You cannot give a fish too much space to move or too much volume.As I’ve discussed before in talking about minimum tank size, the tiny tanks we keep them in are nothing compared to the native bodies of water they originate from. No tank you can provide them is that big, so no tank you provide them can possibly be too big.
I see this argued the most with domestic betta fish, and to be honest, it frustrates me. Many will claim that their fish is an exception, that they struggle to move and access the surface, so they *need* a smaller tank. Issues with breeding and buying fish that can’t even swim aside, this is just addressing the issue from the wrong angle.
If you have a betta fish that has such extreme finnage that it struggles to get to the surface, your first response should not be “Let’s downsize.”
A standard 2.5g is only 3in shorter than a 5.5g. A 5.5g is only 2in shorter than a 10g. 10g and 15g have the exact same height. So when you go one tank size smaller in downgrading, you are only losing a little bit of height, but a lot of volume and footprint.
Instead, if your fish is struggling to reach the surface, you would actually be better getting a tank or other suitable container (i.e. a sterilite bin) with a larger footprint and running it with a lower water level. This way your fish still has the volume and room to move and explore when they want to, but they don’t have to struggle to reach the surface.
Additionally, with fish like these, you should have your tank stuffed full of plants and decorations to rest on. They can be live or fake, it doesn’t matter. But the tank should be packed. Really, this is what all betta fish should have as it most closely matches their natural environment. They don’t get stressed by “too much space,” they get stressed by too much OPEN space. If your betta tank isn’t stuffed full, it should be. If your fish struggles to swim, this really ought to be your first response. If this isn’t enough, then you can move on to what I described above - lower water level, more volume.
The idea that a fish, especially when ONLY applied to bettas, can have “too much” space is absolutely a myth. If you think you need to downsize, you’re responding incorrectly to the problem. Your fish still needs room to move and an enriching environment to interact with. Sure, if they really can’t move that well, they might not interact with every part of it every day. But that doesn’t mean you should deprive them of the option.
If you have a habit of buying fish so overbred they can’t move, you might also want to read some Unfortunate Truths about Popular Fish, which was also linked in the beginning.
Every fish deserves a safe, stress free, and risk free environment! If something has a chance to harm one of your precious babies, leave it out!! This includes decorations you really like but could hurt your fish kiddos, food they enjoy but is bad for them, and tank mates that may harass them and/or require different water parameters!
I’m so tired of people getting pets without learning how to take care of them
Dogs are omnivorous, cats are carnivorous.
If you don’t feed your cat meat, it will die.
Dogs need exercise every single day, not just when you feel like it.
Betta fish need a MINIMUM of 2.5 gallons sized tank.
Most pet fish you’ll see are tropical and need heaters.
Most reptiles need a humid environment. Your living room is neither warm enough nor humid enough.
Rats and budgies are highly social animals and need to live with others of their kind. Read: always get more than one.
Rats like to climb and need a cage taller than it is wider.
Goldfish grow to be 10"-12" and live to be 10-20 years. Yes even that cheap $0.50 one. They’re pond fish. And yes, their bodies actually do stay small if they’re kept in a small environment but their organs will continue to grow and will eventually crush each other, killing the fish prematurely.
Some fish will fight, kill, or eat each other and it’s not “just a fact of nature” it’s you not doing your research and putting the wrong species together.
It takes a few google searches and maybe twenty minutes of link clicking to learn the basics.
It’s not the responsibility of the pet store employee to teach you everything you need to know. The pet store employee might not even need to know what you need to know. All it takes to be a pet store employee is to be more than 18 years old.
I’m just tired of seeing uninformed people put their pets in poor situations. Just. Research. Just a little bit. One google search. Please.
To everyone who has a betta in a bowl/vase because they were wrongly informed that it is ok: It’s not. Pet stores kinda suck, and betta need actual tanks (5 gallons or larger) with filters and heaters. You’ll be amazed by how much healthier and active your betta is in a tank, they have incredible personalities and beautiful fins and colors. I’m sorry you were mislead, but thank you for trying to make things right and caring about your pets.
