Betta Chump

We rescued two Bettas from the little cups; but now are having trouble careing for the fish properly while trying to carry on with our lives,which includes travel. We would like to go away for up to two weeks at a time,but the fish can't handle that in an unheated 3 quart fish bowl. The wife has been changing them every three days and has them on seperate heating pads. (They are in seperate 1 gallon bowls) We bought a couple 2.5 gallon aquariums with charcoal filters and two 50 watt heaters. The problem is that even with the pickup on the filters chocked all the way down the current created by the pump is to much for the fish. We have someone to feed and maybe remove and add some water, and the heaters seem to work fine but we would sure like to have a filter running if we are to be gone for awhile. I'm not knocking the kit and only mention it so you will maybe know a little better what we are working with. It is a mini bow 2.5 kit and doesn't have any aeration, could this be a problem?

jd@ga

What brand of filter is it? How many gph does it turn over?

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Tommy Gun

Airation is not going to be too big of an issue for a betta fish, they are naturally found in small bodies of water, almost puddles, and so they have evolved to be able to use air from the surface to suppliment the lack of O2 in the water.

To be honest, you are already way ahead of the general population in that you are worrying about your fish so much. I am still amazed at how many just goofy things are sold that people put betta fish into! Anyways, you could either put a fake plant right underneath the filter return flow to sort of diffuse the current or create some other type of 'sheild' for the betta fish to sit underneath.

In my 10 gallon fry tank, I had to use a filter that was meant for a 55 gallon tank because I set the fry tank up in one day. To help out with the current, becaue the little fry couldnt swim anywhere near the surface, I put fake plants that were long enough to be buried in the substrate, but still float on the surface right underneath the filter. This breaks up the water quite a bit and the fry usually hang out underneath the plants most often. I also put a little decoration of a miyan temple for the fish to find shelter in and this worked out for a long time. I now have the right filter on there since I cloned it by hanging on the 55 gallon tank that I took the other filter from.

gm333

This would be the perfect tank for sponge filters. Believe it or not in smaller aquariums they work just as well as mechanical filters.

Betta Chump

Not quite sure about the protocol yet on your site, but really appreciate the concern and profesionism shown by all. I don't know about the G.P.H. on the filter that came with the aquarimum but it had a small impellar pump attached to what amounted to a flatened cup that was divided down the middle by a charcoal filter in a bag. The water pumped into the cup bottom of one side of the filter, rose up , ran thru the filter and spilled over the top on the other side back into the tank. Doesn't sound like much but it sure threw our Betta. We took those filters out and got a small air driven disposable one. We put in a taller artificial bush and so far they seem to be doing just fine. I guess the next thing is going to be a test kit so we can be sure what the filters are doing. Well thanks again.