Betta Fish Forum banner

Are Mini Bow tanks good tanks?

3K views 41 replies 16 participants last post by  Juditko 
#1 · (Edited)
Are Mini Bow tanks good tanks?

my parents bought me a Mini Bow 5g tank for christmas though it wont be here till the 3rd of january at the earliest as the ordered it late. they got it for me because i really dont like the tank my black orchid CT male Aero is in because of its weird shape and that the lid is propped up on one end to allow room for the filter and i worry about Aero jumping out even though its a small gap and we have a young cat the overly curious and i worry she may stick her foot and try to swat him.


so to all of you who own mini bows now or have in the past are they good a good tank? does the filter do a good job? does the filter need baffled? i hope its a good tank cause then Aero would more room(his current tank is 2.5g) and i wouldn't have to worry about him jumping or about the cat. and with it being acrylic and not glass it will be lighter and it wont be as much weight on my computer stand as there would be if i got a glass tank.


thanks
 
#33 ·
I personally don't use those filters anymore since I changed my 5 to a different filter and my other aquariums are basic rectangular tanks. The bow filters are not strong enough for a 5 and I do find it hard to believe that anything too horrible could happen with them since I've even had young Ghost Shrimp in with those aquariums and filters. I'm not calling you a liar by any means, so I hope you don't think I am, I'm simply saying I find it hard to believe these bows could cause any devastating life threatening problems.

As FishehGoBloop said, it's all about being smarter than the filter. And yes, research is the key to everything.
 
#34 ·
So I picked up the Fluval edge prefilter A 1387. $2.70 tax included at Petsmart. Fits perfectly on the Aqueon stock filter for my 2.5 mini bow. It does seem a bit big but we will get accustomed to it. I do have a question since that sponge sits close to the side of the tank... Hopefully no one has had a fish get stuck between tank wall and sponge?
 
#35 ·
I have the 5 gallon MiniBow for my betta and I love it. It is great for small spaces like mentioned before (I keep mine on my desk at work). I have my filter baffled because it was rough for my CT at first. He did get a bit of fin damage because of the intake, but I was able to stop that right away by sticking a small piece of filter foam in there. Works like a charm, and baffles it too. Before I had gotten this tank my poor little dude was in a half gallon cube (luckily I wised up pretty quickly) so he didn't like the current at first, and I had to elastic band another piece of foam around the out flow (I tried the water bottle thing, but I couldn't get it to stay, and he kept trying to play in it and I was worried he'd get cut). He doesn't need the foam there anymore, because he has grown strong and healthy, but its a good place for BB to grow, so I'm keeping it. I stopped using the filter cartridges it came with, and replaced it with some plain Fluval ones that fit nicely because I read that plants don't really like the carbon (not sure if that is actually true though) and because it slows the flow down. I found the incandescent light bulb it came with got quite hot and would fluctuate the water temp too much, and making it too hot with the heater, so I changed that out for the Aqueon 50/50 daylight/bluelight CFL flouresent bulb. It is much better for the plants and they are growing like crazy (especially the banana plant I have in there!). I did order one of those Azoo Palm Filters for this only because I'd like one that hangs off the back instead of being inside like it is. I just find that it is annoying to have in there, but that is just me! We'll see if I actually want to change it out and compromise my cycle once it gets here, haha. All in all, Sir Gilbert the Lionheart and his trusty snail On Nom are both very happy in there!
 
#36 ·
I literally just went out and bought a Minibow 2.5 gallon, and I'll see how it works. I am kinda worried about the filter, but I don't think I'll be able to get a sponge thingy for it. I'm thinking cheesecloth might work, but what is cheesecloth? I don't mean to sound dumb or anything, but I have no idea what it is.
 
#37 ·
lol, it's okay. I had no idea what it was when I first heard of it. This is what it is:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cheesecloth-3-yds/19757785


It's ridiculously cheap, like a couple of bucks for the small one which is more that you'll need. We used one package on all of our filters (I believe we had between 10 and 15 at the time between 3 of us) and we barely made a dent in the pack. Works great, though.
 
#38 ·
I have a pair of minibow 2.5s for my kids bettas, and I just took the filter off completely. You have to do water changes anyway, right?
 
#39 ·
Yep, water changes come either way, lol. Old Fish Lady has a thread on water change recommendations right here:


http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=115758

If you can keep up with a tank with no filter, and the proper water changes, then that is okay (I personally know that I can get slack, or lazy, or busy depending on my work schedule and it's hard to get the 100% changes in sometimes). So I know it IS a bit easier for some people to have a filter. But, as my mom always says, "you do you." Which is basically do what works best for you and your schedule, for the health of your fish. (I sometimes wish that I could stay home with my fish all day lol, but alas, that's impossible).
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top