To everyone who has a betta in a bowl/vase and has been told multiple times it’s bad but still doesn’t listen or care at all: Fuck you. A fish is a living thing. It’s a pet, not a toy or a decoration. Fuck you.
I was going to ignore this, but I really gotta spit a bit of knowledge on this here angry betta post:
So any quick Google search will tell you this information but I’ll summarize it after working in an independently owned pet store specializing in fish for over 2 years. I’ve had many different aquatic animals: wolf cichlids, oscars, figure 8 puffers, clown fish, firefish, various corals, and even the simple yet gorgeous betta fish. So just some quick biology facts about the aforementioned betta: betta fish have a special organ called labyrinths which allow them to breathe air at the surface of their water. They originate from rice paddies in South Asia where water can become very shallow and devoid of much oxygen for the fish at different periods during the year. Does this mean you can have a betta in a gross tank? No. Not at all. This means you can have less gas exchange in the water (which a filter does) because the fish has another way to access oxygen. The one thing I completely agree with in the original post is the heater statement for cases in which the water is in a room not warm enough to keep it at least 73°F.
Overall: Don’t let this person make you feel bad for keeping your fish in a bowl. Just make sure the bowl is more than 1 gallon, has at least 73°F water, and provides swimming space for your buddy.
Remember kiddos: always dechlorinate water, don’t overfeed, and always preform regular weekly partial (25%-50%) water changes to keep the water clean and oxygenated, and your buddy healthy.
Disclaimer: Want to have a filter for cleaner water? go ahead! makes maintenance easier and the water clearer. Nothing wrong with a larger (5gal+) either!! i’ve had bettas live for over 4 years in a bowl AND in a 5.5gal planted tank!What IS wrong to do is shaming people for putting their animals in a suitable home that doesn’t apparenlty agree to your standards and being aggressive without teaching anyone anything!!
If you do not have a cycled filter, then ammonia will build up in your “betta bowl” within a day or two. Any amount of ammonia, at all, is enough to cause harm and stress to your fish. To keep the water clean in a bowl, you would need to do water changes at LEAST every other day, preferably every day.
25%-50% water changes are what you do in a properly established, filtered and cycled tank. In a bowl, you need to do 50% every other day, bare minimum.
A bowl is NOT a suitable habitat for any fish. Gas exchange is not important for bettas like it is for other fish because of their labyrinth organ, that is true. But that does nothing to change how harmful ammonia is to them.
Also 73 degrees is too cold for bettas. They come from Thailand, which has a very warm climate, and show signs of stress (clamped fins, lethargy, lack of appetite, etc.) when kept below temperatures of at least 76 degrees, ideally 78-80.
Sources for those interested in providing more than just the bare minimum to keep an animal alive:
I appreciate the sources and added facts to my original reply. The purpose of all the facts i provided was to show it is possible and safe to house a betta in a smaller than 5 gallon tank without a filter. But you mentioned the one topic i forgot about which is most important: water chemistry. Ammonia build up is going to happen in any closed system but doesn’t become deadly or stressful until .25ppm (usual first reading on a standard test kit) a properly cycled tank with naturally occurring nitrifying bacteria in any system (filter or no) breaks down ammonia from waste into nitrite then into nitrate before any of the more harmful elements have a chance to even stress out a fish. so if everything i said at the end of my first reblog (*don’t overfeed*) is followed and the waste in is equivalent to your bacterial load in your betta bowl then there should never be an ammonia spike. Especially when water is changed on a regular basis, once the bowl or tank is cycled, and your betta is fed the same small amount daily.
Does it always work out this nicely for everyone? No! of course not! which is where a small filter that won’t knock the poor swimming fish out of the water is super handy. and also brings me back to another statement of not being rude and shaming people for not always meeting your betta standards!
The one other thing I can see being an issue is keeping pH stable in stagnant water, which is tough because gas exchange is what promotes ph to stay where its at, that and less decaying organics in the system (which is covered with the ammonia). This is the only thing I can think of that can be kept in check best with a filter or bubbler to keep the surface moving since it always has the possibility of dropping to very acidic levels. But have I ever even tested ammonia and ph in a betta bowl before? Yes! More times than i can possibly count working in an LFS for 2 years and I’ve seen plenty of worst case scenarios but also twice as many flourishing ones with bettas living happily into old age.
