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Betta rescue—so far so good

997 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  TropicalFlow3, 
Lynne M
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Noticed movement in murky water in small vase amid pile of stuff on client’s kitchen—betta that no one wanted. So I took him home. Took a couple of days to set him up in a tank—3 gallons. He totally changed color overnight. After a lot of trial and error—biggest mistake was fake plants—now have real ones. For a while he only used half the tank. That was May. He’s gotten much larger. I feel he needs a bigger tank. Any recommendations on 5 gallon tanks, or tanks in general? He’s on the kitchen table—he really loves the attention and interaction. (And the windows—no direct light. I know he watches stuff because he got all excited when I stood outside the window.)
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Betta Nerd
2.5 gallons are the minimum for any betta plus he's probably much happier in there than in a dirty vase he's a handsome glow betta I can't believe how big bettas grow and change over time
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Eridanus
Hello and welcome to the forum!
He's a gorgeous boy, does he have a name?

I've always been a fan of the rectangle 5gals. They can be easily found at PetSmart.
For durability, I've got two TopFin 5gals that have lasted me several years with no issues. Just sharing, if you're concerned about how long they last.

Beyond that, size is up to you. If you want bigger, go for it!
I'm also going to disagree with Betta Nerd for a moment. There's a lot of different opinions on what size Bettas should be in minimum, with the common mentality being 2.5gals. As there's no scientific proof backing up what size is best for Bettas, 2.5gal minimum is still expressed as an opinion.

Though, if anyone happens to have unbiased, scientific proof on Bettas needing a certain tank size, I'd be fascinated to hear it! And please correct me too.

Anyways. Size is totally up to what you can fit, afford, and prefer! And welcome again!
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EDRVT
He is a beautiful boy!! He is so lucky to have found you!! That 3 gallon is perfectly suitable for a betta. With that being said, I have one in a 10 gallon rectangle by himself and a very large male veiltail in a 20 gallon high with 10 pygmy corydoras. So it really depends on what you want. Congratulations again!
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Betta Nerd
Eridanus said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!
He's a gorgeous boy, does he have a name?

I've always been a fan of the rectangle 5gals. They can be easily found at PetSmart.
For durability, I've got two TopFin 5gals that have lasted me several years with no issues. Just sharing, if you're concerned about how long they last.

Beyond that, size is up to you. If you want bigger, go for it!
I'm also going to disagree with Betta Nerd for a moment. There's a lot of different opinions on what size Bettas should be in minimum, with the common mentality being 2.5gals. As there's no scientific proof backing up what size is best for Bettas, 2.5gal minimum is still expressed as an opinion.

Though, if anyone happens to have unbiased, scientific proof on Bettas needing a certain tank size, I'd be fascinated to hear it! And please correct me too.

Anyways. Size is totally up to what you can fit, afford, and prefer! And welcome again!
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Actually I'm not using a bias opinion I've done much research and the minimum size for a male is 2.5 and female is 3.0 now you can choose whatever size you want but my girl is happy with a 3 gal though it looks a bit bigger as of what Eridanus said about the tanks I've had the same tank I bought from there running for 9 years
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Lynne M
Eridanus said:
Hello and welcome to the forum!
He's a gorgeous boy, does he have a name?

I've always been a fan of the rectangle 5gals. They can be easily found at PetSmart.
For durability, I've got two TopFin 5gals that have lasted me several years with no issues. Just sharing, if you're concerned about how long they last.

Beyond that, size is up to you. If you want bigger, go for it!
I'm also going to disagree with Betta Nerd for a moment. There's a lot of different opinions on what size Bettas should be in minimum, with the common mentality being 2.5gals. As there's no scientific proof backing up what size is best for Bettas, 2.5gal minimum is still expressed as an opinion.

Though, if anyone happens to have unbiased, scientific proof on Bettas needing a certain tank size, I'd be fascinated to hear it! And please correct me too.

Anyways. Size is totally up to what you can fit, afford, and prefer! And welcome again!
Click to expand...
Fishy Boy. Everyone always calls fish Fishy. So he’s Fishy Boy. And I swear he knows his name. My husband and I adore him. As one person said, they have the personality of a puppy. I have a cat that Fishy Boy really likes. When she lies in the table next to his tank, he lies on the bottom next to her.
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Lynne M
Lynne M said:
Fishy Boy. Everyone always calls fish Fishy. So he’s Fishy Boy. And I swear he knows his name. My husband and I adore him. As one person said, they have the personality of a puppy. I have a cat that Fishy Boy really likes. When she lies in the table next to his tank, he lies on the bottom next to her.
Click to expand...
I also don’t use the lights—I wouldn’t like being blasted with those bright lights. He has plenty of indirect natural light. So he has a pretty natural sleep cycle, other than the kitchen light and/or me doing dinner and maybe late evening tank maintenance. When the sun goes down he goes to sleep.
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Betta Nerd
Yes actually bettas can recognize water movements and if you day their names enough they can recognize their names
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ExtraHannah
Welcome. He's a lovely, lucky boy! 😁

If you decide you want to go with a bigger tank, I too like the rectangular 5 or 10 gallons. For a specific suggestion in the 5 gallon range, I adore my Fluval Spec V. There are two minor modifications that need to be made to make it ideal for a Betta, but they are very cheap and easy, and I'd be glad to share how to do them if needed.
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TropicalFlow3
He is a Gorgeous boy! 3 gallons is a good size but you can go bigger if you want. I have a 10-gallon tank that I am now divivding. The betta fish are living happily.
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