Not running filter all the time ok??

[ravensgate]

First time poster here! So after years of not having any fish I rescued a gorgeous crowntail from Walmart a few days ago. I have him in a 3 gal setup right now (hoping to move him up to 5 g soon) and I have a little Marina i25 filter on it. I have spent a lot of time reading through the forum ever since I got him to re-educate myself after being fishless for years. I had read some folks like to turn the filter off when they feed their betta so I did that today. And he just seems to be a little more active and happy with the filter off. Is there anything bad I can be doing by leaving it off for a few hours a day and then turning it back on? I didn't know if whatever the filter was catching might possibly float back into the water (that might sound dumb, but seriously, been years since I kept fish and my memory stinks). Just wanted to be sure I'm not screwing anything up by doing this. Thank you in advance for any info you can share!

[Bonbonisbff]

I do the exact same thing! He is more active when its off. I'm pretty sure its ok.

[TonyK]

The filter might be to powerful that may be the reason why he seems more active when its off. You could baffle the filter and keep the filter on or just not use the filter at all. If you don't use the filter you will just have to up your water changes. I have a 2 gallon with no filter and I do 1 50% water and 1 100% water change every week.

Originally Posted by ravensgate

First time poster here! So after years of not having any fish I rescued a gorgeous crowntail from Walmart a few days ago. I have him in a 3 gal setup right now (hoping to move him up to 5 g soon) and I have a little Marina i25 filter on it. I have spent a lot of time reading through the forum ever since I got him to re-educate myself after being fishless for years. I had read some folks like to turn the filter off when they feed their betta so I did that today. And he just seems to be a little more active and happy with the filter off. Is there anything bad I can be doing by leaving it off for a few hours a day and then turning it back on? I didn't know if whatever the filter was catching might possibly float back into the water (that might sound dumb, but seriously, been years since I kept fish and my memory stinks). Just wanted to be sure I'm not screwing anything up by doing this. Thank you in advance for any info you can share!

[Oldfishlady]

Filters are optional with this species and often they will do better without them-especially the long heavy fin males. But without a filter water change needs can be different unless you have live active growing plants....

While turning the filter off to feed or to make water changes are generally not an issue...... Leaving the filter off for longer than 5-6 hours can cause problems since the lack of dissolved oxygen to the bacteria living in the filter media can start to die and the byproduct of this death is ammonia-then when you turn the filter back on you are flooding the tank with harmful ammonia and other DOC's......

If you leave the filter off for longer than 5-6 hours-be sure and dump the contents and rinse the filter media before turning it back on-and since you killed all the good bacteria you don't really need to worry about how you rinse it-normally with an established nitrogen cycle you will want to rinse/swish the filter media in the bucket of old tank water with a water change so not to kill the good/beneficial bacteria....

[ravensgate]

Oldfishlady, that's exactly what I was looking for and I knew I had something in the back of my mind about leaving the filter off for extended periods as being somewhat bad. I realize a filter isn't really necessary, I was just wanting a bit cleaner environment. I have one live plant in with him (cryptocoryne) but may look into others if I can keep a more naturally clean environment without the filter. And I'm sure he'll be happier for it. I will look into baffling it though, as that may be all I need to. Really though, even as small as it is, it sure takes up a lot of space. Would sure like to not have it in there. Hmmmm...may need to rethink little dude's setup. Thank you all for the responses!

ETA: Actually, I just turned it on and he instantly was a little irritate. Soooo, I'm just gonna yank it out of there and stick to more frequent water changes while I research a bit more about plants, snails, things like that for a more natural environment for him. Might post another thread looking for suggestions on that this afternoon. Thank you again!

[Oldfishlady]

In a 3gal tank without a filter and with live plants-you could maintain water quality with 1-2 50% weekly water changes with light vacuuming in all places you could reach without moving anything or disruption of plant roots...

While the smaller filtered tanks can establish a biological filter or nitrogen cycle-often they are not stable due to limited surface area for the beneficial bacteria and still need at least 1-2 weekly water changes to maintain water quality....

Filters can help to a degree once they establish the biological filter, but until then all they do is remove the larger pieces of debris from the water column-its still in the tank being circulated over and over-out of sight-out of mind....since this is a closed system......

Clean, clear water doesn't always mean good/safe water-its what you can't see or test for that is often what can cause problems.....

Love to see some pics.....

[ravensgate]

Thank you SO much for the advice! You have been a great big help to me and Hidey thanks you (my kiddo named him, not me, I wanted Zeus!). And pics you say? Here are some ok photos of him. Hard to photograph in those cylinder tanks! I swear, he's the prettiest betta I've seen on a store shelf in a long time. And I had never seen crowntails at Walmart. I had been on the fence for the last couple of weeks but when I saw him, I knew.

[Bombalurina]

Oh my goodness, he is beautiful!!! *jealous*

[ravensgate]

Thank you SO much! I'm quite smitten with the new little guy.

[Hallyx]

Not a big crowntail fan, but that is one stunning fish. Love to see some better lighted/quality photos. It looks like you have a camera that can do that. (Wish I did).