*note in the link, they begin with a key point often overlooked: bacteria adhere to any surface NOT just filter media*
(I may have already uploaded this but from a different account, not too sure since it won’t show up but I posted it again anyways for anyone looking into these links)
The cycle of a tank is held in the filter. You cannot “cycle” a tank without a filter, because that is where the majority of the beneficial bacteria live. The water column holds next to none, and there’s very little in the substrate and decorations. That is why, in an established tank, you can completely change substrate without crashing your cycle. The bacteria are not present in high enough numbers anywhere but the filter to do any good. The source you linked does not dispute this fact.
I’ve seen plenty of bettas that have lived in bowls, and I have seen exactly 0 that were healthy. These people kept up with weekly water changes in their filterless tanks, and one of the bettas was even 4 years old (which is normal in a proper tank, bettas can easily live even longer, but in a betta bowl it’s impressive), but being ALIVE does not mean HEALTHY. That 4 year old bowl betta had a giant fungal infection due to poor water quality. Nobody even noticed it. He also had big tears in his fins, ammonia burns, and most of his tail had rotted off. I haven’t seen many quite as bad as he was, but every single bowl betta I’ve ever seen or heard of has been unhealthy.
A tank can’t cycle without a filter. The only way you can keep a filterless tank properly is if it’s a large, understocked tank with a very high amount of plants to soak up nutrients. This isn’t something beginners should attempt. Otherwise with no filter, you will not have enough nitrifying bacteria present to keep the water ammonia free.
Even if you do have a 1 gallon bowl with a cycled filter, the lack of space causes other issues. Stability is very difficult to achieve in such a small “habitat,” so you’re prone to temperature swings and pH swings.
If you have a filter, the ammonia is converted over to nitrite and then into nitrates. In a small bowl, these nitrates will build up to harmful levels (anything over 20ppm) faster than a week, meaning you’d need to be doing water changes at least twice a week to keep them in check.
Lack of swimming room can also lead to atrophied muscles, high stress, and therefor behavioral issues. Stressed out bettas will commonly start to bite and consume their own fins. They’re also prone to jumping out of their homes.
Keeping a betta in a bowl requires much more maintenance than a tank, and is guaranteed to cause long-term issues with your fish. If you want a pet, you should aim to do better than the bare minimum required for keeping it alive. I could keep my cat in a cage her whole life, would it suddenly become ok if the cage was cleaned daily?
So I see you, A)only have experience with bettas and other less than difficult to keep freshwater fish. B) rely too heavily on anecdotal information to come to conclusions. and C) don’t like to look into links.
If you would have looked over the link i provided in the last post it says and I quote, “Transforming ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrates. Nitrifying bacteria settle on rocks, gravel, filter media, sand, bio-wheels, etc.”
Which means your statement of “the cycle of the tank is held in the filter” and “you can’t cycle a tank without a filter” and “that is why, in an established tank, you can completely change substrate without crashing your cycle” are all FALSE. This is because bacteria attach themselves to ANY surface area in the tank. I never once said they are in the water column, because they are not, their process simply directly effects the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in said water column. And completely changing out all substrate in a system can and will impact the biological load and cycle of a tank because a majority of that beneficial nitrifying bacteria is taken out of the system.
As for relying too heavily on personal experience, I say that because in this latest post its all about what you have seen and relating it somehow to a completely different species with COMPLETELY different care aspects to some how make your point without any outside resource.
Speaking of resources, who uses reddit as a creditable link?? even within this page at the very bottom it says “These pages are written by the moderators and users. As with all aquariumcare, your experience may vary. If you see something you don’t agree with, or if you want to add something, please message the moderators!!! ” which shows that anything on this page can be changed at any moment as long as someone makes a big enough deal to the moderators, taking out its credibility (also reddit? really?).
It’s not even necessary to mention any more innaccuracies since you mixed up my initial reccomendations for a betta tank by making assumptions over gallon size and amount of material for cycling bacteria to adhere to.
