Equipment needed to properly set up a 2.5 gallon tank?

[Underthesea10]

Hello,
I and my husband each have a betta. The boys are enjoying a quiet life in their heated 1.5 gallon bowls but I would love to upgrade their homes.
can you cycle a 2.5 gallon tank?
What else might I need to create a warm and welcoming environment for a male betta?
How many water changes will need to be performed in each tank and what percentage?
I have been using a pinch of AQ salt per water change and a suppliment that helps sooth the water for betta's, is this right? Will I need to purchase a filter?

[LadyVictorian]

Do they have seperate tanks or do they share a tank? If they share a tank you should never keep two betta's together in anything smaller than a 5 gallon tank otherwise ammonia builds up too fast and can kill them, melt their fins, and weaken their immune system opening them up to catching ick, it can also cause fin rot.

[Underthesea10]

Oh no, they each have their own home and will have their own homes in the future. Im personally not a huge fan of divided tanks. They are however side by side and get a few minutes a day of flare time before I restrict their view. They also do have covers but I may look into lights later on down the road if they are available for 2.5 gallon tanks and safe to use :)

[aokashi]

What kind of setup are you wanting to do...? planted? non planted? natural planted? filter?

[Underthesea10]

I'm not entirely sure lol. Right now in their bowls they have a heater and a small rock, its rather boring imo, but i've never set up an actual tank before so any advice would be wonderful :) What might you suggest? I should add, I did have a couple of live plants at one time but they kept growing white fuzz, im not sure what was wrong with them? I ended up tossing them after a while. Maybe it was lack of light?

[lauraannq]

go plants... i can not even begin to explain to you how much easier it is... we have a 1 gal bowl 1 week (testing water) with a plant (a big one) and no ammonia or and 100% stable no water change (i did take just the bottom 'ick' out) from the pet store bag but put the water that came with it back.