Recommendations?

[NCBetta]

I recently purchased a 5 gallon tank along with a male VT Betta. That night I came home and read all about bettas on this forum. That was good and bad. The good was I found out a ton of great information, the bad was that I quickly wanted another betta. So like many of you I rushed to a local fish store and got another male.

While reading about tanks and stuff I discovered a crazy thing called a tank divider :) so I read up on these and got one today. I installed the divider but my Betta on the side of the tank with the filter seemed really stressed so I put him back in the cup he came in (for the night) ;) and tomorrow I'm going tank shopping...again

Which brings us to my reason for writing this story

Should I get a smaller tank kit (ex. 1.5 gal, filter, light, plants, etc.)
Or a Critter Keeper that's a bit larger but purchase everything separately (ex. Decorations, heater, whatever else a Betta would need.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[youlovegnats]

Looks like you caught the betta bug rather early huh? lol
huuummmm, well A kritter keeper would be cheaper..
But if your going for quality, I'd say get a 2.5 gal (or another 5 gal). I think Marineland makes a nice 3gal somewhere...that would be nice- but you'd still have to get a heater. Plus most heaters that are low wattage are pre-set and only heat up to 78F. It's really up to you weather you want to spend the extra $$$ or not :) Good luck!!
And welcome to the forum!!!

[NCBetta]

Yeah I did haha. I don't know what the final verdict is gonna be at this point I'm still browsing

[Tisia]

do you think he's stressed because of the filter or because he can see your other boy? if it's the filter you can try baffling it to slow down the flow. if it's the other boy you could get a piece of colored plastic craft mesh and put it in the divider to make it harder for them to see each other

[UglyMuffin777]

First of all, i would think about the cost, which is cheaper? if the first choice all together is ...$80.99 (its an example, i dont know the actual price) and the second choice would be $86.99, but then you have to think about what it comes with, I would choose the cheaper one, and if i wanted some separate stuff that dosent come with the first choice go and buy some other things
separately.

But personally, if price range didnt matter I would buy the Critter Keeper for 3 reasons : 1) It would be larger which mainly means betta would be happier and less water changes. 2) You could buy filters and what nots with the quality and/or quanity that you can choose from 3) If one of your males where to pass away you could either reuse the quipment and/or have a female sorienty without future issues of space.

Good Luck!!!! :) And hope I helped!!!!

[NCBetta]

I really think it was the filter, I reduced the current as much as I could without turning the filter completely off. I think it'll be better in the long run to have them in separate tanks.

and Gnats thanks for the info and the welcome. It's nice to see people interested in these wonderful fish

[NCBetta]

Muffin, my one worry with the critter keeper was the availability of a filter to fit on the tank. I am good about keeping up with water changes however it's nice to kind of have that safety net of a good strong filter to keep the tank clean :)

Price IS kind of restricted right now because of my new found hobby. Bettas are just so dang charming

[youlovegnats]

Haha and expensive! xD
You really dont need a filter if it's for a small tank. But if it make you feel beter, haha.
I would divide the tank and just see for a week how the two do.

[NCBetta]

Ok I will try that, I'm leaning more towards big critter keeper. Thanks for all your input guys.

This forum is so helpful

[UglyMuffin777]

Yes, Betta's are quite the little charmers :) Their good at that, to good.

And also, sometimes they have filters that just kinda clip onto the tank.. But mine is an undergravel filter and I have no idea how much those cost... Sorry I couldn't help more :(