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Does anyone keep fish? (XP)
My son has been begging for a betta (beta?) fish for well over a year. He's obsessed with them. I've been telling him he's too young, thinking he'd forget about it, but he hasn't. So, I think we're going to go ahead and surprise him with a fish for his birthday this summer.
But this is the thing - we really can't keep a betta in a bowl where we live. It's just too cold, particularly when we keep the house at 65 degrees in the winter. And I know this from experience, I had those suckers die in droves when I was a kid. And it MUST BE a betta, not a goldfish. Which makes the whole thing a bit more complicated.
So basically, he's going to need a small desktop aquarium that will accommodate a heater and a filter (so that I don't have to clean the tank every week). I was looking at this set-up, which is pricier than I would like, but it's has great dimensions to sit on his nightstand and I like the aesthetics of it. Does this seem like something that would work and not be really high-maintenance?
Thanks!
Re: Does anyone keep fish? (XP)
Goldfish are harder to keep than bettas, IMO--they produce so much more waste that it's difficult to keep the water balanced.
Fish are high maintenance, period. I had a betta for years in a tank about that size with a filter & heater. I still did pH testing weekly, 50% water changes weekly and a 100% change monthly. With my betta, it also took a fair amount of time to figure out what food he did well on (most of the manufactured ones bloated mine--I had to feed him fresh bloodworms).
If he's responsible, maybe you can make a fish chore chart or something to make sure he's taking care of his pet properly. Bettas are really charming and fun pets if well cared for, my Chester always greeted me when I came home and would jump out of the water. They also prefer more activity around them--so I'd suggest putting the tank in a more public area.
Thanks for the info! We could keep the tank in the family room on a bookshelf...maybe that would be better. It's sounding more involved than I was thinking, though. My son will be turning 5, so he means well, but realistically, 90% of the care is going to fall to me.
Also, you'll want to cycle the tank before adding fish, so I don't know how big a surprise it will be for your son--tada, here's an empty tank, we'll buy a fish in a week or two. Don't listen to the pet store, adding fish to a new tank the same day is usually a recipe for disaster.
We've had many fish tanks. At one point we had a 90 gal saltwater, a 5 gal salt, and a 20 gal goldfish tank! Finally got hubs to downgrade to only one 20 gal nano reef and I got rid of my goldfish tank. They can be time consuming but as long as you keep a healthy tank then it shouldn't be. Gold fish are extremely hard to keep up but betas are much much easier. My mom kept a couple of glass vases with flowers and a beta in each for years and they did fine... She may have fed them every other day.
If you have a filter, you should be fine doing a 10% water change once a week. If all the levels (ammonia and nitrates specifically) remain stable, then that should be all the care you need to really give it. Never do a 100% water change.
I thought cycling could be sped up by using live substrate for freshwater tanks? I read that you could have it ready for fish within 24 hours if you do it that way.
I'm just more conservative I think. The last time I cycled quickly and added fish in 24 hours they all died, even though the tests said all was well.
And NOW I want to start up an aquarium again
I had a 20 gallon tank in college and between me and my roommates, we kept everyone alive, including a beta, some tetras, a little frog and a sucker/ bottom feeder.
Moved everyone home after college (400 miles in the car), set up a beautiful 50 gallon tank, added to the fish family, and one day my mom thought she was "adding" to the aquarium by dropping in a starfish she picked up at the beach that morning, covered in salt, and killed them all. It was a sad day in my house.
I think if you like that set up, it will be fine for a single betta. Two gallons is reasonable (I kept an unheated 2.5 gallon tank with a couple small fish and shrimp for years). Your setup looks neat and self-contained.
Definitely use a water treatment when getting it all ready, something that neutralizes chlorine and contains good bacteria. Rinse whatever gravel you use. Make sure you rinse dust from the carbon insert before adding it to the filter. Wait a day or two and then add the betta. Just don't change more than half of the water at a time; less will be less stressful for the fish. When you do so, be careful to keep the new water temp very similar to the old water and remember to treat the new water before adding to the tank.