Warning: Rant (Stressed out betta fish keeper)

[betta lover1507]

I go by 1+gallons, under it is unacceptable. but those are basically people's opinions on betta maintenance. and yes 100 percent change weekley under 5 gallons. i have most of my fish in 1 gallons, and there happy :)

[Sena Hansler]

I have my Dianne in a one gallon tank. She came to me with cloudy eyes from a bacterial infection. With clean water and good food, she's all better.

[Aus]

If you click on the link in my sig, you'll see a very happy betta in 3.5 gallons with lots and lots of plants (and even more plants now!) and five red cherry shrimp. The ammonia's nil. I do two water changes a week, one small (20-25%), one with a gravel vac (50%). I never cycled the tank on purpose, and the ammonia has never got past 0.25, ever - I think the plants help with that. I also never do 100% changes and there's parts of the tank with rooted plants and stuff that I can't vacuum at all.

I did restart the tank after my sickly-from-the-store lovely Sid passed away, and used Seachem Stability for a couple of weeks, not so much to kick off a cycle, but to stabilise the tank. That seemed to work pretty well. I've had no health problems at all, and the fish, shrimp and plants are thriving.

So yeah, smaller tanks can really work. But here, you've got a 6 gallon! Lucky you. :)

You don't have to cycle the tank at all, if you're prepared to make a couple of 50% water changes every week and gravel vac once a week - if you have a lot of low-light live plants like wisteria and anubias, etc, and a decent light for them (6500Kelvin) you can do less changes as the plants utilise fish waste to grow.

If you want to cycle it, it can take a few weeks. I'd highly recommend leaving the fish in his bowl for that process. There's a lot of good info on cycling in the stickies here, I've read them a lot so I know what to do to cycle a bigger tank I plan on... I've read that gravel is better for cycling. Easier to vacuum, too, than pebbles, I ended up taking all mine out and using for them for 3 gallon unplanted my daughter's plakat is in, since it gets a good wash out once a week anyway.

Can you take the tank outside and hose it? That might help with the grime. A brand new toothbrush or even a new, clean mascara brush (the kind you get without mascara with it, lol) is good for tiny corners and tricky bits. If you use bleach, rinse it well (give it the hose!) and leave it in the sun a few days to deactivate the bleach. If it was a store tank, I'd probably do that, who knows what was in there..


And hey, if your gf can't have the tank after all that, consider getting her something like mine, which doesn't take up a lot of room but has plenty for the fish to swim about in (unless it's HUGE like a giant..). And maybe keep the 6 gallon for yourself! Fish keeping seems like a stressheadache nightmare at first as there's so much to learn all at once, but wow, then it all kicks into place and the enjoyment is all really worth it.

Then the addiction kicks in..

ETA: also, this rapid swimming.. I hate to add to your stress.. but if he's smashing himself against stuff, he could have ick. Check for white spots that look like grains of salt. Or velvet.. shine a torch on him, see if he shines really gold. Some fish do spazz out in the tank anyway (my girl does it all the time, the dork) but if he's really hitting stuff fast, it could be him trying to scratch himself.

Ick and velvet are both pretty easily and quickly cured, so don't panic if it's either of those!

[fuhombrechu]

I decided the 6 gallon was too big for my room. I went back to the store and traded it in for a tank that owner told me was 3 gallons. It looked really small to me but I'm not familiar judging tank sizes because I underestimated how big the 6 gallon was.

The tank turned out to be 2 gallons. And I spent the other store credit on a 25 watt heater and fake plants and decorations.

The tank seemed pretty badly put together. The glue was sloppy and overused and can easily be rubbed off but I let that slide and decided to test the heater. I filled the tank up and that's when I realized it was only 2 gallons. The heater barely fit to get to the minimum water level.

On top of all of this, with the water in the tank, it was like a mirror when looking outwards from inside the tank... and isn't that really bad for bettas? The tank was labeled for keeping bettas.

[Sena Hansler]

I avoid "betta keepers" or "betta habitats" mainly because it's cruddy quality, and small. I go for real tanks that are "starter kits" or perhaps "goldfish aquarium"

If I were you, I would take it back, tell them it is NOT 3 gallons like they said, the quality is crud and you would like a refund (or an exchange for something else). Petsmart here, not sure about there, has 5 gallons for cheap - it's just the tank though. Or even walmart

[Enkil]

I would definitely take that tank back.

In my experience, you do not NEED 5+ gallons for a betta unless you have a plakat. My daughter's combtail is in a 3.5 gallon tank we got as a starter kit at PetSmart. It has a filter, heater, LED lighting, barrel hiding decoration, and live floating anubias plant. All of my tanks get 1 water change a week. They also all have live plants.

I would recommend a live plant though you certainly don't NEED one. I have found that all of my bettas enjoy their live plants and the plants help maintain water quality. I currently use anubias, water wisteria, and java moss. My females absolutely love their java moss and my males love to spread their fins out on the leaves of their anubias plants.

[Jupiter]

Hey!

As a cleaning tip (just for future reference), warm water + vinegar is quite effective! And unlike chemicals, it's pretty safe to use.

Honestly, I prefer tanks that are 2 gallons up, but even a one gallon is fine as long as you're able to properly maintain it.

I have all sorts of different tanks, my female being in a one gallon (the smallest) and my male plakat in a 10 gallon (the largest). There's a lost of in-betweens and no rights and wrongs (unless you keep them in a cup or something...)


Live plants are great for helping with water quality. I also recommend that plants that have already been mentioned, they're really hardy.
Cycling is a little hard in the smaller tanks. Personally, in the 3 gallon tanks and down, since they're relatively light, I prefer to just do thorough cleanings with those weekly instead of cycling.
It's really up to you, though.


Btw, what store are you getting these from? Seems a little shady...

If you live in America, Walmart apparently has these really good five gallon hex kits that are pretty cheap..

[fuhombrechu]

Thanks for the advice all.

The store just seems like a place that tries to sell you stuff without regards to whether or not you're buying what you're looking for.

They're helpful in the sense that they'll get stuff from the back rooms or in the case of the used tank, take out the fish in it so they can sell the tank.

It's called Fountains Aquarium.

All I'm basically looking for is a larger container (glass) for my betta. About 3 gallons would be nice so I can fit the heater I have in it. I'll change the water like I've been doing because it's not a hassle.

I don't want a filter because I don't want to think about finding a good one with so many different types out there, and then worry about having to change the parts. But I want the option to be able to add a filter to the tank later without any problems attaching it to the container.

And I don't know about live plants... plants already seem kind of hard to maintain when planted in the dirt, let alone growing in a container of limited space where you have to empty and refill the water.

[Crazykat]

I'm not sure about a 3 gallon, but Walmart sells these great 2 gal jars:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Anchor-Hoc...h-Lid/16486707
They look nice, fit a heater, and are pretty spacious. And I have grown low light plants in them (Anubias is really low maintenance and the fish love to sleep on the leaves.)

[Sena Hansler]

Walmart has very cheap and great tanks. Watch the sales! sometimes 10 dollars off for a larger one (10 or bigger) or somewhere around 5 dollars off for a smaller one.