Proper Aquarium Size for a Betta

Often I find people wanting to put a betta fish in any type of tiny vase looking object around, and while you may be able to keep a betta fish alive in something like that, it may not be the healthiest of habitats for your betta. Now read closely as I am about to divulge to you my discovery on what size tank you should actually have for a betta fish. The minimum size tank you should have for a single betta fish is... 10 gallons! If you're thinking this is too big for a betta fish than hear me out.

If you have ever put a betta fish in a 20-gallon breeder tank (or perhaps larger) than monitor the betta's swim pattern by measuring its distance swam before it pauses. I found that a betta fish will swim close to half the length of a 20-gal breeder tank before it pauses briefly and continues swimming again at about this same distance every time. Which makes a 10-gal aquarium the ideal size in length for a betta fish. Now, this probably seems like it's a very roomy tank for a betta, but you can try adding a few smaller fish into this setup as well because let's not forget that a 10-gal tank also has width and height to it. While my betta was also in this bigger 20-gallon tank for over a month I also discovered its fins began to grow out more, which was not something I had ever seen happen before with a betta fish kept in these 3-gallon (or smaller) environments, and to myself that's even further reasoning as to why a betta shouldn't be kept in a tiny environment (a bigger environment will generally have more stable conditions as well).

Betta's I would say are close to 2-inches in length at adult size, which means you may be able to get away with adding several neon tetra's which are about 1-inch in length (be sure to do research on tank mates for your betta because they don't get along well with numerous types of other fish such as other betta fish, guppies, goldfish, etc.). There may be some exceptions to this rule of tank mates, but I prefer not to risk it as it can cause fish injury, death, or having to return tank mates. An aquarium should be fairly stress-free for all its inhabitants.

You should be able to find a 10-gallon aquarium for a mere $10 in-store at Petco (they have a $1 per gallon sale about twice a year and I found select Petco's may always carry the 10-gal's for $10), and it's money well spent for a healthy betta fish habitat. You can also find inexpensive secondhand aquariums from Craigslist, LetGo, local antique shops, and sometimes even yard sales. In terms of cost for aquariums, I generally stick with the $1 per gallon rule, and no more than $4 per gallon for larger used aquariums (if the aquarium has a lid, etc. than obviously, the cost will be a bit more).

Preferred Filter - Poll Results

Not long ago I posted a poll up in the sidebar and asked everyone what their preferred filter of choice was, and the results are now in so, be sure to come by again to participate in the next poll!

The top two choices for aquarium filtration were Canister filters at 46% and Power filters at 26%. Sponge, Undergravel and some Other type of filtration were all tied at 20% which left Wet/Dry filters at 6%, and no one appeared to like Internal filters which showed at 0%. 

As for my opinion on the best filter, it really just depends on your setup and what you want to achieve.

Canister filters are great if you need something that can house a lot of beneficial bacteria, but I don't find they always clean the best, although you can add inline UV sterilizers or inline heaters so they are pretty customizable in terms of what you can do. 

A Power filter I find can generally clean better than a Canister filter, but they often lack the capacity to hold a lot of beneficial bacteria which a Canister is more capable of doing. Generally, a Power filter is not as customizable as a Canister filter but Power filters are becoming move advanced with bigger boxes to house more media and built-in UV sterilizers (which before this was mostly a Canister filter feature). 

Both Sponge and Undergravel filters have their place in the aquarium world, but they often don't offer any media benefits, they aren't that customizable and personally, I find them to be more of secondary type of filtration used alongside a Canister or Power filter. They're good if you don't want a lot of water current in a tank, or if you need more surface agitation, and personally the Sponge can give a little beneficial bacteria while an Undergravel filter is really just made to disperse gas from waste and cycle water with carbon which helps to remove discoloring and water chemicals. 

Wet/Dry or Sump filters are very similar to a Canister filter but they're generally on a much larger scale. The reason these may lack popularity based on this poll is because they can become costly and it takes some amount of knowledge at times to set these up properly. These do allow for more water aeration in comparison to the other filters mentioned on here. For large aquarium setups having one of these can practically double a tank's water capacity.

Internal filters are pretty similar to Power filters accept they take up much-needed aquarium space inside the tank and they aren't always that attractive to look at. Most the time I see people recommending these for shallow water pets such as frogs that can go in the water or on land.

As for other types of filters, there are new ones I hear about all the time and recently one of those is a Trickle/Shower filter. This type of filter is similar to a Wet/Dry filter although it usually sits above the water rather than below it. You'll also find Moving Bed and Powerhead filters, and I'm sure some other types that I can't think of at the moment but this should cover the most popular of filters you'll come across in the aquarium hobby today. 

Also, big THANKS to everyone who helped participate in my poll because you helped to make this post possible.

Cucumber Water in the Aquarium

I know, I know, it has been awhile since I have attempted any new little side experiments but being that I'm on summer vacation from University means that I have a bit more free time on my hands.

The Experiment
For today's experiment, I was curious what would happen if I added some homemade cucumber water into my goldfish aquarium (I'm not sure if you should try this with all types of fish but you can try it on yourself). I was originally hoping that it would work as a diuretic much like that of pea's being fed to a goldfish in order to alleviate some bladder issues because according to my research it's supposed to be more of a diuretic than that of peas. You may be wondering "why didn't you just feed it to them" and I did try to do that but they weren't that interested in actually eating it even though they acknowledged it being there. So by making cucumber water they basically have no choice but to ingest it via the aquarium water (right?). Cucumber water also allows the fish to get some nutrients and electrolytes in the process, just in case this diuretic ordeal doesn't work out, but as always try this at your own risk.

