Betta in the Office

[Sowman]

Hello all,
Like many of you here, I have fallen in love with bettas. I currenly have two and plan on getting more. My question is, what are your thoughts on keeping a betta at work? I'm thinking a small 3-5 gallon tank with a heater and filter. I work 5 days a week and would take it home when on vacation but I would leave the betta on the weekends (2 days but not on 3 day weekend). I just want to know your thought and concerns on this.

Thank you

[Pataflafla]

I think it would be fine so long as the tank was kept up with water changes and cleaning.Bringing him somewhere else completely might stress him out a bit though. If your coworkers are ok with keeping up with water changes and feeding, I think you could leave him in the office. You'd just have to let everyone know what you expect in terms of keeping him there and that they shouldn't overfeed him, that is if everyone is willing to lend a hand. In a 5 gallon that's filtered I don't think you would have to do much in terms of weekly water changes if he was the only fish in there.

[Sowman]

I would be the only one taking care of him and doing the water changes. I have my own office and people can't access it without me there. My manager could access it but she is going on leave. I figure I would keep three or four gallons of fresh water in the office so the water changes would be easy. I can't use the tap water from work as it is hardly good enough for human consumption.

[1fish2fish]

Once you put a commercial dechlorinator in there tap water is just fine for fish. If you're going to go with bottled water make sure you don't get distilled water, it will be lacking the minerals that are needed for a healthy fish. Reverse Osmosis water is fine to.

A fish will be fine at the office over weekends as long as you have a good heater that can keep the tank warm even if the office gets cold or hot while people arent' there. Bettas don't need to be fed every day so you can use those two days for your fast days.

[Sowman]

I thought they only need one fast day? Should it be two?

[Pataflafla]

Fasting is whenever necessary. If they're really bloated, food should be withheld until the problem resolves. An extra day of fasting will do him no harm.

[1fish2fish]

There's no hard and fast rule when it comes to feeding. As long as it's not malnourished it's fine. Bettas can easily go 2 days without food.