Fish Jar

[omega59]

that isn't 5gals that i most 2gals and that is used at bakers for flower jar LOL
i wouldn't put anything in there at all for it will be murder!

 

[Esfa]

I'm not sure how it is different from keeping a betta in a 5gal, unfiltered rectangle tank?

Get a heater for it, put some gravel in the bottom, a plant, and viola. Nice little tank.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If the tank can hold 2gallons of water or more then a betta would be fine in it. Betta's are not very active fish, they can live with less space than other fish around their size like guppys need- a tank/bowl/container of 2gallons or more is fine for a betta.
Filtration is not nesarsary as long as daily water changes are performed on the tank to ensure the water stays fresh and ammonia levels do not rise. Betta's have a primitive pair of air breathing lungs which allows them to take oxygen straight from the air at the surface of the water, meaning that DO levels in the water are not too important. The main thing when doing daily water changes is to make absolute certain that the new water has the same temp and ph as the old water in the tank, and that if you do a 100% water change that the fish is carefully acclimatise back into the tank after the water change is done.
Heating is generally advise though, since although betta's do fine in temps around 23-29degree's, however like most fish daily fluctuations in temp are stressful for them and most people do not have rooms in their accommodation whose temperature does not fluctuate daily from day to night etc, so heating is good as it helps prevent fluctuations in tank temperature.

About the betta's and puddles thing: This is true and not true at the same time. In the betta's natural habitat, it experiences dry and wet seasons- during the wet season, the betta may have a whole giant pond to itself, but during the dry season it may have just a puddle- due to this betta's have evolved to be very tough and adaptable fish, it doesn't really matter if you give your betta a 2gallon tank or a 22gallon tank, the main thing is that the water quality and tank is kept clean, the tank has a very gentle or no current in it (betta's don't cope well with medium to strong current/water flow in their tanks since the long fancy finnage so many betta's have been bred to have weights them down and tires them out etc), the temp is kept stable and warm and the tank has some decor in it (preferably planting, whether real or fake, since betta's dwell in densely planted area's in their natural habitat and prefer being in planted area's when given the choice etc).

A single betta is the only fish i would advise for a tank as small as 2gallons- don't put any guppys, tetra's, platys etc in there. Apple snails would do good in the tank as although they come from a different part of the world as to betta's, their natural habitats are quite similar. Shrimp would not be a good idea unless you have filtration in the tank as shrimp are very sensitive to water quality and would not cope as well as apple snails or betta's would living in an unfiltered tank.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

1) bettas can live at room temperature however it isn't the best thing as the water temperature fluctuates too much in a common household, which may change the water temperature, causing stress on the fish.
2) Bettas do need water flow as they don't only get the DO from the surface, in an oxygen enriched area they will get the DO from within the water aswell as the surface. (hints why they still have gills).
3) It is true that bettas don't need a high amount of DO, but he wants to have a lid on the jar, which would make gas exchange nearly impossible, which would cause a dead fish.

1) Most houses I have been to have a fairly constant indoor temperature. In order for water to change temperature to it's surrounding, it takes a while. This is more than enough time for the fish to adjust without any negative side effects. Besides, the user could purchase a small heater.
2) Water will usually always have DO in it at very low levels, this occurs during water changes. Besides, bettas have adapted to live in water with very low DO, so I think this environment would suit the fish.
3) Don't put a lid on the jar.

Personally, I don't like bettas, so I would suggest selling the jar and getting a real tank

 

[groovitudedude]

Uh, yeah. Unless you want to do daily WCs (if you can even call it wcs on a tank that small), and check the temp every 15 minutes, I'd say a big fat FAIL

 

[omega59]

by the time you add gravel and some decorations it will be cramped. i say no again.

 

[PRW1988]

Uh, yeah. Unless you want to do daily WCs (if you can even call it wcs on a tank that small), and check the temp every 15 minutes, I'd say a big fat FAIL

a 5 gallon tank still isnt' that small, it's adequate space, especially if it was for a betta, also, why would you need to do daily water changes, I have a 5gallon hex blackwater biotope set-up and I do weekly water changes. In a tank that size if he had a single betta, weekly water changes of 50% would be fine.

 

[nukeonekitty]

I personally wouldn't do it for all of the above stated problems. I kind of get the hill billy feel from this idea, sorry. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

Boy, so much negativity coming out....
I like it, it's cute, and it IS big enough for a betta. I would put a one in there, 1-2x weekly water changes,
some neutral gravel, smaller plants and it would be so cute!
I'm not arguing with anybody here but I have kept bettas for years, never filtered, never heated and
my first and oldest boy Sharkbait lived to be 4 years old. I mean they already live in glass houses but they're not as fragile as people make it seem. Most of them are tough little critters. I'm also not saying you should keep them in a cup or anything less than 1 gallon but work with what you've got. This is totally suitable for 1 betta.

 

[Inchworm]

I saw this thread when it started but lost it somehow.......

Personally, I like the idea. It's attractive and a five gallon tank is not exactly small. I think it would work as long as the temperature of the room it's kept in was reasonable and didn't fluctuate very much. The main problem would be to raise the lid enough to have the airline fit through underneath it.

For filtration, you could use something like this, or you could consider making a small, air pump driven box filter. I think there might be some ideas in the Do It Yourself section.

http/www.everythingforpets.com/elite_sti...6397.dept.1200/

I see you have a 75 gallon tank already, Recky10, so you know the basics of fishkeeping. It's just a matter of working out the hows and finding some tiny fish to stock it with. I'd love to see some pictures of it when it's finished.

