Would This Be Cruel?

[ImperfectFaerie]

Your 3.5g will be wonderful for your betta. Ours is in a 4g with a ADF and he's the happiest we've ever seen him (and YES- we had him in a 10g- he hated it, hid in the corner never came out even with more plantings and things. Much happier in the small tank). But the requirement- PICTURES!

 

[starrynightxxi]

to be honest, it's pretty arbitrary. some people keep bettas in half a gallon, some in a gallon, some in 5, some in 10, and they all report the same results. A betta that APPEARS happy, healthy, and interactive.

The fish itself is 2.5 inches generally, so by the inch rule, 2.5 gallons is the absolute minimum. The fish is not a big waste producer, and small-waste fish are generally allowed to be overstocked slightly because filters can handle that little extra load. And if you over filter your tank, then you can keep even more. The fish also is nowhere near as active as a tetra or a danio.

A tank is overstocked if a fish can't turn around easily, can't swim without bumping into another fish, doesn't have enough swimming room (ie: a danio in a hex tank), or if the filter can't handle the amount of waste produced by the fish and the nitrates begin rising.

That said, yes, you can keep a betta in a three gallon, and even better if it's a filtered three gallon. A dog may live in only a small yard, but it can still be properly stimulated through play and interaction with its surroundings and those within (and without) them.

 

[Darkerwhite2]

my bettas in a 5 gal with a very small filter (desinged for tanks under 5 gal) hes happy as can be, good luck with your betta

 

[Lynden]

I don't like this situation

People are absolutely religious about minimun tank sizes when it comes to any other fish, but as soon as some one mentions Bettas, this is totally forgotten.

I think that Betta keepers just want to cram as many fish as they can into a room, without thinking about the fish's needs.

A 3 or 4 gallon tank is not too terrible, but I still say (and will continue to say as long as I remain sane) that 5 gallons is the minimum for ANY fish, even those Everglade Sunfish

-Lynden

 

[starrynightxxi]

Fishkeeping is as much about personal opinions as it is about facts. You will see what you want to see. If you are convinced that you will only see unhappy fish in anything under 5 gallons, that is all you will ever see. If you believe some fish can live happily in tanks under 5 gallons, then that is what you will see.

Happiness in fish isn't something we can judge very easily as many of the things we take for happiness are simply instinctual responses to environmental stimuli. If a betta realizes that if it wiggles, it's owner pays attention to it, and often when it's owner pays attention to it, it gets fed, then yes, of course it dances like a loon every time you walk by. And if food is plentiful and it's home makes it feel safe, then the betta will build a bubble nest and wait for a female or rival to swim by because it's healthy and secure. Is this happiness? Maybe not the way we see it, but for an organism that does not experience things the way we do, perhaps it is.

I personally wouldn't keep a betta in anything less than 2.5g, but what i think is most important of all is that the fish feel secure in it's environment. Less than 5g may be too small, but well planted it is desireable to a 10g that is empty of anything but the fish.

 

[stang1]

I have 4g tanks for my three Bettas and they are all happy and healthy. If I thought for one minute they were suffering then I would move them to a bigger tank.
Lynden, I find it very arrogant of you to say that Betta keepers basically don't care about their fishes needs. There are plenty of Betta keepers on this website who care a great deal about their fish and don't cram as many as they can into a room. Perhaps you should do a little research before criticising people. I have a book written by a chappie who has kept and bred Bettas for 40 years, studying their behaviour, feeding habits etc. What with that and advice from plenty of people we are not being cruel.
I needed to get that off my chest!

 

[dwarfgourami]

We've been here before. Frequently.

Maybe the problem is that the evidence is less clearcut than with some other fish. With danios it always seems to work the same way: they get stressed and aggressive in a 5 gallon. This can be easily observed. A plec grows stunted and stressed in a small tank, and the water stats go pear-shaped. Happens every time. Nobody seriously doubts that goldfish have a lesser quality of life in a 5 gallon.

But with bettas, we have a lot of conflicting evidence. We have a number of experienced observant betta keepers who can vouch that their bettas, originally kept in small tanks, reacted positively to being transferred to larger tanks and, by common fishkeeping criteria, are much happier in their new larger homes. And we also have a number of experienced observant betta keepers who can vouch that their bettas, originally kept in large tanks, reacted positively to being transferred to smaller tanks and, by common fishkeeping criteria, are much happier in their new smaller homes.

Perhaps this is why people get particularly passionate about bettas- because they have different personalities. Like people. IME people don't care less about bettas than other fish- when did you last hear of someone carrying out or encouraging others to do a rescue operation on sickly-looking lfs guppies? Any sensible person (even somebody who loves guppies as much as I do) would steer well clear of them. But betta rescues are an everyday phenomenon. There is something about bettas....

I think these debates are very useful, more useful still is the piling up of evidence, but it is essential that each side recognises the other's passionate commitment to finding the best way to care for their bettas. Personally, I have no axe to grind, my last betta died 30 years ago and I never tried keeping it in anything smaller than a 5 gallon tank, so have no useful input to contribute here- I have never seen the change in a betta that is transferred from one tank to another.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Personally, Lynden, I don't see how you can whinge about betta tanks when, for example, in your SW tank you have mollies, which until you acclimated them, had never seen SW, and most of the fish in there are wild caught. It's no more cruel keeping a wild caught fish from an ocean in a (comparatively) minescule 55g than it is keeping a betta that has been raised from a fry in something about a cup in size in a 1g. The marine fish is worse IMO, if you want to get picky about sizes.

 

[woogrl]

Wow this topic has lots of differances of opinion. Bettas have lived for many years in different sizes of aquariums. Of the bettas I have kept the ones I had in a 20 gallon tank always stayed in the top corner and hardly swam around, the ones I have kept in 1 gallon tanks swam freely. It all depends on the fishes personality IMO if the fish is not happy in a small tank or you are not keeping it clean enough, the fish will be stressed and lay around or succumb to illness. My last betta "Leo" lived for at least a year and a half in one of those little hagen batta homes until i moved him into a 1 gallon vase and he did just as well in there until he died about a year later. My 2 current bettas live in 1 gallon homes and seem perfectly well to me. They come to the side when i walk by and swin up and down when they are hungry. I have never had a betta die from illness or stress from being in a too small tank. I do not recommed keeping them in those cups from the pet store though, they are too small to be a permenant home. Just my 2 cents.

 

[tophat665]

I still think that;s an extreem.

Kittens are the size of the jar. I would compare it more to a human being kept in a low entertainment room. Say with a 56k connection or dial up or something.

It's still big enough to be entertainment, just not the best of life. Sure, we want the best, but sometimes its the best we have to provide. If they have a 3 gallon, use it! 3 is almost for sure better than anything they could recieve!

When I was a kid, we didn't have 56k. We didn't have disks. We played with bl**dy punch cards. And we liked it! Because it was all that we had! Wanted to see a TV show? Had to be home to watch it, and it had to be on ABC or CBS. Am I maladjusted? Am I? Kids today! (Oye! and the noise they listen to! All of you get off my lawn!)

/end crotchety

My personal preference would be to not keep a betta in less than 5 gallons, and preferably 10. That has more to do with attempting to keep a stable environment than bioload or space concerns. I'm basically lazy, and I would be very tempted to skip water changes on a 2.5 gallon or even a 5 gallon where that really ought not be done.

One thing I think we can all agree on: Any tank, even a 1 gallon, has got to beat the living snot out of living in a dixie cup.