New Member, New betta owner and some questions!

[Travito]

Hey everyone! My name is Travis, and I am new to this community as well as a new betta fish owner. My fiancée got him for me Christmas! From the tails and color sticky, he appears to be a dark red veil. I am very happy with him, and after doing some plunking around on the internet, I am determined to be a good and caring owner. He currently resides in a 3.4L aquarium with a cave piece in center. No heater or filter yet but I am going shopping tomorrow to pick up these items because the current setup is good for the short term, but I want him to be healthy and live long so I want to upgrade. I am also going to be on the lookout for a nice 5-7 gallon aquarium to give him some more swimming room. To make the best decisions, I want your input and advice! So far I think I want to get this heater:

http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-AHY00322...pr_product_top

What do you more experienced betta owners think? It has many good reviews, but I want to hear from you guys as well. For the filter, if I do not get an aquarium with one built in, I am leaning mostly towards this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Small-World%C2.../dp/B000634IYU

Again, most reviews I have found are good, although if anyone can recommend something better, then please recommend away! I know I need a filter that has low settings because bettas do not like strong currents.

I have a bottle of Nutrafin Betta Plus, it's a conditioner for tap water and it contains tropical almond leaf extract. I am wondering how necessary this is, and how to interpret the expiry date on the bottle. It has the numbers "1209 122" stamped on it. I have discovered that "1209" is the expiry date, but I always get confused as to whether that means December 9th, or September 12th, and would that be for 2012, or 2013 now?. So if someone could help me out there that would be great.

I have read through most of the sticky's pertaining to betta fish care, but if any one knows of other awesome resources for a newbie like me, please share! I want to really take care of this fish as best as possible, so any advice, warnings, resources is welcome. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and help me out and I look forward to being a part of this fantastic community!!

[sandybottom]

if you can go a little larger, 10 gallon tanks are $10 right now at petco.they are having the $/gallon sale on tanks 10-55 gallon. if you want smaller, for $67 the aquaeon evolve 8 tank is on sale at petsmart. with a printed copy of the sale price,petco will also honor this price. i think they both do price match. mini bow aquariums are on sale too. not sure about expiration date. water conditioner is needed. i would suggest some prime water cond.and a liquid test kit.

[ANHEL123]

Sorry i don't know about water conditioner and exp date. I know that Prime is the best water conditioner Prime by Seachem. But definitely find out about exp date.
About tank my personal opinion 3.4 is just fine. I have bettas for about 7 or 8 years now and all of them in 2.5 gall. Just one tank is 5 gall. I do not have filters for any of them. You don't need to have a filter if you don't cycle your tank. And with filter for me it too much job. Well i have 10 bettas. You also need to make sure that filter not too strong for him. For now while you have 3.4 gall tank you need to do 1-50 and 1-100% water changes a week.
Very important when you do 100% water changes to acclimate your betta so you don't shock him with drastic temperature difference. I find convenient to use aged water it easier to control the temperature.
Or you can just have him in his changing container with about 1/4 water in it and slowly add small amount new pre mixed water, and let him sit for about 4-5 min to get used to the temperature , do it about 4 times.