Betta bowls

[fishfan88]

I normally think of bettas in bowls as a bad idea, but I was thinking... What of the bowl was a few gallons and had a heater? Im starting my lightly planted bowl over with a bigger 2 gallon bowl. My mom would like a betta, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea... Just wanted to see what other people on here think about it...

[shellieca]

It can be done but obviously the preference would be something bigger & filtered like a 5g HOWEVER I do have a male Betta in a 2.5g tank. If you do the proper water changes, have a heater as you said & he or she can move around the bowl with no problems; stretch his fins out, then He or she should be fine IMO. I do twice weekly water changes on my 2.5g.

[Mebbid]

a 2.5 gallon could work, it just doesn't leave much room for anything. If space is an issue I have seen some nice 5g cylinder aquariums or maybe the half moons that are out there. They look nice and don't take up a ton of space

[mzzguillory]

They make tiny heaters and tiny filters but I would do 3 or 5 gallon....with a air stone.

[Miyavp]

Petco makes a 3 gallon hex aquarium with a filter. I'm hoping to eventually upgrade my moms poor betta bowl amazon also sells little heaters that go under the gravel. Betta heaters by zoo med.

[Laurenlloyd]

I have one of those heaters for one of my quarantine tanks and it works well.

[fishfan88]

Thanks for the advice guys! If I did end up doing this, I would use the bowl I have... I don't really want to buy another one... This one cost me 20 bucks and I could've gotten a 5 gallon aquarium for that :P so if I get one of those little heaters (and would I really need an airstone? I don't like the look of a random tube going out of the bowl :P) and do biweekly water changes you think it would be ok? The betta would be able to move around just fine I am sure. He'd go from a cup at the store to a 2 gallon with heat, so pretty sweet deal for him I'd say lol

[shellieca]

Originally Posted by fishfan88

Thanks for the advice guys! If I did end up doing this, I would use the bowl I have... I don't really want to buy another one... This one cost me 20 bucks and I could've gotten a 5 gallon aquarium for that :P so if I get one of those little heaters (and would I really need an airstone? I don't like the look of a random tube going out of the bowl :P) and do biweekly water changes you think it would be ok? The betta would be able to move around just fine I am sure. He'd go from a cup at the store to a 2 gallon with heat, so pretty sweet deal for him I'd say lol

An air stone isn't needed for a Betta, heater & twice weekly water changes with a good water conditioner of course & he should be good. Would love to see a pic once set up.

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by fishfan88

Thanks for the advice guys! If I did end up doing this, I would use the bowl I have... I don't really want to buy another one... This one cost me 20 bucks and I could've gotten a 5 gallon aquarium for that :P so if I get one of those little heaters (and would I really need an airstone? I don't like the look of a random tube going out of the bowl :P) and do biweekly water changes you think it would be ok? The betta would be able to move around just fine I am sure. He'd go from a cup at the store to a 2 gallon with heat, so pretty sweet deal for him I'd say lol

In the case of Bettas, any extra air supply ( such as an airstone) would be solely for asthetics as the Betta breathes air from the atmosphere not the water. It's why their ancestors live in the wild where they do.
The only major problem with Bettas in bowls is the water changing. I do mine 2-3 time per week. I have my fish in 1/2 gal bowls with gravel and plants and there is plenty of room for swimming. You must keep up with cleaning the gravel as excess detritis and food can quickly pollute that amount of water.
As for heaters, I don't use any BUT, I am in Florida so the air temps don't really require for one. In the winter, my house heats to a temp that the fish are comfortable in. If you live in a colder climate, you may want to look into under the bowl heaters if you don't want wires or tubes in the bowl.

Hope this helps

[fishfan88]

Thanks guys I'll try to delete some pics from other posts soon so I can get a pic on here when I'm done!

[Scouser]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

In the case of Bettas, any extra air supply ( such as an airstone) would be solely for asthetics as the Betta breathes air from the atmosphere not the water.
:

I'm sorry but you're wrong.

Yes they do have a labyrinth organ which means they can breathe from the surface of the water, and even survive for a short amount of time out if water entirely. But that doesn't mean they don't use their gills to breathe!

The air stone would provide water movement too, which helps get oxygen into the water.

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

It's why their ancestors live in the wild where they do.
:

And what do you mean by this? This makes no sense as to why the incorrect info you gave would be considered true.

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by Scouser

I'm sorry but you're wrong.

Yes they do have a labyrinth organ which means they can breathe from the surface of the water, and even survive for a short amount of time out if water entirely. But that doesn't mean they don't use their gills to breathe!

The air stone would provide water movement too, which helps get oxygen into the water.



And what do you mean by this? This makes no sense as to why the incorrect info you gave would be considered true.

