New Tank - Home or Office

[jamina1]

I'm hoping to get a betta fish soon.

I have a 10 gallon tank that I kept crabs in for a while but they passed away and its just been sitting outside gathering algae and stuff so I figure I'll buy one of the nice 5 gallon tanks they sell at walmart with all the things you need.

Anyway, the only thing I'm worried about at home is that I have a cat, and though the tank would be enclosed with a lid I'm worried that my cat sitting and watching the fish all day will stress him out. He'd probably be alone in the tank with maybe a snail or something, but thats it.

Otherwise, I can bring him to my office which then brings up the problem of how do I feed him over the weekends? I can do water changes after hours, but I don't want to starve him if I'm not going to be there Saturday and Sunday. I know people keep bettas in vases on all sorts of office places, but they always look sad and neglected. I don't want my betta to be like that.

[Amphitrite]

How about putting a couple of plants in the tank where the betta can hide - this will help prevent him from becoming stressed.

My cat sits next to my tank frequently, and the fish don't pay any attention, so I don't think it should be a major problem.

[jamina1]

Originally Posted by kateyoup

How about putting a couple of plants in the tank where the betta can hide - this will help prevent him from becoming stressed.

My cat sits next to my tank frequently, and the fish don't pay any attention, so I don't think it should be a major problem.

Our local petsmart has a vast collection of all sorts of plants and I was thinking of getting some to put in there as my last betta really enjoyed the plant he lived with. Unfortuantely I'm going to have to get a pet store betta too, but my last one lived very well once he got proper care.

[reeeeka]

my cat watches mine when they cat his eye...by swimming irratically or fast but they don't pay any attention to him. He gets bored after about 5-10 mins.

I doubt the fish would even care...if a cat staring at him would stress the fish out then you watching him swim around would stress him out?

I'd put the fish tank at home

[SST]

There are vacation feeders for bettas. I bought some 7-day ones when we went on vacation and they worked just fine. I don't know if there are 2-3 day ones. It's just a chunk of something, don't know what, with food embedded in it. As the chunk dissolves, it releases the food. It's best to test them out before you actually leave fishie alone with one to make sure that fishie is actually eating the food, since they can be finicky eaters.

Good luck! You just might end up with a fish at home and at work.

[Falina]

The feeding blocks usually lead to bad water quality, especially if you are using them frequently. If you are only away 2 days then best just not to feed on these days.

I however, would have the tank at hme because you have more time for maintanence and are less busy and therefore less likely to forget or skip on feeding or maintanence of your tank. You are also able to enjoy it more at home as you don't have so much to do.

[Siotehcat]

I keep my girl at home with my 4 cats. After the first meeting, they dont pay her any attention. I dont keep a lid on my tank, because some of the plants are too tall...but she lives in my bedroom and is never left with the cats unsupervised. I would personally have a hard time leaving her at the office. I worry constantly about something happening and not being there to stop it. What if she jumped out?What if the heater exploded? You know, the kinds of things that rational people dont think about. =^.^=