[tiffanyburgess]

Hi everyone, my husband got excited and purchased my son a betta fish. We have had him for a week now and I have noticed he is darting around spazzing out and hiding behind the heater. Here is some tank information, he is in a 3 gallon tank with a filter that came with it and a heater. My question is, could the filter be to strong for him? I have Google and read different things. Some say filter can produce a strong current in small tanks. I turned it off and he is swimming around again. Is it alright to not have it on and just change his water 20% every 4 days? Until we purchase a bigger tank? Thank You!

 

[selah]

quite possibly it was the filter that was too strong for him.. you could baffle the outflow with part of a sponge filter or a piece of craft plastic canvas, or if you want to turn the filter off you will need bigger water changes.

these are the recommendations for tanks between 1-4 gallons:

Tanks:
1-4gal without a filter or live plants
Twice weekly-1-50% water only and 1-100%

1-4gal with a filter
Twice weekly-1-50% water only and 1-50% with substrate cleaning by vacuum or stir and dip method.
Filter media needs a swish/rinse in old tank water a couple of times a month.

1-4gal with/without filter and with live plants-
This can vary based on number, specie and growth state of the plants. Generally with live plants even without a filter you don't want to make 100% water changes.

 

[tiffanyburgess]

Thank You ��

 

[tiffanyburgess]

Would any one know of a good filter for a 3 gallon tank? I'm not sure how to baffle the outflow at all.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Here's one style that you can do: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=30139

And here's an example of using a sponge, it's not a How-to but I think you get the idea from the pictures at least: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=56100

 

[tiffanyburgess]

Thank you! I tried the water bottle and it didn't work my filter is really small or I did it wrong. We will head to the store to look for the sponge. I moved his plants over to the other side of the tank and lifted the filter higher, which has helped slow it down some. Thank you guys for replying back Google just doesn't cut it very well.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Np! I like to use AquaClear (Fluval) Sponges, I get the big ones and cut them down to size. I actually only use their sponges in my filters too rather than the filter media cartridges that come with the filter, much easier to clean and cheaper to replace in the end ;-)

 

[tiffanyburgess]

Real quick last question for now ��, how often do you replace the sponges?

 

[lilnaugrim]

The ones that baffle the current; hardly ever. Only when they are basically falling apart which takes quite a while.

The ones that are inside the filter, you should swish them out in old tank water (best to do it after a water change and use the old tank water) to remove the large pieces of debris and junk so it doesn't clog up the filter. This way it lengthens the life of the sponge (and filter) and keeps the good bacteria in there going strong.

 

[Cacique]

You can also use filter floss instead of sponge. I cut mine to size and crammed it in through the outtake, pinching it with the filter media holders inside my Tetra filter. You could use zip-ties to hold whatever you need to the filter if you need to.

 

[tiffanyburgess]

I don't know how to attach a photo but I went out and bought him the sponge it's working great already. He's off the bottom and swimming around. He also got new plants. These are silk not the hard plastic ones my husband bought. Thank you everyone.