I just got back from petco and would like to clarifiy something. I was asking if they have any 3-5 gallon kits that did not have a filter, especially a power filter, as I was planning to just do a 50% water change every few days. The girl there said I needed a filter to move the water to make sure the water has a lot of oxygen as all fish need this.
Now I've kept a lot of fish over the years, from goldfish and tropicals to pond fish and I do know this. However, I was under the impression that betta take a lot of their oxygen from the atmostphere rather than the water. They have gills of course, but don't they also use thier labyrinth organ to breath the air? And don't they prefer still or at least very slowly moving water?
The small tanks she was trying to sell me all had power filters, which from my experiance, move the water quite a lot and are pretty, well, powerful.
I also thought I read that filters under 5 gallons are hard to cycle or just don't cycle. Is this true as well?
I wanted larger than a 1 gallon so heating it would be easier to keep a stable temperature as well.
Is my plan of a 3-5 gallon tank without a filter but with a heater, 50% water changes every few days, and no air pump a good idea or not. Is the person at the store right, that they need a filter to keep oxygen in the water for betta fish?
Something about her argument just didn't seem right to me. But I would like more opinions about this?
Now I've kept a lot of fish over the years, from goldfish and tropicals to pond fish and I do know this. However, I was under the impression that betta take a lot of their oxygen from the atmostphere rather than the water. They have gills of course, but don't they also use thier labyrinth organ to breath the air? And don't they prefer still or at least very slowly moving water?
The small tanks she was trying to sell me all had power filters, which from my experiance, move the water quite a lot and are pretty, well, powerful.
I also thought I read that filters under 5 gallons are hard to cycle or just don't cycle. Is this true as well?
I wanted larger than a 1 gallon so heating it would be easier to keep a stable temperature as well.
Is my plan of a 3-5 gallon tank without a filter but with a heater, 50% water changes every few days, and no air pump a good idea or not. Is the person at the store right, that they need a filter to keep oxygen in the water for betta fish?
Something about her argument just didn't seem right to me. But I would like more opinions about this?