[daniomania]

I have one betta, hes about 1 inch long without his tail. I bought him i na jar and transfered him into a 1/2 gallon tank. It is rectangular. (patterned ones at pet smart). then i transfered him into a 5 g tank & he was a lot happier....i think( his fins were up completly)
is the small tank fine?
thnx!!!
lots of help welcome!!!!

 

[mjoy79]

I have one betta, hes about 1 inch long without his tail. I bought him i na jar and transfered him into a 1/2 gallon tank. It is rectangular. (patterned ones at pet smart). then i transfered him into a 5 g tank & he was a lot happier....i think( his fins were up completly)
is the small tank fine?
thnx!!!
lots of help welcome!!!!

If he's happy in the 5G I think you can keep him in there! Some bettas' personalities are different and don't adjust well to added space. Its good you have him in a 5G and probably don't need to upgrade him for awhile (if you want to, but of course you don't have to). I have 3 of my male bettas in 3 gallon tanks since they have had fin issues with larger sizes of tanks

 

[a123andpoof]

The tank is a little to small. In my opinion 1 gallon is minimum, but bigger is almost always better. It sounds as if your fish is much happier in the larger tank. You can tell by the fact that is fins are open more.

 

[Draug Isilme]

If your betta seems to be happier in a 5g, definitely do away with the 1/2 gallon! Well, personally I think you should keep it on hand for possible quarantining needs in the future >.> or when you're changing the water.. but other than that I'd say the 5g should be his personal home! ^.^
1g is usually the advised minimum, but main reason why people are against even the 1g tanks is because it doesn't follow the 'inch per gallon' rule, it's actually more maintenance to keep good water quality in comparison to a larger tank, and they're near impossible to hold a cycle.

 

[Bombalurina]

I hate the inch per gallon rule, but I put 1 gallon as the minimum because less than that is really difficult to heat - it's just not safe. You run the risk of frying your betta and doing bad things to your electrics.

Bigger is better with tank sizes - more stable temperatures, better water quality and easier to heat.

 

[Draug Isilme]

I'm not really a fan of the inch per gallon rule either.. It's more like a guideline to me since when you deal with fish like goldfish, you need 20g+ and common goldfish grow to 12 inches and other fancy goldfish are more or less 6-8 inches.. and then you have snails which do vary on the size, but again most times they apparently have a huge bioload but shrimp can grow to an inch but have a TEEENY TINY bioload so I suppose unless specified the inch per gallon rule is just something to go by unless certain requirements (like bioload or heating, I'm suprised at myself for forgetting to mention that >.<) then it's better to follow it...

 

[SecretStich]

I think the smallest tank a betta should have is a one gallon. Anything smaller is kind of cruel.

 

[Myates]

Your five gallon is perfect for him..

Agree.. the one inch per gallon rule is pretty outdated, as if people followed that then most of the time the bio load would be too great for the average, non-planted tank.

 

[daniomania]

Thanks soo much, i will definatly keep him i nthe 5 gallon tank then! :0