What I’ve learned is your belief is “if it’s under 5 gallons and doesn’t have a heater or filter, its unfit for ANY fish” which again, is totally fine to have that opinion the only reason I commented on this post in the first place is because beliefs and opinions are like dicks, its alright to have your own but don’t go shoving it in everyone’s face.
I have a saltwater tank and MANY species of freshwater fish as well. I have plenty of experience that isn’t centered around working at a pet store.
I did agree that bacteria attaches to any surface. However, the bacteria is not present in HIGH ENOUGH NUMBERS to deal with the bioload for a fish without a filter.
To everyone who has a betta in a bowl/vase because they were wrongly informed that it is ok: It’s not. Pet stores kinda suck, and betta need actual tanks (5 gallons or larger) with filters and heaters. You’ll be amazed by how much healthier and active your betta is in a tank, they have incredible personalities and beautiful fins and colors. I’m sorry you were mislead, but thank you for trying to make things right and caring about your pets.
To everyone who has a betta in a bowl/vase and has been told multiple times it’s bad but still doesn’t listen or care at all: Fuck you. A fish is a living thing. It’s a pet, not a toy or a decoration. Fuck you.
I was going to ignore this, but I really gotta spit a bit of knowledge on this here angry betta post:
So any quick Google search will tell you this information but I’ll summarize it after working in an independently owned pet store specializing in fish for over 2 years. I’ve had many different aquatic animals: wolf cichlids, oscars, figure 8 puffers, clown fish, firefish, various corals, and even the simple yet gorgeous betta fish. So just some quick biology facts about the aforementioned betta: betta fish have a special organ called labyrinths which allow them to breathe air at the surface of their water. They originate from rice paddies in South Asia where water can become very shallow and devoid of much oxygen for the fish at different periods during the year. Does this mean you can have a betta in a gross tank? No. Not at all. This means you can have less gas exchange in the water (which a filter does) because the fish has another way to access oxygen. The one thing I completely agree with in the original post is the heater statement for cases in which the water is in a room not warm enough to keep it at least 73°F.
Overall: Don’t let this person make you feel bad for keeping your fish in a bowl. Just make sure the bowl is more than 1 gallon, has at least 73°F water, and provides swimming space for your buddy.
Remember kiddos: always dechlorinate water, don’t overfeed, and always preform regular weekly partial (25%-50%) water changes to keep the water clean and oxygenated, and your buddy healthy.
Disclaimer: Want to have a filter for cleaner water? go ahead! makes maintenance easier and the water clearer. Nothing wrong with a larger (5gal+) either!! i’ve had bettas live for over 4 years in a bowl AND in a 5.5gal planted tank!What IS wrong to do is shaming people for putting their animals in a suitable home that doesn’t apparenlty agree to your standards and being aggressive without teaching anyone anything!!
If you do not have a cycled filter, then ammonia will build up in your “betta bowl” within a day or two. Any amount of ammonia, at all, is enough to cause harm and stress to your fish. To keep the water clean in a bowl, you would need to do water changes at LEAST every other day, preferably every day.
25%-50% water changes are what you do in a properly established, filtered and cycled tank. In a bowl, you need to do 50% every other day, bare minimum.
A bowl is NOT a suitable habitat for any fish. Gas exchange is not important for bettas like it is for other fish because of their labyrinth organ, that is true. But that does nothing to change how harmful ammonia is to them.
Also 73 degrees is too cold for bettas. They come from Thailand, which has a very warm climate, and show signs of stress (clamped fins, lethargy, lack of appetite, etc.) when kept below temperatures of at least 76 degrees, ideally 78-80.
Sources for those interested in providing more than just the bare minimum to keep an animal alive:
I appreciate the sources and added facts to my original reply. The purpose of all the facts i provided was to show it is possible and safe to house a betta in a smaller than 5 gallon tank without a filter. But you mentioned the one topic i forgot about which is most important: water chemistry. Ammonia build up is going to happen in any closed system but doesn’t become deadly or stressful until .25ppm (usual first reading on a standard test kit) a properly cycled tank with naturally occurring nitrifying bacteria in any system (filter or no) breaks down ammonia from waste into nitrite then into nitrate before any of the more harmful elements have a chance to even stress out a fish. so if everything i said at the end of my first reblog (*don’t overfeed*) is followed and the waste in is equivalent to your bacterial load in your betta bowl then there should never be an ammonia spike. Especially when water is changed on a regular basis, once the bowl or tank is cycled, and your betta is fed the same small amount daily.
