Can Bettas Go In Biorbs?

[jennybugs]

Good luck with the marine! If I can do it...

FYI I had a betta in a 15L biorb initially and would never do that again. I had one in a 30L and a Biube after that and they were fine and much beeter spaces for a solitary betta I love the biorbs and if they're stocked responsibly (ignore the stupid stupid instructions that come with it) with small slim bodied fish then they are a great home for a fish. Too many people cram them with goldfish etc, overfill them and don't do sufficient maintenance to make them work properly imho.

 

[Honeythorn]

FYI bettas don't need O2 in the water, bettas are surface breathers and come to the surface for air

All fish require O2 in the water. The ability to breathe air ( shared by all anabantids not just bettas by the way ) is a survival mechanism employed mainly in the dry season in the wild, when the O2 in their gradually decreasing waters reaches dangerously low levels. They also take air from the surface as a matter of course much like cories do, but still actually utilise most of their O2 from the water, not the surface.


If they didn't require or use 02 in the water and only breathed from the surface they would not have gills.

 

[Floyds mum]

The BiOrbs do get quite abit of o2 into the water cos thats what the bubbles are, if bettas can be kept in tiny tanks under 15L hten i would put one in a baby BiOrb. I dont like the look of round bowl like tanks, personally, but if people put them in tanks of a smaller size then why not.

 

[Honeythorn]

The best way of getting O2 into the water is through agitation or if that cannot be done ( bettas dislike it) then large surface area - Which Biorbs do not have. You can of course lower the water level which makes things much more manegable oxygen-wise.

but if people put them in tanks of a smaller size then why not.

For the simple reason that they should not have to be in something tiny just because they can survive such a thing, and because as mentioned, globe shped tanks when full, have poor surface area.

A 30L Biorb with a lowered water level would be quite use-able for a betta as long as you don't mind the lowered water level look ( I wouldn't be bothered by it personally if I had no choice but to have such a tank, but there are plenty of people who simply want a pretty ornament for themselves to look at that will match the coffee table and go with the curtains, instead of a decent tank for the fish )

 

[Floyds mum]

BiOrbs do give water agitation, ive never seen one that doesnt disturb the water.

All i was meaning is that people say 11L is perfectly fine for a lone betta so 15, 30 or 60L BiOrb would surely be fine for them, being in a BiOrb doesnt "kill them off" and they can live in one for along time and there isnt that much of a strong flow from the filter.