So right now I'm in the process of getting a new job (life of a broke college student, hoorah) and when I do I'll be upgrading my dear Ozwald's 1.5 gallon tank to a 5 gallon.
Ozwald is actually rather content in his tank now, but I'm sure that's because he was just put in it after being in a small cup sitting on a store's shelf. x]
Anywhoo-so I'll be upgrading to a 5 gallon glass aquarium and I'm sure that means I'll have to purchase a new filter, heater, etc. separately and I was curious on what everyone else has the works exceptionally well for them?
There will definitely be a single male Betta in the aquarium and I would like to have live plants and a "bottom dweller" as a companion-if that'd make any difference on what things I'd need.
It's a pretty basic set-up. Petsmart sells starter-kits. Would a 5.5G be alright? I got mine from Petsmart for like, $20.00 (or something around that). It was a starter kit that included a hood, heater, filter, light, and tank itself. Personally, I always use gravel and live plants with one fake piece of equipment like a mini bridge or log for hiding places. A lot of people use brine shrimp, mystery snails, or bristlenose plecos for tanks that size. (Pleco being last)
If you're not sure on what to purchase, then Hadoken Kitty is correct. Most stores (LFS or LPS) have kits that come in 5 and 10 gallon varieties, and some other special sizes like 5.5 or 6 gallons.
A kit would be a good choice for a beginner. It comes with the tank, a hood with a light, and the filter. All you would need to purchase would be a heater and necessary substrate and decorations
EDIT: I forgot to mention that most of these kits come with fool-proof instructions as well
I'm not necessarily a "beginner" when it comes to owning Bettas, however I'm not fond of plastic or acrylic tanks and all the kits I've seen had only those two materials, not glass. I'm more interested in what filter would be appropriate for a 5 gallon tank with a betta as I've heard stories of certain filters being too strong and since ill be buying my parts separately, I want to get the right things and if anyone has a specific recommended brands, that'd be helpful too.
Same. I ordered a glass 5 gallon tank (Dr. Aqua 5.2 Gallon Frameless tank) from Amazon today and I want to know what sort of things to equip it with.
As for a heater, I have a 50 watt Aqueon Submersible Aquarium Heater that I am loving. It's meant for tanks 5-20 gallons, though I'm using it for my 1 gallon. It works perfectly. I bought mine for about 30 bucks at Petco, but I saw it for 23ish at Fred Meyer yesterday. (You can also get them online for cheaper, of course).
I've never owned anything else, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but it's very precise (within 1-2 degrees) and it has an indicator light so you know when it's on. I would definitely recommend it if you're planning on upgrading to a 5 gallon with a bigger heater.
Well, the 5.5G "starter kit" from petsmart is a glass aquarium, and the filter is a very soft one. I also bought a cover to muffle the intake, though. I do that for my filters anyways. Honestly, I didn't buy the starter kit because I was starting a new, I did it because it was cheaper that way, and it had a majority of the things I needed in it.
Honestly, it really depends on how much you want to spend. I usually go by the rule that if it works and it does what it says it will, then there isn't use spending extra money on a shinier one. Especially as a college student. However, I would recommend having them test the light bulb BEFORE you walk out of the store. One of my tank lid lights almost caught my house on fire by short circuiting. :roll:
At our store our kits are all plastic or acrylic, which is why I refused them and now when people say "starter kit" I just think, "not another cheap-o tank" XD. I'm might look into just purchasing the 5.5 gallon online.
Thank you for providing the links! I generally look at tanks in person before purchasing (kind of like an OCD I have), but I've really only seen good reviews on it. I'll do research on more heaters and go look at a few and see about getting things changed over. The price is absolutely do-able too. XD
How does the filter work for you? The only negative I've heard about it, with betta owners, is that the filter is a bit strong... Did you have that issue?
And thank you to all that have helped I appreciate it!
Thus far I haven't had a problem with it, but that's only because I put another filter on the intake of that filter. It muffles it and softens/slows down the filter's outflow so it isn't as powerful. I had to do that in my 20g after it pushed my betta all around the tank. By the time I got my 5.5g, I just cut it to size and slid it on the 5.5g's without testing the filter without the extra covering. It's just starting to become a rule of thumb for me to make the filter as gentle as possible. With the extra covering, it works great.
You can actually see it in this pic. The cover is cut to size. Obviously it isn't the most attractive thing out there, but it makes the filter more tolerable for the fish, which is what matters.
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