Does it always work out this nicely for everyone? No! of course not! which is where a small filter that won’t knock the poor swimming fish out of the water is super handy. and also brings me back to another statement of not being rude and shaming people for not always meeting your betta standards!
The one other thing I can see being an issue is keeping pH stable in stagnant water, which is tough because gas exchange is what promotes ph to stay where its at, that and less decaying organics in the system (which is covered with the ammonia). This is the only thing I can think of that can be kept in check best with a filter or bubbler to keep the surface moving since it always has the possibility of dropping to very acidic levels. But have I ever even tested ammonia and ph in a betta bowl before? Yes! More times than i can possibly count working in an LFS for 2 years and I’ve seen plenty of worst case scenarios but also twice as many flourishing ones with bettas living happily into old age.
*note in the link, they begin with a key point often overlooked: bacteria adhere to any surface NOT just filter media*
(I may have already uploaded this but from a different account, not too sure since it won’t show up but I posted it again anyways for anyone looking into these links)
The cycle of a tank is held in the filter. You cannot “cycle” a tank without a filter, because that is where the majority of the beneficial bacteria live. The water column holds next to none, and there’s very little in the substrate and decorations. That is why, in an established tank, you can completely change substrate without crashing your cycle. The bacteria are not present in high enough numbers anywhere but the filter to do any good. The source you linked does not dispute this fact.
I’ve seen plenty of bettas that have lived in bowls, and I have seen exactly 0 that were healthy. These people kept up with weekly water changes in their filterless tanks, and one of the bettas was even 4 years old (which is normal in a proper tank, bettas can easily live even longer, but in a betta bowl it’s impressive), but being ALIVE does not mean HEALTHY. That 4 year old bowl betta had a giant fungal infection due to poor water quality. Nobody even noticed it. He also had big tears in his fins, ammonia burns, and most of his tail had rotted off. I haven’t seen many quite as bad as he was, but every single bowl betta I’ve ever seen or heard of has been unhealthy.
A tank can’t cycle without a filter. The only way you can keep a filterless tank properly is if it’s a large, understocked tank with a very high amount of plants to soak up nutrients. This isn’t something beginners should attempt. Otherwise with no filter, you will not have enough nitrifying bacteria present to keep the water ammonia free.
Even if you do have a 1 gallon bowl with a cycled filter, the lack of space causes other issues. Stability is very difficult to achieve in such a small “habitat,” so you’re prone to temperature swings and pH swings.
If you have a filter, the ammonia is converted over to nitrite and then into nitrates. In a small bowl, these nitrates will build up to harmful levels (anything over 20ppm) faster than a week, meaning you’d need to be doing water changes at least twice a week to keep them in check.
Lack of swimming room can also lead to atrophied muscles, high stress, and therefor behavioral issues. Stressed out bettas will commonly start to bite and consume their own fins. They’re also prone to jumping out of their homes.
Keeping a betta in a bowl requires much more maintenance than a tank, and is guaranteed to cause long-term issues with your fish. If you want a pet, you should aim to do better than the bare minimum required for keeping it alive. I could keep my cat in a cage her whole life, would it suddenly become ok if the cage was cleaned daily?
To everyone who has a betta in a bowl/vase because they were wrongly informed that it is ok: It’s not. Pet stores kinda suck, and betta need actual tanks (5 gallons or larger) with filters and heaters. You’ll be amazed by how much healthier and active your betta is in a tank, they have incredible personalities and beautiful fins and colors. I’m sorry you were mislead, but thank you for trying to make things right and caring about your pets.
To everyone who has a betta in a bowl/vase and has been told multiple times it’s bad but still doesn’t listen or care at all: Fuck you. A fish is a living thing. It’s a pet, not a toy or a decoration. Fuck you.
