Soon-to-Be Owner

[voiletmoon]

I'm getting a male betta fish in a few days, and I've read up on everything i'm supposed to do for him, and I was curious about his tank set up. I'm getting a heater for his tank, but their are going to be two live bamboo plants in his tank with him. I put them in water, and there are little oxygen bubbles where the glass tapers at the top.

Is bamboo safe to put in with a betta (will it rip his fins?)?
And do I need a water filter for him?<<< soley for oxygenating purposes. His water's getting changed in increments twice a week...

Thanks!

[iamntbatman]

What size tank is it? Filters are always a help but if the tank is very small it might be impractical. The Red Sea Nano filter is a good choice, as it's small and has an adjustable flow rate in case your betta is bugged by the current. Sponge filters also work well with bettas.

The problem with bamboo is that it's not actually a fully aquatic plant. It will die if you keep it completely underwater. It needs to have some leaves above the waterline. If you have a big enough tank so that you can keep the water level low, this could work out, but in a smaller tank you'd have some problems. If you need to raise the bamboo above the top of the tank, you won't be able to have any sort of lid. As several threads on this forum show, bettas are known to jump out of tanks with no lids.

[voiletmoon]

The tank is about two to three gallons, and the bamboo's chutes are long so its leaves are completely out of the water, and it's the curly kind, so it takes up a fair amount of jumping space. Would a pantyhose-ish fabric work adequately for a cover?

[iamntbatman]

I think some sort of mesh, like pantyhose, would be a good idea. It's no fun doing so much work to set up a nice environment for your fish just to have it jump out when you least expect it.

For a 2-3 gallon tank, I think a small filter would be a great idea. Water changes are stressful to your fish, and having a filter in a properly cycled tank would reduce the need for water changes since you'd have a place for bacteria to grow. You'd still need to do some water changes, but not as often and this way, you wouldn't be subjecting your fish to toxic levels of ammonia in between water changes.

[voiletmoon]

Thanks!

[Meatpuppet]

haha i think your fish would enjoy jumping into a soft pantyhose cover rather than a hard plastic one... if it happens anyway :D