I bought my first fish yesterday from a local store along with a 3 gallon tank kit with a filter. I ran the filter all day yesterday but this morning he did not seem very happy and was staying in one corner of the tank so I decided to turn of the filter for a couple of hours. As soon as i turned it off my fish immediately began to move about the tank and seemed much happier. I was browsing some other websites to learn about nitrogen cycling and whatnot. Everyone was saying how important it is to have a filter and how ammonia and nitrite will build up if I don't have one. My question is can I have a healthy three gallon tank without a filter but while still performing routine water changes if I keep the bio load down to one betta?
new fish owner
- Thread starter nmo
- Start date
Bettas do not like fast-flowing water. You should, however, keep filtering the tank. Is there any way you can divert the flow to lessen it?
You did not cycle the tank. You should have read up on cycling, and as your tank is so small it was especially important to do a fishless cycle before you added your fish. But I think you know this now. Have you got a test kit for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and pH? You're going to have to keep an eye on these while your tank cycles.
The thing is, you're going to need something to support a healty bacteria colony to be able to cope with your betta's waste. If you can lessen the flow rate on your filter, do so. Otherwise I'd suggest buying a bigger tank so the impact of a powerful filter is less. In a 3 gallon, you could probably only keep a betta anyway.
You did not cycle the tank. You should have read up on cycling, and as your tank is so small it was especially important to do a fishless cycle before you added your fish. But I think you know this now. Have you got a test kit for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and pH? You're going to have to keep an eye on these while your tank cycles.
The thing is, you're going to need something to support a healty bacteria colony to be able to cope with your betta's waste. If you can lessen the flow rate on your filter, do so. Otherwise I'd suggest buying a bigger tank so the impact of a powerful filter is less. In a 3 gallon, you could probably only keep a betta anyway.
I did buy a nitrite and ammonia testing kit after reading up on cycling and plan on doing daily tests to make sure the levels are acceptable. If I find that ammonia or nitrite levels are spiking would quarantining the fish in a glass or some other container (with fresh water) help keep him alive until levels return to normal? Also I did add a bit more water to the tank which seems to be helping with the issue of the strong current. It seems a bit odd that they would have included such a powerful filter (35 gph) in a 3 gallon tank especially since most beginners would not know that this is much too strong.
That's a very powerful filter, but I'd suggest you keep the betta in there to feed the bacteria colonies as they grow, as long as you keep on top of water changes and prevent spikes you should be ok. You might want to downgrade your filter size though, you should be able to pick a small one up quite cheaply.