Betta Fish Tank
A Quick Betta Tank Guide
Trying to decide upon the proper Betta tank for your Betta, or Betta to be? There are a number of different approaches that can be taken, and you probably won’t go wrong, or not very far wrong if you keep these things in mind – clean water, sufficient room, disease prevention, and only one Betta Armed with that information, you can look at each available type of container that could serve as a Betta tank, and make a pretty good decision as to whether it’s right for your Betta.
Clean water and disease prevention might seem like one and the same thing. There’s probably nothing that will cause disease quicker than foul or polluted water. But adding a new fish to the tank or having the Betta in a community tank always carries the risk of it picking up a disease from another fish. Some types of Betta tanks you’ll find on the market actually encourage the spread of disease.
A rule of thumb is, the smaller the Betta tank, the more often water is going to have to be changed out, and the smaller the Betta tank, the easier changing water is usually going to be. Obviously, changing out the water in a 2-gallon tank isn’t going to be much of a problem, unless the tank is full of gravel and plants. Changing out a 50-gallon tank is going to be more work, but will not be required nearly as often.
Sufficient Room? – The rule of thumb here is “bigger is better”, though there are of course practical limits. Many believe that since a Betta’s ancestors were quite a happy thrashing about in mud puddles, the Betta doesn’t need very much room, and a small vase will suffice. Betta fish are even kept in vases at times, strictly for decorative or ornamental purposes. Keeping a Betta in a small vase is equivalent to you taking up lodging in one of your closets. You’ll survive, but you certainly won’t thrive. You want your Betta to thrive, and for that to happen, a one-gallon Betta tank is about the smallest you should consider. Two gallons is probably better.
If you want to put the fish in a little vase for a dinner table decoration, that’s probably all right for a day or two, but let the fish be in at least a one-gallon tank most of the time, and don’t take it in and out too often. A five-gallon tank is probably as large as you’ll need to go for Betta fish, the reason being that if you put more than one Betta fish in the same tank, a while later you’ll end up with only one survivor, and probably a rather beat up survivor at that. Betta fish are not called Siamese Fighting Fish for anything, and two half-living Betta fish, do not equal one healthy one.
Some Companions OK – Betta fish do usually get on with most other fish though, so your Betta tank, if large enough, say 20 gallons, could accommodate a few more fish. You’ll have to keep an eye on things for a while though to make certain no one is picking on someone else. If all is going well, don’t try to sneak in a second beta, unless you want to watch a good fight.
Summary – So that’s a start. Look for a Betta tank that is large enough, one gallon or more, one that’s easy to keep clean, and if a large tank, one that can accommodate a filtering system. Keep the water from becoming polluted. Gravel may in some cases do more harm than good in certain tanks. And remember the golden rule of the Betta tank, only one Betta at a time.
See More: The Different Types Of Betta Fish