[Crayon]

Hi! I am brand new here, and I am thinking about getting a bettafish. At first I thought I would just go with a little 'novelty tank' with no heater, no filter, no nothing, but after doing a bit of online research I've realized just how bad of an idea that is! Thus, I am looking into putting together a proper home for my new friend.

However, after reading some of the posts here I've been left with a few questions, and if anyone could answer them, I would be very grateful .

Is a three gallon tank big enough? I am planning on just getting one male, but I'm not sure if three is enough/ how often it would need cleaning.

I was thinking about where to actually place my tank, and I decided I would want it on my desk. Are they sensitive to noise? (I almost always have music playing) and when I type on said desk it wobbles a bit. Would the fish be irritated?

Last question (for now at least): Will it need an in tank light? The room I'll be keeping the tank in has a window, and light will get in during the day, ad artificial lights will be on in the evening/ at night. Is this enough?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and answer my questions. If I've made any grievous errors, please let me know!

 

[copperarabian]

3g is a good size for 1 male, generally 2.5 is considered the minimum. You should research cycling and expect to be doing large weekly water changes even with a filter.

I have one on my desk next to a small speaker, I play music pretty much all day for my bird but it's usually pretty quit. Sometimes I turn it up some but pull it foreword and face it away from the tank just to be extra careful.

A lot of people don't use aquarium lights, I personally love it because it illuminates my fish much better and I also have plants in all but one of my tanks and they need the light to survive. It dirves me crazy when a light goes out because the tank doesn't look as clean, and it is less of a focal point.

Bettas are a really cool to have, I love watching mine and taking care of them

 

[Tikibirds]

Supposedly bettas are sensitive to the day and night cycle, just like humans are so as long as he got so many hours of light and dark it will be ok. You don't need an actual overhead fish light unless you want real plants and then you need so many watts for the plants or something like that. Unless you use amazon sword, I had good luck with them using normal light from a window and in Alaska in winter that was like 4 hours of dusk light.

As for the size of the tank, that is up to you. However most people will tell you they need 2.5 or bigger tanks. PETA says they need more then 10 gallons for ONE betta :shock:. Personally I like the petco Pet keepers in XL. Its about 3 gallons and some of the smaller heaters like the Hagen Elite 25 watt fit perfectly in it. It should get a 100% water change at least 1X a week with a 50% in there 1X a week unless you have a 5 gallon or more that is cycled. If you dont know about the nitrogen cycle, read up on it before you stick a filter in the tank.

If you went with 5 gallon or bigger, you can divide it and have more then 1 betta in a tank :-D