Betta water vs Tropical fish water

[basstracker_v16]

Workin on moving my two male Betta's up to a larger tank. It's a plastic 6.6 gal tank that Mijer is carring now, 23.5" long, 7.5" wide and 9" high. Im gonna put a divider in it to keep the boys apart.

They are in half gal tanks now. A few times I've forgotten about water changes, and they have gone for a week with out one. I've tested the water, 0 ammo, trates and trites were great too. I do treat the new water at change times, normallly every 3 days.

Question is now, if I want to put them into a new tank, heater, and filter, do I need to cycle the tank like trops? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, cause I did a fishless cycle on my son's 15g b4 putting fish in, but have only treated the water for my Betta's.

Thanks.

 

[Kiarra]

Cycling it will generally make the water conditions more stable, and will probably mean fewer water changes for you. But it's not an absolute necessity.

 

[BettaMomma]

I currently am working on getting 2 10G tanks cycled - one is a female community tank, the other a divided tank for 2 betta boys. They're all doing very well with the cycling - nobody has been stressed too much and it seems to be going fine.

Regardless, the tank will cycle (unless you do 100% water changes) - whether you put the fish in before or after is up to you.

 

[cerulean]

need to? no. is it easier? YES! i cycle all of my tanks that are over 5 gallons. each starts with some floss (put it in with the cartridge if you're using that instead) and some of the gravel from another healthy tank. the cycling has rarely taken more than 2 weeks this way and has not had any ill effects on the fish at all but make sure you test daily and do partial water changes as indicated by the tests as it's cycling. my 5 gallons with 1 male in each only need to have water changed once every 2 or 3 weeks (tested twice a week to make sure) and even then the parameters are quite good. the 10 gallons can easily go 2-3 weeks before the parameters show a need for a water change. i do clean the tank weekly tho if needed. MUCH easier than emptying containers all the time plus no fish sitters are needed except for feeding if it's going to be for more than several days.

 

[basstracker_v16]

Thanks for input so far. What type of filters do any of you use? I was looking at getting 2 (one for each side) Azoo palm filters.

 

[BettaMomma]

Well I use a whisper filter for my divided 10G tank. I have 2 dividers in - the tank is setup so that each boy gets about 4 gallons on either end of the tank, and then the middle section is empty and the filter runs in there, that way nobody has to deal with the current. It works pretty slick. That particular filter is adjustable so I can slow it down if I want to, and I do.

The girly tank I have is a TopFin filter and it's not adjustable. I like both of them just fine.

 

[jacblades]

Thanks for input so far. What type of filters do any of you use? I was looking at getting 2 (one for each side) Azoo palm filters.

i would go for the azoos. i have them on several of my small tanks. very awesome filters. super silent too.

 

[cerulean]

i use a whisper internal filter 2-10i in my 10 gallon, hangs inside the tank, works good, is virually silent (can't hear pump or water-easy to sleep near) and makes water movement but it isn't rough. no dividers in the tank, current definately doesn't bother my girls. putting some floss in the cartridge will help slow down the water movement too.

I use box corner filters with carbon and floss for the 5 gallons (boys) with an inexpensive gang valve. none of the boys i've ever had have been affected by the filters, they don't mind it if the gang valve isn't even on and it has a current but the 10 gallon pump i use runs two 5 gallon tanks (thanks to the gang valve) but it probably depends on the betta. i bought the gang valves to connect the pump to two tanks - turning down the current was an after thought. pumps do come in sizes, make sure you get one small enough (my goldies are in a 30 gallon with a whisper external and a box filter/20 gallon pump to get rid of all the extra garbage since goldies are quite dirty - this pump could possibly blow a betta away in a small tank) the only thing i don't like about them is that i haven't found a pump that doesn't rattle and make noise. some do make less noise than others some are awful. from what i've bought it seems to vary by pump not even by manufacturer. these are in the living room so it's never quiet in there anyway and the noise blends in but i tried and couldn't sleep with one. my husband can sleep through anything so it didn't bother him at all if one of the pumps goes i'm going to try an internal whisper 2-10i with the 5 gallons and add more media and keep it closer to the water.

the 30 gallon tanks have the external whispers that hang outside of the tank and work like a water fall but i haven't tried those with bettas. i did notice some of these for smaller tanks have a switch that can turn down the flow but others don't. a switch could possibly make them work. the water does make noise but a water fall noise. no pump sounds.

reason why i picked these 2 filters for the bettas? i can get the cartridges in bulk online (http/www.bigalsonline.com/splash.html less than 1/2 price of my lfs, ships just about instantly and i get it in 3 or 4 days - there are many other good places, this is one i use most often) and they last a very long time once the tank is cycled (rinse cartridge in tank water to clean out extra gunk at cleaning time to get it to last longer) so it's really cost effective in the end that way. carbon and floss also last quite awhile. since i'm rinsing and adding carbon to the cartridge as needed since i use it quite awhile it isn't really simpler than the box filter. works about the same in the end time wise.