What you'll need...
1 - Cucumber (preferably organic)
2 Cups - Water, bottled

Start by washing the cucumber thoroughly. Peel the skin off of the cucumber. Slice the cucumber into 1/4 inch slices. Place the cucumber into a glass container of appropriate size. Add in the water (it should cover the cucumber), close the container, and place in the fridge for at least 24hrs. Discard the cucumber (or eat it yourself) and the pour the water into a cup. Allow the cucumber water to get room temperature and pour it into the aquarium.

Results
While I did not find that this worked as a diuretic (perhaps my batch was too small for a 30gal tank or maybe I should've turned off my filter) I did find this worked more as an appetite enticer (more so than when I used garlic drops for goldfish). Once the tasty cucumber water was added into the tank it took no time at all for the goldfish to quickly zoom about the tank in search of something tasty to eat (in which case I fed them some sinking pellets to watch them gobble those up). So perhaps if you have finicky freshwater fish that are into eating vegetables but they haven't been eating much lately then you could give this a try in order to entice them or perhaps force feed a sick fish (which is what I do with Vitachem).

Fish Room / Bedroom Tour

I finally got around to putting together a video of my Fish Room / Bedroom! This is my first official Guppy-Guide video on YouTube so let me know if you enjoyed this in the comments below and I'll see about making more video content for you in the future. Thanks for watching and don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE.

Meet Momo

I was not really planning on getting another betta after Neptune passed away, but while I was in PETCO browsing the leftover stock from all the holiday shoppers this little male koi betta fish just spoke to me, and I absolutely adore him. This tri-colored betta fish has quickly become my favorite of all with his vibrant red color, white underside, and black markings. To me he combines all the fish I have kept for the past several years now as he has the markings of a koi (relation to a goldfish), the personality of a guppy (with his fin movements), and he's a betta... so to me he's like 3 awesome fish in 1.

Momo the male koi betta

I decided to name my new betta Momo to not only mimic a past favorite betta of mine Mr. Moto, but also because he has spots like that of a cow (moo moo). Momo is pretty relaxed for a betta but definitely seems to get quick bursts of energy. He is also a huge pig as he just loves to eat, and thus far he seems to interact well with people around his tank. There's just something about Momo that really just makes me happy and puts a smile on my face... I already love him so much.

Pet Mountain - Review

I feel I have used the website PetMountain.com enough to finally give a fair review of the company.

If you sign up for an account on the site, they do send lots of e-mail advertisements which seemingly look like great deals.. such as "save up to 70% off". Generally they do seem to have pretty decent priced items, however it seems you only get the bigger discounts when you buy the bigger items or those in bulk size. Although I noticed on the site it tells you the % off you get, but if you run the percent-off based off their retail price it seems that it is generally off a bit on their total price (see the image below). So you do have to look at the price they have stated on their site rather than doing your own calculations for the cost. If you continue to crunch the numbers for the rest of their prices they are at times less than the calculations rather than more. If you want, you could contact the company about it but as you continue reading on here I will go into further detail as to why I will not waste my time doing as such.

Click to Enlarge Image

Once you make your purchase on PetMountain it gives you your shipping options and generally I choose whatever the cheapest option is which is a 5-8 business day delivery. Having ordered from this site several times now, I have only received my purchase from them on-time on 1 occasion which was the first time I had ordered from them. Every time since that order, my order has arrived like 2 days or so behind schedule. When this first happened to me, I contacted the company and was hoping to at least be compensated for the delay with a future discount or to be refunded my shipping costs. All I got in response from them was an e-mail stating when it would be arriving and they just treated it as if it was not an issue or something. That definitely was not the response I wanted and it made me question ever doing business with them again. This made me upset because I was waiting for medications for my fish that needed urgent care and time is of the essence when things like that arise. Its been over a year at least since that incident and obviously it is not something they're highly concerned about so, just be warned if you need urgent things from this company.

If you think I'm asking for too much by being upset about the shipping, you have to realize that I have worked for a company for over 10 years doing shipping and receiving, and dealing with items that needed urgent delivery. So at that company I worked for, we definitely pulled strings to make magic happen under similar circumstances. So yes, it does really bother me with this company because that is also like selling a lie to people. If your company can't meet the 5-8 business day shipping policy which your customer paid for, than you need to change you shipping guidelines to 5-14 business days or whatever is actually achievable for your business. How they run a business can also affect a customers business, which in turn can lose them business in the long run.

Those are really my only issues with this company, and like I said I have repurchased from them numerous times, but I do try to find most of my urgent items locally if I can. Otherwise, I know I'm going to have to wait longer than I want to by ordering from this company. They claim to have some "happiness guarantee" on their website so, I suggest you write them if you want these issues resolved as much as I do. My recent order I placed on a Sunday Nov. 13th 2016, my item shipped out Monday on Nov. 14th, and some how the 5-8 business day shipping said my order arrives Nov. 25th for whatever reason.. when it should have came no later than the 23rd which was right before Thanksgiving. On top of that, the tracking numbers they provide don't seem to work for USPS.com which is who they claim to be shipping their things through, and it was actually FedEx that showed up at my door. Also, if you look at their BBB complaints a few other people have also had similar issues to my own. So overall, order things at your own risk and happy shopping!