No other fish. I had a betta before and he lived a pretty solid 8 months but he was in a tiny tank only about 1 gallon. I was wondering if he would stay healthy and be able to find food well in a big 20 gallon tank all by himself?
Certainly! I have a male Betta and a baby Bristlenose Pleco in a 20 gallon tank. Mr. Betta is happy as can be.
One word of caution, it is more than likely that whatever filter you find for a 20 gallon, at least HOB types, will create too much current for a Betta. A sponge filter would probably be your best bet, or you can use this trick to ebb the current if you already have the tank/filter:
http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/347/ Good luck, you're going to have a very happy fish!
Edit:
Please disregard Warlock's "advice". He's wrong on everything. Not surprising since he doesn't even know how to spell the name of the fish he claims to know so much about ...
A 20 gallon tank is perfect for a betta. The bigger the tank the better for the fish. They really love to swim and with this amount of space they would really be thankful. Many people squeeze them into little cups and jars and it's sad how some live their whole life like that . It's not impossible for the betta to live in a bowl but it is really not recommended. I believe betta need a tank at least 5 gallons or higher. In a 20 gallon tank I believe you should provide some plants to have a good amount of vegetation in the tank. This will create good oxygen for your fish. The bigger the tank the longer they'll live. I had a betta live for 4 years but I believe they can go for 5-7 years. Good luck.
Yeah, no worries at all, I know someone that keeps just a betta in a 55gal.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
The betta will be quite active in a big clean and properly heated tank like that, and will patrol the whole tank looking for food and intruders, so no worries feeding it. It will quickly learn to recognise you and the food jar as well, and will probably end up begging in the corner where the food usually appears.
Plant the tank well, use just a small filter so the current is gentle, one small fish in that size tank barely needs a filter at all, and you could add some snails and shrimp to help keep the algae down.
Have a look at this - 55g betta palace
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/sho ... Ian
he would LOVE the a bigger tank. A 1g tank is suffering for them they do like to swim around and are fun to watch when they are happy in a big tank. He will be just fine finding food and with a heater and a gentle filter it would be a very happy fun to watch betta
I'm sure it would love it, make sure the tank is long and not too tall, as bettas come up to the surface for oxygen
he will love it in there, just make sure u have a filter and heater
Of course. A single betta would do just fine in a 20 gallon tank with a gentle filter and aquarium heater.
You can, the question is why. Betas live and breed in shallow confined spaces. A Beta can survive quite well in a 10, 20, 50, or 100 gallon tank, and they will have no problem finding their food. If you do this you'll probably find your Beta "hiding" somewhere in the tank. Putting a Beta in a large open tank is the equivalent of turning a huge warehouse into your bedroom. When faced with that much open water, a Beta's instinct is to hide. Think of this as fish agoraphobia. Another thing to keep in mind is that Betas are not only surface breathers but they prefer to eat off the surface. A Beta's normal diet is small insects that live on the surface of the waters they inhabit. One of the many reasons you keep a Beta in a small bowl is that they can quickly find their food while it is still floating. If you MUST put your Beta in a large tank use floating cichlid floating food, the smallest pellets you can find. Even then you will waste a lot of food as it will go bad quickly and a Beta only eats in small portions. I have tried variations of putting a Beta in a tank with and without other fish. The only practical application I've found for using a large tank is breeding. When breeding Betas I use a 10 gallon tank, gravel and only one to two inches of water over the gravel. As I said, Betas LIKE shallow water and just will not breed in open water. I suggest a nice small decorative bowl. If you really want to get fancy you might place a very small ornament in the bowl, but only if the bowl is big enough for that addition and will not interfere with his feeding.