I was going to ignore this, but I really gotta spit a bit of knowledge on this here angry betta post:
So any quick Google search will tell you this information but I’ll summarize it after working in an independently owned pet store specializing in fish for over 2 years. I’ve had many different aquatic animals: wolf cichlids, oscars, figure 8 puffers, clown fish, firefish, various corals, and even the simple yet gorgeous betta fish. So just some quick biology facts about the aforementioned betta: betta fish have a special organ called labyrinths which allow them to breathe air at the surface of their water. They originate from rice paddies in South Asia where water can become very shallow and devoid of much oxygen for the fish at different periods during the year. Does this mean you can have a betta in a gross tank? No. Not at all. This means you can have less gas exchange in the water (which a filter does) because the fish has another way to access oxygen. The one thing I completely agree with in the original post is the heater statement for cases in which the water is in a room not warm enough to keep it at least 73°F.
Overall: Don’t let this person make you feel bad for keeping your fish in a bowl. Just make sure the bowl is more than 1 gallon, has at least 73°F water, and provides swimming space for your buddy.
Remember kiddos: always dechlorinate water, don’t overfeed, and always preform regular weekly partial (25%-50%) water changes to keep the water clean and oxygenated, and your buddy healthy.
Disclaimer: Want to have a filter for cleaner water? go ahead! makes maintenance easier and the water clearer. Nothing wrong with a larger (5gal+) either!! i’ve had bettas live for over 4 years in a bowl AND in a 5.5gal planted tank!What IS wrong to do is shaming people for putting their animals in a suitable home that doesn’t apparenlty agree to your standards and being aggressive without teaching anyone anything!!
If you do not have a cycled filter, then ammonia will build up in your “betta bowl” within a day or two. Any amount of ammonia, at all, is enough to cause harm and stress to your fish. To keep the water clean in a bowl, you would need to do water changes at LEAST every other day, preferably every day.
25%-50% water changes are what you do in a properly established, filtered and cycled tank. In a bowl, you need to do 50% every other day, bare minimum.
A bowl is NOT a suitable habitat for any fish. Gas exchange is not important for bettas like it is for other fish because of their labyrinth organ, that is true. But that does nothing to change how harmful ammonia is to them.
Also 73 degrees is too cold for bettas. They come from Thailand, which has a very warm climate, and show signs of stress (clamped fins, lethargy, lack of appetite, etc.) when kept below temperatures of at least 76 degrees, ideally 78-80.
Sources for those interested in providing more than just the bare minimum to keep an animal alive:
You know these cute little glass vases? When you put a betta fish in one, that’s how much ammonia builds up in two days. 2.0 ppm (I know it doesn’t look that high, but I can promise it was). It should ALWAYS be at zero. Please don’t keep your betta in small containers. 2.5 gallons is the bare minimum, but filters are hugely beneficial and bigger space is even better. And don’t forget your heater!
Hey, so, I know that this isn’t my normal thing, but since I’ve spent a lot of time in fish stores the last few days, I really want to say something about these fucking things:
And any other absurdly tiny betta/goldfish bowls they sell at Petco or whatever.
Look. Hey, I get it. These things are real fuckin cute and cheap. When I was in high school and didn’t know any better, I totally bought like, that exact bowl and plopped a betta into it. If you bought one of these in the past, or own one now, you aren’t a bad fish owner. (I would argue the store that sold it to you…is making bad choices) But you can do some things to make life better for your fishy friend.
I’ll be frank: These damn cubes are evil. They are less than a gallon of water. No adult fish can be happy in so little space.
If you want a betta ( they are beautiful fish. I love them!) please give them, at a minimum, 5 gallons and a filter. Ideally a tank heater too, since they are tropical fish. Is it more expensive? Yes. A plain 5-10 gallon tank runs around $15, a cheapo filter is like $6-10, a cheapo heater $10ish. I know that’s more expensive that the cheapo little cubes. They take up more space. It’s more work to set it all up. I understand.
But your life, and the fish’s life, will be so much easier. A 5 gallon is a thousand times easier to keep clean than one of those little cubes. The fish will have more room to fish and show off, will live longer, and have brighter colors.