Well Scouser, if you look at the timeline of the existence of Labrynth fishes you'll see that the adaptation of this Labrynth was to enable the fish to breath (get oxygen) from sources other than the water. Through the evolutionary process, these fish were able to move into more hostile, oxygen depleted areas of the water system that provided safety for them but death to their predators. It's the reason why these fish can be kept in unaerated water and survive and thrive whereas other fish would die off. So while they may take some oxygen from the water through their gills, they don't need to use them at all (other than for flaring their gill plates at each other) to survive.

As for the water movement, when the Siamese people started collecting wild Betta splendens over 300 years ago for fighting purposes, these fish were found and collected in slow moving rice patties and stagnant pools of shallow water. Some fish were even found in the foot prints left by the oxen used to plow the rice patty. The domestication of this fish to what we see now as Bettas (Siamese Fighting Fish) did not increase their need for moving water. Once again, its why these fish can be kept successfully in an unaerated bowl of water as long as the chemical conditions of that water do not decay to an unhealthy state whereby bacterial and fungal disease will overtake the fish. I have also seen Betta breeding farms in Thailand and noticed that none of them used running, moving water on their fish holding tanks. If these tanks were filled with non labrynth species, they would not have been able to survive due to lack of oxygen. Makes you wonder

Now from personal experience, I have been a Betta breeder for over 40 years and think I have a pretty good handle on what these fish need to survive and thrive. I have documentation besides experience to confirm what I advise to people on this site CAN be done. While it is sometimes controversial and I have been engaged in conversation with many on this site as to what current beliefs are, ( right and wrong) my information is never a guess and is backed by experience over a 45+ year career of dealing with tropical fresh and saltwater fishes. You can see my experiences in my bio.

I hope I have enlightened you a bit and encourage you to get some more info prior to making any posts which may be later proven inaccurate.

[Scouser]

I see that you decide to be arrogant about your experience, it doesn't change the fact that you are wrong about many things.

Betta fish cannot "thrive" in oxygen depleted water, they just can't.

Labyrinth fish are not born with functional labyrinth organs. The development of the organ is gradual and most labyrinth fish breathe entirely with their gills and develop the labyrinth organs when they grow older ( I can provide a citation if you so require it with your "expert" experience)

And you seem to underestimate the size of these rice fields, they are ankle deep most of the year, plus with the rain that falls in those tropical regions there is more than enough air exchange and water replenishment to sustain the fish.

Just because you have seen breeding set ups in Thailand doesn't mean that the fish thrive in those set ups! For the best part the methods used in any kind of battery farming is far from what the animal needs and are usually done so in the cheapest way (no need for fancy equipment if you're being cheap)


Also the fact you say they can thrive in bowls means you're 40 years of experience is questionable to me.

[fishfan88]

Now now, this doesn't need to turn into a heated discussion about the "evolutionary process" and how and whether or not bettas can survive and/or thrive in whatever kind of water. I appreciate your input, both of you, although its obvious you each have a different opinion lets just leave it at that. Kay? No need to fight about it!

[fishfan88]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

In the case of Bettas, any extra air supply ( such as an airstone) would be solely for asthetics as the Betta breathes air from the atmosphere not the water. It's why their ancestors live in the wild where they do.
The only major problem with Bettas in bowls is the water changing. I do mine 2-3 time per week. I have my fish in 1/2 gal bowls with gravel and plants and there is plenty of room for swimming. You must keep up with cleaning the gravel as excess detritis and food can quickly pollute that amount of water.
As for heaters, I don't use any BUT, I am in Florida so the air temps don't really require for one. In the winter, my house heats to a temp that the fish are comfortable in. If you live in a colder climate, you may want to look into under the bowl heaters if you don't want wires or tubes in the bowl.

Hope this helps

"the betta breathes air from the atmosphere, not the water"
I can see how this might have confused some people, but yes, they do breathe from the air. Only they ALSO do breathe the water through their gills.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

As for the water movement, when the Siamese people started collecting wild Betta splendens over 300 years ago for fighting purposes, these fish were found and collected in slow moving rice patties and stagnant pools of shallow water. Some fish were even found in the foot prints left by the oxen used to plow the rice patty. The domestication of this fish to what we see now as Bettas (Siamese Fighting Fish) did not increase their need for moving water. Once again, its why these fish can be kept successfully in an unaerated bowl of water as long as the chemical conditions of that water do not decay to an unhealthy state whereby bacterial and fungal disease will overtake the fish. I have also seen Betta breeding farms in Thailand and noticed that none of them used running, moving water on their fish holding tanks. If these tanks were filled with non labrynth species, they would not have been able to survive due to lack of oxygen. Makes you wonder

Now from personal experience, I have been a Betta breeder for over 40 years and think I have a pretty good handle on what these fish need to survive and thrive. I have documentation besides experience to confirm what I advise to people on this site CAN be done. While it is sometimes controversial and I have been engaged in conversation with many on this site as to what current beliefs are, ( right and wrong) my information is never a guess and is backed by experience over a 45+ year career of dealing with tropical fresh and saltwater fishes. You can see my experiences in my bio.

