...I always wondered how you'd cycle a bowl. Thanks!

 

[Alien Anna]

Not trying to be critical, but just an observation...

How can you tell a fish is "happy"? How can you tell that a fish is "fine", given that things like water quality problems tend to affect the immune system and longevity, neither of which you can determine until its too late?

The most you can say is that your fish does not appear to be unwell and is behaving as a healthy fish would be expected to behave. But then again, if you keep a betta in a bowl (for instance) and have never seen bettas in a natural (or naturalistic) setting, how can you really know what their normal behaviour is? You may be seeing stereotyped ("caged animal") behaviour and be interpreting it as normal!

I've kept animals since I was a small child and I've learned that one fundamental mistake is to forget they are not human beings and start intepreting their behaviour through human eyes. This is the reason people over-feed dogs until they are morbidly obese (my neighbour gives his dangerously obese dog human cereal for breakfast, with full-fat cows milk and bacon sandwiches for lunch! ), get angry with cats for catching birds and believe that as long as a fish eats and swims, it's happy and healthy. It may be, but it may not be.

Not to be harsh, but if you're a newbie in the hobby and more experienced fish keepers are saying "This is not good for fish" (or "This is good" ), you really should listen to it. You simply don't know enough about fish behaviour to know that a fish is "happy and healthy" yet.

I'm in the same position every time I get a new species - when I don't know normal behaviour, I have to follow the advice of more experienced people and try to learn as much as I can about my fish so I can interpret its behaviour.

 

[Cali]

Not trying to be critical, but just an observation...

How can you tell a fish is "happy"? How can you tell that a fish is "fine", given that things like water quality problems tend to affect the immune system and longevity, neither of which you can determine until its too late?

The most you can say is that your fish does not appear to be unwell and is behaving as a healthy fish would be expected to behave. But then again, if you keep a betta in a bowl (for instance) and have never seen bettas in a natural (or naturalistic) setting, how can you really know what their normal behaviour is? You may be seeing stereotyped ("caged animal") behaviour and be interpreting it as normal!

I've kept animals since I was a small child and I've learned that one fundamental mistake is to forget they are not human beings and start intepreting their behaviour through human eyes. This is the reason people over-feed dogs until they are morbidly obese (my neighbour gives his dangerously obese dog human cereal for breakfast, with full-fat cows milk and bacon sandwiches for lunch! ), get angry with cats for catching birds and believe that as long as a fish eats and swims, it's happy and healthy. It may be, but it may not be.

Not to be harsh, but if you're a newbie in the hobby and more experienced fish keepers are saying "This is not good for fish" (or "This is good" ), you really should listen to it. You simply don't know enough about fish behaviour to know that a fish is "happy and healthy" yet.

I'm in the same position every time I get a new species - when I don't know normal behaviour, I have to follow the advice of more experienced people and try to learn as much as I can about my fish so I can interpret its behaviour.

Alien Anna, exactly what advice to I need to heed? Do I need to move my 4 bettas from their 1 gallons to 3 gallons because someone with more betta experience says so? I don't care how much experience someone has with bettas, they don't have any experience with mine.



How do I know my bettas are happy? Well, because I know their personalities and I know how they act when they are happy, healthy and feeling well and I also know when they are not feeling so well from the way they swim and the way they react to me. They have been my fish for sometime now and I am accustomed to the things they do and why they do them.


I did lots of research on bettas before I got even my first one. I know that they can do wonderfully in 1 gallon tanks. Not ALL bettas do better in larger tanks. I DO know that. Each fish is different.


I have had my fish bowls for WELL over the time it takes for them to cycle. What I was asking (originally) is how do you cycle a fish bowl. I am well beyond needing to cycle any of my fish bowls, I was just curious. So, in summation, I was not asking for advice on the care of my bettas, but I was inquring about something else. Thank you for your informed concern for my fish, but they are well taken care of.

 

[Alien Anna]

Cali,

Alien Anna, exactly what advice to I need to heed? Do I need to move my 4 bettas from their 1 gallons to 3 gallons because someone with more betta experience says so? I don't care how much experience someone has with bettas, they don't have any experience with mine.

How do I know my bettas are happy? Well, because I know their personalities and I know how they act when they are happy, healthy and feeling well and I also know when they are not feeling so well from the way they swim and the way they react to me. They have been my fish for sometime now and I am accustomed to the things they do and why they do them.

I did lots of research on bettas before I got even my first one. I know that they can do wonderfully in 1 gallon tanks. Not ALL bettas do better in larger tanks. I DO know that. Each fish is different.

I have had my fish bowls for WELL over the time it takes for them to cycle. What I was asking (originally) is how do you cycle a fish bowl. I am well beyond needing to cycle any of my fish bowls, I was just curious. So, in summation, I was not asking for advice on the care of my bettas, but I was inquring about something else. Thank you for your informed concern for my fish, but they are well taken care of.

As we say around here, "If the cap fits, wear it". In other words, my post was a general observation and if it didn't apply to you you can conclude it wasn't addressed to you.

However, if anyone was interested in my opinion, I personally don't feel it is right to keep a betta in an un-heated, un-filtered bowl or tank, since they are tropical fish and because ammonia and nitrite are harmful to them.

 

[Jo]

he he...right ok guys, I only posted this to get some more experienced advice on how to keep my Betta's....

I can give you my observations on mine and all I want is a bit of advice...as I stated in my previous post I'm not happy about keeping Huey in an unfiltered bowl, for exactly the reasons that you have all stated, high ammonia, etc and I am unsure as to how to cycle the bowl without the filter, so the Nitrite is converted safely...

All I can say is that when I had the filter on, the current was clearly too strong for my Betta, he was hiding in corners, on the bottom and getting blown around, so took to hiding in his cave all day...I turned off the filter and within 24hrs he's building bubble nests, something I've been told is an indication of whether they are content in their environment...

I know about water peramiters from my other tanks and have been testing the water almost daily and changing where necessary...

my question was not, hey, lets keep a betta in an unfiltered bowl..my question was, what harm do people think it does to Betta's and how do I look after him so that he has the best life he can...?

Not to be harsh, but if you're a newbie in the hobby and more experienced fish keepers are saying "This is not good for fish" (or "This is good" ), you really should listen to it. You simply don't know enough about fish behaviour to know that a fish is "happy and healthy" yet.

I'm in the same position every time I get a new species - when I don't know normal behaviour, I have to follow the advice of more experienced people and try to learn as much as I can about my fish so I can interpret its behaviour.

Anna, this is exactly what I have/am still trying to do, i know that lots of you out there have lots of Betta's and I'd like your advice on HOW to cycle a bowl without a filter and whether he'd be happy living in there...of COURSE my tank is heated, I know that he is a tropical fish and just need some help...thats all I'm saying...please....