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Mulak

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Hey

Im looking for a fish thats ideal for me with these expectations...

1. 1 or 2 fish, but its doesnt have to be a fish, i had a crayfish when i was a kid but i dont want one again
2. possibly the smallest bowl or tank
3. i hope not to get a filter but if i have to then i have to..

i guess that is all i gotta say
 
Mulak said:
Hey

Im looking for a fish thats ideal for me with these expectations...

1. 1 or 2 fish, but its doesnt have to be a fish, i had a crayfish when i was a kid but i dont want one again
2. possibly the smallest bowl or tank
3. i hope not to get a filter but if i have to then i have to..

i guess that is all i gotta say
Click to expand...

that fits a betta perfectly.

1. they can and should (in most cases) be on their own.
2. they can have any tank from 1 gallon upwards, but personally i think 1 gallon is too small, 2.5 gallon upwards sounds better to me.
3. you dont need a filter, just do 50% water changes every couple of days or so (might need clarification on that)

HTH
 
A filter is often LESS preferable for bettas, because they usually dislike current.

Fits the betta to a T! You don't even need to aerate the water in any way - they breathe from the surface with their labrynth lung. They actually require surface air even if you did aerate the water - they can't depend on their gills.

Anything bigger than 1G is fine for a betta, but I also agree with geo7x. 1 gallon is a bit small. 2.5G is perfect. I have mine in 3.5G and they are happy as clams.
 
You could do an ADF, but only if you kept up with water changes because they are heavily affected by poor water quality. A 2.5 gallon can actually have 2 or 3. (At least a gallon to start for one.) They're great fun to watch. And if they're on their own they'll be easier to feed because other tankmates won't get to the food first, and they tend not to like strong currents, so should do well without a filter.

I take it you've had bad experiances with bettas?

Actually, for that matter, you could have a ghost shrimp tank. Those would be silly easy to keep in an unfiltered bowl (as long as you promptly removed any who died from bad molts - funks up water fast). You just have to be careful not to overfeed them - less is actually more when it comes to ghost shrimp. And you could easily get a half-dozen (maybe more - depends on how much verticle space from plants is in the tank) in a 2.5.
 
Well, I should have said puddle.

Think about it. What survives in a little stagnant puddle in the wild? Fish can't live in there - no oxygen. You're pretty much limited to invertabrates who can travel from puddle to puddle. Or frogs who do the same thing. Or bettas or gouramis, who can breathe air - though they can't survive in nasty water at all.

Humans haven't been able to create the "perfect" fish to live in those little bowls we love to have. And while you can put anything you want in them, there's a great chance it'll die unless it's one of the above.

In order to have a nice selection of what's out there - and there is some great stuff - you need to have a cycled tank with a filter. I don't know if you're limited by space, or money, or time, or all of the above - but going with even a five gallon with a filter that's cycled can offer more choices - three guppies, or neons, or even three killifish (and there are rules on male/female ratio for these guys, don't know it off the top of my head). Going with a ten gallon - which really isn't that expensive - 8 to 10 bucks for the tank, 10 to 20 for the filter, a little more for gravel and plants, and once it's cycled you could have a nice little tank of small fish.
 
I dont want a 5G tank or if its give more fishes... if you didnt read my first post of the topic which are smallest bowl or tank to fit 1 or 2 fish or a non fish, i dont have to get a filter since somebody posted stating that.

simple as that
 
It's just you didn't sound too happy about the choices you had, so I wanted to offer a different idea of a bit larger tank to see if something like that might catch your fancy. :)

But yeah, ADF, shrimp or betta are the only things that can go in an unfiltered bowl, but it needs to be at least a gallon in size for the betta and the frog. As for shrimp, ghost shrimp would probably be okay in a smaller bowl that had frequent changes, or for a difference species of non-filter feeders (like bamboo aka wood aka fan shrimp - they need heavy filtration in oerder to eat) probably a gallon would be fine.
 
It's not so much the size that's limiting the choices, it's the lack of filter. Other small fish are too sensitive to uncycled water (ie, the ammonia levels would stress them and eventually kill them). Not only that, but water looses oxygen fast without constant movement, and fish will actually smother to death in a plain old bowl. Now don't get me wrong - it won't happen instantly, but in the long run, the fish will suffer and eventually pass away very prematurely. Fish have a very decent life span - it's keeping them in unsuitable conditions that causes them to not last long.

I wish there were more options out there. If there was, I'd have a bowl with a fish on every available surface of my house! But until breeders can create something, or science discovers a new species, this is what we're stuck with. :( Bettas and frogs breathe air, and shrimp don't require much oxygen due to their small size. You could have a dwarf gourami, as these are air breathers as well, but they need a minimum of 5 gallons, which would be too large for you. Everything else requires a filter of some sort.
 
I was really hoping someone else would post here so you wouldn't completely hate me :( ... but...

All of those tanks are way too small. They hold 1/4 gallon to 1/2 gallon at most, and the minimum for frogs, bettas or anything else is at least 1 gallon. You honestly would be better of with a goldfish bowl with a homemade screened lid than with a cup that small. :sad:

You could find a 2.5 gallon glass tank and buy a lid separetly for about 10 USD in most fish and pet shops. For whatever reason, they never sell the good cheap glass tanks online - probably because they don't ship well. They also make little 1 gallon kits that they sell around the betta displays.

And as for the filter, you have to connect it to an air pump to make it work. They're not too expensive, I've seen pumps for 5 gallons and less (they're rated by tank size, 5 is the smallest) for about 6 USD. A great idea for a small tank, but if you're watching costs, it's one of those hidden fees that you don't find out about until you buy the product.

I actually found this topic when today when I was looking around, and thought it might be useful for you:
(What can I put in a 2g tank) http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...5&hl=two+gallon
 
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