I hope I have enlightened you a bit and encourage you to get some more info prior to making any posts which may be later proven inaccurate.

While bettas CAN be kept in miniature bowls of unaerated stagnant water, I have yet to see a betta in the pet store that is housed in one of those bowls that I would consider a "happy" looking fish. just because it CAN doesn't mean it SHOULD. A HUGE point that is being missed is that these are pets and effort should be made to keep our pets happy. Looking at it from a different perspective, a puppy is capable of surviving inside a crate for its entire life but is looked at as animal cruelty. Or a child is capable of living inside a closet but doesn't mean that it is acceptable to make that be their living conditions.

[Pearly]

Originally Posted by fishfan88

Thanks for the advice guys! If I did end up doing this, I would use the bowl I have... I don't really want to buy another one... This one cost me 20 bucks and I could've gotten a 5 gallon aquarium for that :P so if I get one of those little heaters (and would I really need an airstone? I don't like the look of a random tube going out of the bowl :P) and do biweekly water changes you think it would be ok? The betta would be able to move around just fine I am sure. He'd go from a cup at the store to a 2 gallon with heat, so pretty sweet deal for him I'd say lol

I haven't been doing this for very long (few months only) but this is what I found: 1) the big bowls 2 gallon or bigger are a pain to keep clean (water changing was a big hassle and trying to keep things looking pretty, planted and arranged on driftwood live plants, gravel or whatever you have for substrate) took lot of time and very messy, 2) got smallest heater (don't recall how many watts) but it was one of those betta heaters and good thing I put it in during time I was there to watch the temperature bcs afraid that had I left it there it would cook my poor boy. Those 2 things alone was what prompted me to quickly move my guys to small but filtered tanks with lights. I find that the light alone keeps the water temp steady at 78-80 F at all times. Now, I live in warm climate too so no issues with the outside environment getting cold. I love the filters bcs even in my tiny tanks once things get populated they seem to help sustain a little ecosystems for the fish plus the little pump keeps things moving but it's not powerful so bettas don't have to fight the current. My favorite and ideal habitat for my betta is those "bookshelf tanks" that Petco sells. They are 5.5 or 6.6 gal, something like that. They are short (so not deep vertically) but long giving your fish ample room for swimming. I got one of those off craigslist and love it!!!! I'll be getting more as I find them. My understanding is that bettas like it better when it's longer and not too deep. There! There is my 5 cents, again this is just my own experience and by no means do I claim to be an expert on the issue, to the contrary! Still knee deep in my research and asking people questions, and lots of them Good luck with your bowl. If you have just one it may not be too bad. I had 4 of them, planted! It got to be way too much headache for me. Now my little transition tanks are so much easier and I can relax more enjoying my fish while waiting to upgrade

[fishfan88]

Originally Posted by Mebbid

While bettas CAN be kept in miniature bowls of unaerated stagnant water, I have yet to see a betta in the pet store that is housed in one of those bowls that I would consider a "happy" looking fish. just because it CAN doesn't mean it SHOULD. A HUGE point that is being missed is that these are pets and effort should be made to keep our pets happy. Looking at it from a different perspective, a puppy is capable of surviving inside a crate for its entire life but is looked at as animal cruelty. Or a child is capable of living inside a closet but doesn't mean that it is acceptable to make that be their living conditions.

Absolutely agree.

[jessicafish]

bigger bowls like you one you have are fine for a betta... and if the tank is heavily planted you won't need 2 water changes a week...I don't know what other people have said because I didn't read the entire thread but a betta will be happier in a 2.5 bowl than a .5 that some unknowledgible person will put him/her in...

as long as you have a heater then a betta will be perfectly happy you could even have a betta in a 1g if it was heated and enought water changes were done...

[Oohitsae]

A bowl is perfectly fine. I've kept and bred bettas for 12 years, all my makes are kept in 2.5's while the juveniles that need jarring are kept in .5'a with no problem. As long as you have a heater and keep water quality good then they don't need anything else and will thrive without airstones.

I've tried it both ways air stone and not and see absolutely no difference with behavior or death rate or anything. My bettas stop using their gills entirely after about 4 months of age except when they come to the surface to take a breathe.

If you plant it, there will be plenty of oxygen in the water for them anyways without an airstone, so this whole debate about it was unneccessary.