Brand new betta! Water temp question

[LibraryFish]

Thanks everyone! Your help has been very valuable.

A woman who works downstairs from me is trying to convince me to put my betta in a cube and put a small school in the 5 gallon tank.

[kelly528]

Honestly the thing I like most about keeping my betta in a 5g (besides the fact that he stays alive in there and I only have to clean it once a week) is that people see it and think 'huh'. Whenever people ask me why he's not in a cup I tell him I'd rather not

a) cause pain or chemical burns to him
b) shorten his 7 year potential lifespan
c) have to clean his tank every 3 hours.

It really invites the opportunity to educate people.

I have to ask.... is this actually a library fish?

[LibraryFish]

It sure is a library fish. I was feeling uninspired for a name.

I work in a small college library, and the campus director said I could get a fish! I'm going to have a naming contest for him when the students come back from break next week.

[kelly528]

Oh thats good... people always trust that library employees actually know what they were doing. there was a huge uproar on another betta forum I frequent because of a librarian who put a goldfish in a bowl in the KIDS section! And when it died she traded it for a betta bowl :( way to spread misinformation to little kids!!!

At least in a library college students considering a fish will see your tank and at least ask themselves whether its worth getting a tank over a bowl.

[xxabc]

At least it's a college, as well. If you worked at my high school, you'd see three other male bettas in a blink of an eye. Or it'd be missing. Not too many trustworthy people here, haha...

That actually sounds peaceful. Working in a nice little library with a betta right by your side. Sounds nice :)

[LibraryFish]

It's not bad! The fish likes to hang out in his betta log and watch me. It's kind of disconcerting, sometimes.

I'm already having to combat the betta myth with a woman I work with, who I mentioned previously. She thinks that bettas need to be in small spaces, because in a larger tank they'll think they're in a huge ocean and die of fright or something like that. Mr Fish is doing okay, though... I wonder what she says to THAT.

[xxabc]

Haha, this is the problem she belives: They don't like open space, it's true. The way to counter that? Fill it with plants. Or, crowd it. There's really not much more to it, bettas seem to like sense of security (it proved successful to me when I added in 5 plants) versus open space. You could tell her that, and tell her that's the problem why they seem to sulk around in open space. :)