As a member of a few tropical fish chat rooms I see lots of questions. Some are quite good in origin and some are well lets say a little "aggravating". One of the most frequently asked questions are by younger chatters or their parents that just purchased a betta splendins. I would now like to make a few comments and observations on a current fad in the tropical fish hobby.
I would like to start by saying the Betta splendins is an excellent starter fish just like almost everyone thinks. In my younger days I had a few in one gallon bowls myself. These fish are hardy and not too fussy. However they are not INDESTRUCTIBLE.
There seems to be a trend in the aquarium industry of selling cheap small plastic containers known as "betta tanks". These tanks are extremely profitable to the retailer for the tank as well as the three or four bettas you buy after each failure at keeping this fish alive. After each failure the retailer will sell you a new product that will certainly stop the cause of the last failure and so on and so on. To blame the retailer is hard because they will say a betta can survive in such a tank. This is true to an extent and believe me surviving and flourishing are two different things. Besides what's the motivation for a retailer to truly help here when it means more profit in failure.
The second observation on this trend is that the people buying these set ups are by new beginning fish keepers as a first fish. So I say to those thinking about getting one read this and other materials first. If you have already bought one don't worry there is still time to help.
So what's one to do? First off as in all of fish keeping go by the golden rule. GET THE LARGEST TANK YOU HAVE THE SPACE FOR AND CAN AFFORD. (You may have read that in my beginners section.) This doesn't mean go get a 55 gallon tank for your betta. But a two gallon bowl would do nicely. This bowl should not be filled all the way to the top but two thirds is good. Due to the shape of the standard bowl this allows more water surface area in the bowl and bettas aren't too concerned with water depth.
The reasoning behind this is simple. In a functioning tank with filtration (10 gallons or over) the tank must be cycled and once it is the tank is partially if not totally filtered by the nitrogen cycle or "bio" filter as we hobbyists call it. In a small bowl you can pretty much forget about the cycle except that ammonia kills quietly and quickly. These small containers that are cleaned each time (hopefully) never get a chance to build any cycle so all ammonia and nitrites have to be removed by doing those bowl cleanings. This isn't bad if one knows how to do this correctly. Also the larger the bowl the more water there is to dilute any ammonia from uneaten food and fish wastes. Just remember that the water you place back into the bowl after cleaning (without soap) is dechlorinated, ammonia free (some dechlorinaters may add to ammonia levels) and close to the same temp as the old water. You can use that betta tank to house your fish while cleaning his bowl.
In closing I would like to say good luck and may your Betta splendins flourish and show the true reason for the name splendid.
P.S. If any of this was new to you. You may want to read my beginners page
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