# New Betta tank



## pillar (Mar 28, 2009)

Hello,

I am planning on getting a Betta to put in a 3 gallon tank that I already own. Anything I should do first? The tank has been on for about 2 weeks, and it has already seen 2 goldfish pass on (may they rest in peace) due to my negligence, as i have learned that 3 gallons is too small for them.

Elsewhere on this forum i was told that 3 gallons would be fine for a Betta, which is great!

Please give me any advice you think would help.


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

wait another 4-6 weeks and it should be good for a betta. may i ask what company the tank is from?


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## pillar (Mar 28, 2009)

Petcetera store brand plastic tank. Is that OK?


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

Plastic??!! that won't work! see if u can return it get a acrylic or even better an all-glass tank.


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## pillar (Mar 28, 2009)

well it might be acrylic, i just said plastic because i dont know any better.

Is there a way to tell?


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

the tank is fine. I kept my betta in a 2 1/2 gallon tank for 3 years, and had no problems. I occasionally did 100% water changes and cleaned the gravel thoroughly and he loved it! most of the time i did 50% water changes using a siphon. I've had quite a few bettas (though no breeding yet) and NONE did well for long in a jar or bowl, but then again, the ones who do do that usually should do daily water changes.... Good luck with your betta, as your tank is fine, and maybe you can add a couple of other fish that won't bully the betta!


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## pillar (Mar 28, 2009)

Thanks! What other fish would you suggest? in another thread someone suggested Mountain Minnows.


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## Fishboydanny1 (Jun 13, 2008)

Mountain minnows may be a little nippy, so I would use caution with them... I would reccomend maybe oto catfish (1 or 2), a cory, or maybe larger shrimp. if you give a list of possible tankmates, I or another member could tell you which are safe.....


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## COBettaCouple (Mar 24, 2009)

Do you have a liquid testing kit, like the API master freshwater kit? You can use that to tell when the tank is cycled and ready for your Betta. You want to get the tank to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and <10 nitrates.

The way I cycled tanks was to setup the filter, heater and substrate (usually flat glass marbles for bettas) in the tank and turned the heater to maximum. Every 12 hours, I'd add a pinch or 2 of fish food. Since no fish are in the tank, you can keep the water hot and let the food decay so that it provides ammonia to feed the nitrogen cycle. The warmer water helps the process along. You should see the ammonia go up, hit a peak and go down. Same for nitrites. When those go up and come down, finally hitting 0 you can start doing water changes to bring the nitrates down to 10 or less. Just test before a water change and space them 24 hrs apart. When you get 0,0,<10 for a few days, the tank is ready.

It does get to smelling funky (the ammonia & nitrites especially smell) and it's really up to you how often you clean the rotting food out. Once the tank is cycled though, a good cleaning to get all the rotted food out needs to be done.

While cycling, I just put the filter sponge in so it can develop the huge colonies of beneficial bacteria so the floss part doesn't really need added until it's cycled but can be added anytime really.

I recommend using Prime to treat all the water. It does a lot with just 1-2 drops per gallon.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

petlover516 said:


> Plastic??!! that won't work! see if u can return it get a acrylic or even better an all-glass tank.


My cousin has a plastic 2 gallon hexagon tank, it's about 4 years old now, and it's great. There isn't anything bad about it. 

Although if you don't do anything bad to the tank like make it crack or anything alike...


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

petlover516 said:


> Plastic??!! that won't work! see if u can return it get a acrylic or even better an all-glass tank.


My cousin has a plastic 2 gallon hexagon tank, it's about 4 years old now, and it's great. There isn't anything bad about it. 

Although if you don't do anything bad to the tank like make it crack or anything alike... 

Then your fine


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

pillar said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am planning on getting a Betta to put in a 3 gallon tank that I already own. Anything I should do first? The tank has been on for about 2 weeks, and it has already seen 2 goldfish pass on (may they rest in peace) due to my negligence, as i have learned that 3 gallons is too small for them.
> 
> ...


Well whoever told you that the betta in a 3 gallon tank is too small... they are pretty much lying. if it was pet cetera then they just want you to buy a bigger tank... I went their all the time before because I didn't know much about Big Al's yet...

And they said that I can put 100 goldfishes in a fish bole... and I just said "okay"

3 gallons is good enough for a betta. Just not if your wanting to have 3 females to have babies... then you'll want a bigger tank. 3 gallons you can keep a male betta, and about 2-4 neon tetras, with a couple of cardinal tetras. You can even keep a betta in a vase or a small fish bole or even a bigger fish bole.. I have been doing it for so many years and petcetera are just a bunch of liars except for some of the workers who actually have experience. 

Big Al's by far is the best I know and they also have good prices too


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## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

A 3 gallon tank is fine for a betta alone but I would not plan on tankmates in a tank that size. He will get grumpy and nippy and territorial. I will say this one time and then leave it alone, small tanks are fine but touchy and the smaller the tank the more touchy they are. They require much more maintenance than a larger tank and the fish much happier in larger tanks. 

Here is how I know.

I had a betta in an Eclipse 3 gallon..fine tank and he was fine with a 25 watt heater and the bio-wheel filter included with the tank and he was healthy but not very active. (I do NOT recommend using a heater of any type in a tank of less than 2.5 gallons as the rule of thumb where I have learned is 10 watts per gallon is the absolute maximum or you cook your fish where bettas are concerned) I thought I would get a 5 gallon hex tank and he moved to a larger home and got a lot more active but still not really great as it was mostly a vertical tank. Then I graduated to a fine 12 gallon Eclipse and he was a different fish and swam all over the place, he was so great. He started to come to the front every time I walked into the room and "play with me" when I fed him and he is still happy and healthy there. True it cost a lot more and he is spoiled rotten but it does tend to show that they do appreciate the room and ability to move about. They can exist in 3 gallons, but they LIVE in a larger tank. I am NOT saying that you have to have a larger tank but don't knock the larger tanks until you have tried them. They DO make a difference in your fish's activity level, health, and general nature. 

Bettas have personalities as do some other Tropicals and you will notice that when you follow the "recommended" amount of space for some of the species even though you may not agree with it, it does make the fish happier. I am not a believer that bettas come from mud puddles or that they do not need more than a cup of water to live in and I do not apologize for that. They need room to move. If 3 gallons is all you can afford it is better than the small cups they have in the store as long as it is heated to the proper temperature and cycled and cared for, but please, please do think of the fish and his needs and not just having a pretty fish. He could end up being one of your very good friends. 

Rose


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## COBettaCouple (Mar 24, 2009)

A 3 gallon will fill the "1 gallon per adult inch" guideline for small tropical fish, but like Rose says it's easier for water conditions to go downhill so you really want to do weekly cleaning and water testing to keep an eye on the conditions. We keep our Bettas in the 6.6g bookshelf tanks that petco sells. For a Betta, it's better than the standard 10g tank and big enough to be easier to maintain healthy water.


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