 

[PRW1988]

Dpon't get me wrong, I agree with the 5gallon betta tank, but I just think that if the OP wants to add any filter and/or heater then the wires hanging out will be nasty looks. And for the reccord, my oldest betta lasted 8 years in a half gallon unfilter, unheated tank doing 75% water changes every 3 days.

 

[groovitudedude]

Uh, yeah. Unless you want to do daily WCs (if you can even call it wcs on a tank that small), and check the temp every 15 minutes, I'd say a big fat FAIL

a 5 gallon tank still isnt' that small, it's adequate space, especially if it was for a betta, also, why would you need to do daily water changes, I have a 5gallon hex blackwater biotope set-up and I do weekly water changes. In a tank that size if he had a single betta, weekly water changes of 50% would be fine.

Okay, fine. That's like sticking you in a 1000 Gallon fish tank and changing the air every 3 days. And I bet you have a heater and filter on your 5gallon hex biotope.

 

[CFC]

Just one thing puzzles me and that is why are people so obsessed with water temperature? Water temperatures in the wild fluctuate over the course of the day and shallow tropical waters can go from 40c during the day to 15c at night so most fish are perfectly adapted to gradual changes in temperature. Water loses heat much slower than air so even if the room drops below optimal temperature for a few hours the water will retain its heat for a fairly long period before the water becomes dangerously cool.

I actually run the heat in my fish house so that it is slightly cooler over night by reducing the on time of the room heater.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Just one thing puzzles me and that is why are people so obsessed with water temperature? Water temperatures in the wild fluctuate over the course of the day and shallow tropical waters can go from 40c during the day to 15c at night so most fish are perfectly adapted to gradual changes in temperature. Water loses heat much slower than air so even if the room drops below optimal temperature for a few hours the water will retain its heat for a fairly long period before the water becomes dangerously cool.

I actually run the heat in my fish house so that it is slightly cooler over night by reducing the on time of the room heater.

A sudden change in temp of 3-4degree's is actually enough to cause some fish to have dropsy, some fish cope with day and night fluctuations in temp a lot better than others. In the wild, you will rarely see fish living in (let alone thriving in) very shallow waters unless it is a very hot country which is experiencing a dry season- even then, a great deal of fish die off during such times, mostly the small or young ones. Large fish like large catfish which live for decades tend to be a lot hardier and more adaptable to changing water quality conditions than small prey-type fish which have naturally short life expectancies and quick growth rates and which are lucky if they survive a year or two in the wild.
A good example of fish which often die off in great numbers during dry seasons in the wild are numerous types of wild killifish, i saw them featured on a wildlife documentary program, sometimes the entire populations of killifish may die off in a single dry season in their ponds, however their eggs always survive as long as there's some damp mud in the bottom of the pond (which there almost always is) so the ponds are always re-populated when the wet seasons arrive and the eggs hatch- on the other hand though, fish like numerous types of large catfish just tend to try and grow large enough quickly enough to tough it out during the dry season.

My point is, is that what happens in the wild and what fish have to cope with in the wild doesn't always mean that the fish don't have a hard time or there aren't large casualties etc. Most betta's prefer to have a stable tank temp rather than one which fluctuates a lot- not just that, but the smaller the body of water the quicker temperature can fluctuate in it.
In my house the room temp generally stays pretty stable and i don't actually need heating in my tanks for most of the year, however when i was renting a flat some years back it was a lot different a story and the temperature in the flat would vary wildly from night to day, getting very hot during the day time and very cold at night, it wasn't a very well insulated building (it was like living in a glass conservatory) and there was no way i would have been able to get away with not having heating in my tanks for long, some long power cuts unfortunately proved that (only fish in the small tanks whose temp fell a great deal during the power cut suffered casualties or sick fish, so i assume it was the quick drop in temp that caused them to go that way).

 

[CFC]

A sudden change in temp of 3-4 degree's is actually enough to cause some fish to have dropsy, some fish cope with day and night fluctuations in temp a lot better than others

But we're not talking about a sudden change, no ones coming along and dropping a lump of ice in the tank and unless you live in a wooden hut in Alaska your house temperature isnt going to drop by 4 degrees the moment the heating switches off, if it does then i seriously suggest installing insulation and double glazed windows.
The temperature range in a single body of water at one time can vary greatly at different depths with the surface of the water actually being up to 5 or 6 degrees warmer than the water at the bottom, are you telling me that nature created animals that will become sick and die if they swim upwards or downwards? I have taken temperature readings from varying levels and distances from the bank in lakes and rivers while fishing (knowing the temperature lets you know where the fish are likely to be and how hungry they might be) and have been astounded at how much difference there can be in a few meters of water.

In the wild, you will rarely see fish living in (let alone thriving in) very shallow waters unless it is a very hot country which is experiencing a dry season

How shallow are you thinking?

In any body of fresh water you will find many fish, large and small, in water 10 to 18 inches deep. The shallow water is warmer and gets greater light penetration here so food is more pleantifull and over hanging plants and marginal vegetation offer protection from predatory fish and birds, at further depths you will find less fish and in very deep waters you will find that the majority of the fish will be swimming at no more than a few feet from the surface. Again as a serious competition angler one of the methods myself and other anglers employ is to sit back well away from the edge of the water and actually fish right against the bank close to over hanging vegetation in water that is often no more than 10 inches deep.

People give fish a lot less credit for their resilience than they deserve, yes there are some very sensative species which in an aquarium situation will die in anything less than perfect conditions (discus come to mind) but luckily that is not the norm and most commonly available species including Bettas are a lot hardier than some people seem to think. It is only when you have studied fish in the wild that you can really understand how they interact with their enviroment and cope with the changes it goes through.