Mythbuster: Do bettas really live in "tiny" puddles?

[ollief9]

Yep. Sure, Bettas can live in 1 gallon bowls. So long as you keep their water crystal clear, at a stable, warm temperature, they will do fine.
BUT
Keeping Bettas in a 1 gallon bowl is like keeping a human in a white room, with nothing in it. Sure, it gets cleaned every day, they're fed properly, but wouldn't you get a little... bored?
WHEREAS
If you were kept in a large room, with lots of things to do and see, you'd be fine, right?
If a Betta was kept in a large tank with different hiding places, caves, spots with certain different flow to others, and generally more stuff to do, it would feel more secure and happy, right?

It's the same principle.

[Sakura8]

Let's put it this way: in the wild, a betta can survive in very tiny pools of water but it will not thrive. Not because a betta wants to be in a tiny pool, but because it has to. Bigger is better, but avoid deep, tall tanks since they need easy access to the top to breath. If you have to have a deep, tall tank, put floating plants or the floating Betta Log Bed in so he can perch near the top.

[CrowntailTwitchy57]

well yes wild bettas LIVE in small puddles, but do not thrive, and domestic bettas are not used to the lives of their wild cousins, so they cannot (quote) "live in less than 2 inches of water"

[ollief9]

I agree.

[lindseylvgjlc]

I keep my betta in a bowl and under a light in the daytime. He seems happy. He also enjoys my company. If bettas have the labryinth lung and can go to the surface for air, is it that wrong to keep a betta in a bowl with a good amount of space?

[trono]

Originally Posted by lindseylvgjlc

I keep my betta in a bowl and under a light in the daytime. He seems happy. He also enjoys my company. If bettas have the labryinth lung and can go to the surface for air, is it that wrong to keep a betta in a bowl with a good amount of space?

Depends on the size of the bowl. There's more to consider than oxygen when it comes to water volume.

[Vanah]

Personally I think anything under a gallon is completely unacceptable. And ALWAYS include a plant, even if it's a fake one. Plants go a long way in entertaining a fish and making him feel comfortable and safe.

When I was little my sisters and I always had one betta with gravel and a cheap plastic plant - you know, the stupid sprigs that look like pine tree branches - in those horrid little betta hex things. Are those even a half gallon? I think they're less, ugh. Some of those fish lived to be 2-years, but they can't have been very happy. I'd always ask my mom again each time we got a new one "are they ok?" and she'd tell me how in the wild they lived in the rice paddies, tucked away in small pockets of water made by plants. I would then proceed to tell my friends this when they came over and saw me keeping a fish in such a small tank. "That's mean!" they'd say. "No it's not! It's a betta fish!" I would retort, beaming with a big childlike grin thinking I knew everything in the world, and tell them about how they were a special fish that lived in Asia.

When I got older and cared more about proper pet care, I kept mine in 1 to 2 gallon bowls, with a particularly active one or a favorite getting a 2.5-3 gallon mini-tank with a bubbler and light. The fish I've had as an adult have been lively and even interactive pets who greet me with dances. At first I was confused by all the activity that I didn't remember from my childhood, but the truth was they were a much more lively fish than I'd ever realized.

I follow a simple rule now; I watch the fish. I let him "tell" me what he wants. If he's not happy, seems to want/need more space, then I change it up. But if I've got a lively fish in one gallon who seems content, I keep the water clean but otherwise don't fix what's not broken. I originally had Pei Ling in a Fluval SPEC but the current was too strong for him, so for now he's in a Cubus and seems to like it. His plant is a short one with lots of long broad leaves and he loves to swim under them and back around.

[Miyazawa]

I don't care that wild Betta lives in rice puddle. All I need to know that is you won't see a pet half-moon dragging his tail in a rice puddle.

[allilovesherbetta]

i have my betta in a 2 gallon tank. i change his water 50 percent every week. i feed him 5 pellets. i use tetra dechlorer and i use attisons betta spa. i also have taught him tricks(:.... and i got him plants that bettas like to rest on... is this a good enviroment?.... ive had him for a year now

[allilovesherbetta]

i also have a live plant he likes to nibble at