Betta in 10 gallon tank?

Question

Hi everybody,

I have a Betta, and he lives in this 2.5 gallon tank. I clean it once a week, I take the fish out, and everything, and wash and put it back with clean water. It is very easy to do, because it is not a large tank.

Now I am thinking about getting a 10 Gallon tank for my Betta. Would you happen to know how to clean such a big tank? Do you clean it all? Taking everything out and washing? Or litttle by little? If is little by little, how do you take water out and fill in again? How often? etc... Please let me know if you have any idea. Thanks. hehe

Answer 1

Above answer is right.  Don't change all the water, just 10-15%.  Changing all the water every week is too stressful to the fish.

Answer 2

Your betta is perfectly happy in a 2.5 gallon tank, so you don't really need to upgrade. Wild bettas live in very small puddles, so they have adapted to living in a small amount of water. Does the smaller tank have a filter? You shouldn't completely empty the tank because that destroys the beneficial bacteria that aquariums need. Just change about 25% of the water once a month, scrape off algae as needed, and use a siphon to suck the gunk off the gravel.

edit: no, never get more than one betta per tank.

Answer 3

Your betta will love having a 10 gallon tank to roam around in!  Think about getting him some live plants, too.  They not only look nice, they help keep the water quality up by absorbing some of the waste as fertilizer.  But it's true, you don't have to take out all of the water, or remove the fish from the tank.  Leave your betta in there all the time.  It's much less stressful for him if he never has to be moved around.  

Just use some kind of suction device to suck up the gunk from the bottom of the tank (gravel vac, turkey baster, whatever) and about 20% of the water.  Bettas really don't produce much waste, so with only him in a 10 gallon, you probably only need to do it once a week or maybe even every 2 weeks.  Clean the filter media once a month and if the decorations get a little grungy or green looking, take them out and scrub them as needed.  Just try not to do it at the same time as you clean the filter so you're not killing all the beneficial bacteria growing in the tank at once.  If algae starts to grow on the sides of the tank, just scrub it off and then wait for it to settle and suck it up off the bottom.

*Additional*  You can't 2 bettas together as they are territorial.  But in a 10 gallon tank you could get other fish.  For example, you could have a little school of 6 neon tetras or 3-4 cory catfish along with your betta.

Answer 4

I highly recommend what "mokey" said. 10-20% water changes a week is about right. I recommend you do a fishless cycle before adding fish.

Answer 5

Once a week you would take out about 10 to 15% of the water and replace it with water that has been dechlorinated.  You can vacuum the gravel while you remove the water with a gravel vacuum (very cheap).  

**

Answer 6

bettas are native to sri lanka and live in small puddles in the rain forrest. they are happier in a small tank. sad but true, the smaller the tank the betta!  I would suggest getting a smaller tank, and dont change the water as often as you are. they eat micro organisms that are found in stagnant water.and they are essential to its diet, no matter how much you have spent on specialist food you cant buy the micro organisms it needs. I have had them in bigger tanks and communal tanks but they are happier and healthier in small tanks.

Answer 7

It's so annoying people still think bettas live in tiny puddles and love small spaces...WRONG!

Bravo to those that know better though.  

Believe it or not, bigger tanks are easier to take care of than smaller tanks.  You don't and shouldn't break down the whole tank, all you need to do is change 20% of the water once a week.  You probably want to cycle the tank first though, you can do that by adding a small cocktail shrimp to the tank.  Have it all setup, gravel decorations, filter, heater, everything...just add the shrimp and wait until ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is under 20 ppm.  (That's what it should always be after it's cycled).  To test the water get the API master liquid test kit.  You can change more or less than 20% of the water a week, it just depends how high nitrate is.  If it's plenty lower than 20 ppm, change a little less.  Use a gravel siphon and bucket, and rinse the filter media in the old water once in a while..don't change it though, good bacteria lives there.  Make sure to treat new water and get it close to the same temperature as the tank water.  

Two males shouldn't ever be kept together, you can't keep a male and a female together either.  So stick with just one male.

Answer 8

you just do weekly water changes but only change 15-20% of the water.  Also, an algae scraper might be nice and when you do the water changes use a gravel siphon, it gets the waste and bad stuff out of the gravel and does the water change for you.  

It's actually quite easy to maintain and you don't have to take everything out to wash unless you want to scrape any algae growth off.  Don't do the whole tank because that upsets some of the aquariums cycle like what you set up when you cycle it.  

You will want to "cycle" the aquarium.  For info on that go here:  http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles...  

Other than that that's about it, once in a while you will want to wash the filter a bit but not too often as that is where the healthy "things" (for lack of a better term) grow to help break down the waste and stuff.  

I hope that helps!  and good for getting the betta a bigger aquarium!

Answer 9

the information above is very correct. only do partial water changes once a week and get yourself a gravel vacuum and do half of the tank every other week.

just remember to replace the water with clean water that has a good water conditioner in. your betta will love a much bigger tank! you will see a huge change in the personality. just make sure to get your fish a heater and filter.

oh and don't be taking the fish out of the tank every time you clean it because it will stress your fish very much.

Answer 10

i got a 15 high gallon tank and what i do is once the water and the gravel's all dirty i take the fish out and use the Grave Vaccume Cleaner then o poor out all the water thats left over, i wash all the fake plants and everything. I use a sponge when i clean the tank(w/ the dirty water, it wont matter as much) and then i poor in the tank clean water.

~Hope this helps :]

Answer 11

Bettas do not live in small puddles in the wild.

They live in rice patties which are thousands and thousands of acres of shallow water. not puddles.

And as everyone else has already said, you should NEVER break down your entire aquarium unless you are taking it down completely  for moving or getting a bigger tank.

But if you do get a ten gallon you could essentially have more than just one fish.

Hope we helped!