# Marineland Eclipse 3 Gal and Auto Feeding for Bettas



## MissPacer (Aug 6, 2012)

Hi-

I'm a first time poster and I'm hoping someone can help me with my problem. 

I recently purchased the Marineland Eclipse 3 Gallon tank from Amazon for my betta Sushi. Does anyone own this tank? You can see the tank here:

http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-Eclipse-Seamless-Integrated-Aquarium/dp/B0002Z7VRS

I've had Sushi for over a year and have kept him in a large vase but I felt it was time to upgrade and give the guy a proper home. He lives on my desk at work and I use an auto-feeder to keep him fed on the weekends. This is the feeder:

http://www.amazon.com/ZOO-MED-AQUAT...268555&sr=1-2&keywords=betta+automatic+feeder

My question is how do I use it in conjunction with this tank? This tank has an opening for feeding but it's right over the filter so putting the auto feeder there would not work. I partially removed the top and fit my auto feeder over for the weekend and tragically this did not work out. I found Sushi on my floor this morning. Needless to say I am devastated that this happened. He never jumped in the vase so I'm not sure why he jumped out over the weekend. Maybe because there was more room to jump.

Any suggestions on how I can remedy this? This tank is beautiful and my little guy loved it for the few days he was in it. I'd love to keep the aquarium at work since so many people enjoyed seeing Sushi and he loved all the attention. I just don't know what to do about weekends when I'm not here to feed my fish. 

Thanks!


----------



## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

I have a Crescent 3 on my desk at work, and given that it's supposed to be beneficial to fast a betta one day a week, I don't feed Chicory over the weekend. I give him a couple extra pellets Friday at end of business and an extra couple over the course of Monday.

Now what I did get for him is a automatic timer for the light. They turn the lights out at work over the weekend and it's *dark* in the room my desk is in. He has live plants, so it was probably not good for them. The timer turns the light on at 8 am and off at 6 pm daily.

He's been on my desk for about 3 months now.

I missed the part where Sushi jumped out - I'm so sorry!


----------



## MissPacer (Aug 6, 2012)

Hi Shadyr-

Thank you so much for the advice! I didn't know you could fast a Betta. When I first got him I read something about having to feed them daily so I always followed that. I did have a weekend where the battery died in the auto feeder and he was extra hungry but just fine. I never thought about being able to do that on a regular basis. I think I will try that.

Good call on the timer for your live plants. I got the silk plants in my tank as I heard they were better than plastic. They turn the lights out here but a couple stay on for safety purposes so the light was dim but never completely dark. 

I so appreciate the help! My coworkers and I are just stunned that the little guy is gone.


----------



## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

I got the timer after I came in one weekend and saw him just drifting in the plants. I thought he was dead! I then proceeded to freak him out by turning on the lights, and about gave *him* a coronary. I guess he was totally zonked with the lights being out so long, and was extremely startled when they came on unexpectedly.

That light timer is probably not be needed if your room has some natural light (mine does not) and silk plants.

Good luck with a new betta, and again - so sorry about poor Sushi. It's really frustrating when you try to do the right thing and it turns out...less than well.


----------



## MSG (May 8, 2012)

I don't like the feeders for that reason. Bettas are pretty smart and once they realize food is coming out of that thing, they'll hang out by the feeder whenever they get bored. 

Like Shad mentioned not feeding them over the weekend is FINE. They can go without for for 2 weeks maybe more. If you notice they're looking thin, give them a little more food. 

Most people overfeed because most cans of betta food give you over 1000 pellets & unless they're sick, they'll always be down for a snack.

I have the Eclipse 6. Got it from a neighbor a few blocks away fro me who left it outside for probably a year & finally decided to get rid of it. The built in biowheel filter is dead, but the light works & the tank is a little bit scratched.

I slapped a Aquaclear 150 Filter on the back and added a giant glass shelf on top to keep the fish from jumping out. 

Eclipse tanks are not usually meant to have any extra accessories. If you add any, you'll have to make some sort of modification to the tank.

When you decide on the new betta, make sure you choose one that's HEALTHY.


----------



## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

Goodness yes, Chicory has the big puppy eyes trick down pat when it comes to begging for food. And he does his swishy dance (being a halfmoon, it's quite impressive) for me, so he gets rewarded!

I think(hope?) other people at my office like the fish. I had quite a few inquire after I ended up taking office fish #1 (Ghost) home, so I guess they had noticed him.


----------



## MissPacer (Aug 6, 2012)

Hi MSG-

So I should take the plants out of the tank? They aren't very big, about 3-5 inches in height and just 1-2 inches wide. What sort of modifications do you mean? I'm new to the whole tank thing so I'd love suggestions. I plan on getting a new betta tomorrow. 

Shadyr-

I think people at the office like a fish. I had multiple coworkers who would stop by once or twice a week just to see Sushi. It gave them a break from work. And I loved having him at work because it was something for me to look forward to when I came in. I have a cat and guinea pig at home so I didn't need another animal there.


----------



## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

I think by accessories MSG was meaning things like ... feeders...filters not made for the tank, etc etc. Plants, gravel and such count in my mind as "decor" 

Here's the tank on my desk....you can see Chicory hiding in his plant in the upper left.


----------



## MissPacer (Aug 6, 2012)

Oh! I get it now. Sorry, I'm still new to the lingo. Love the picture! He looks like a happy camper and you did a nice job with the tank!


----------



## MSG (May 8, 2012)

Marineland Eclipse tanks are designed to be used 1 way. Everything you should need to keep fish comes inside the box. 

When it comes to fish accessories, don't ever buy a product till you check out the reviews. Most are badly designed or don't work as intended. There's about 20 feeders I know of, but more like 50 or more feeders all together on the market. 

The feeders I've used dropped food EVERYWHERE, and some feeders will get condensation where the food is held which causes the entire batch to rot, so you have to tinker with them to make sure it's operating like intended. 

I've decommissioned & cleaned out all the feeders till I have time to get them to work right for my setup. 

I have a acrylic tank with factory cutouts, limits my options for EVERYTHING. I'm getting rid of the tank in about a month. 


Also after your unfortunate accident, if I was to use that same ZooMed feeder, I would get one of those snow cone cups and cut the bottom out just enough so there would be enough room for the pellet to fall into the tank but not enough space the betta to jump out. You will have to weight it/tape it down.

Good luck. I'll grab that betta feeder to LOOK at it in a couple hours when I stop by the PS. I've seen them, but probably not going to buy one because feeding time is one of the best part of owning a betta.


----------



## MSG (May 8, 2012)

Shade... I'm wondering how you keep those plants so green with such a limited amount of light. Do you use fertilizers? If so what kind?


----------



## ANHEL123 (Jul 21, 2010)

Sorry for you little guy i hope you will rescue another one 
I also have 3 bettas at work. I have two jobs. And one of the office closed 3 days a week. I also give them extra on friday and they are fine . One betta is about 2.8 years now. I think it better then have feeders and if it malfunctioned and if you will have too much food in the tank, that will contaminate the water.

If you buy natural plants quarantine it though because they carry disease and i would do the same with betta. Make sure new betta is healthy first before you put him in the tank.Sometimes or even a lot of times you can bring sick betta from the store and end up disinfection the tank and everything in the tank.

Also some filters are too strong and bother bettas with too much water movement can that be the reason he jumped.

And always leave space between the top of the tank and water level well you already learned it hard way  

Good luck give us update on your new betta.


----------



## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

MSG - I think the LED light hood that came with the tank must be a good spectrum of light for them. It's a nice clean almost blue light when turned on. I have the hood on a timer so that even when I'm not in the office on weekends, it turns the light on from 8 AM to 6 PM. I put a little API Leaf Zone for them in one of my water changes about once every two weeks. I also have what are classified as "easy" plants. Small Amazon sword, a temple plant, a mossball, a banana plant, and the java fern.


----------

