# Is there a maximum size?



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Is there a maximum size to the aquarium I put a betta in? I have a 20 gallon with a male betta, guppies, rasboras, and a pleco. I would like to upgrade them to a larger tank in a few months. How big could I go? Could I do like 100 gallons or would all that space freak him out? His name is Jeremy, btw


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

You can go as big as you want. I think he'd LOVE that size!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay great. I have been seeing some great deals on craigslist lately. I really want a tank that is long and wide, instead of tall.


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

Long and wide would be perfect. He wouldn't have to swim as much to get to the surface.


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## Lunatatice (Jun 22, 2010)

And he'd have TONS of fun exploring it since its so long!


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

The only problem is territory....he'd get tired from patrolling but hey he'd live longer from all of it.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

The biggest "longs" I have seen are only like 30 or 40 gallons. I think if I went any bigger I would have to get it custom made. I might just settle for 40 gallons. I don't want it to be too deep. The aqueon 40 gallons is 48 x 13 x 16 inches, which is as tall as my current 20 gallon. So I think the 40 gallon long is just like two 20 gallon highs put next to each other. That seems pretty big, considering I am only getting betta friendly species (aka smaller than him lol). 


Hmm, thinking about it I might just get the 33 gallon long and let my guppies fill the space up. It is 48 x 13 x 12, so I think a betta would like how shallow it is. 12 inches is also the height of the 10 gallon, so picture three ten gallons placed next to each other plus a little extra. Do you think the guppies and rasboras will mind that it is shallower?


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

I don't think they would mind. Don't they usually go back and forth? I don't know if they're a species that prefers to swim from top to bottom.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

The guppies go all over the tank. They are always exploring and swimming around. The rasboras swim side to side but sometimes they do that diagonally.


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

I think they would be fine. They're not like Angelfish, who need deep tanks.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay, great. Thanks


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## shinybetta (Jul 3, 2010)

What kind of pleco do you have?

Edit: Nevermind, I saw it.


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## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

I think you should do the 100 instead of the 40l ^.^ I mean, if it seems too deep for your guy he'll just stay closer to the top. I know one member has a 125 or something with multiple males, a sorority, and some community fish!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Hmmm….

maybe I will do the 100


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## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

Yeah, it would be like living in a mansion Lol. Going from a cup to a 100g tank... that would make him just so happy. I personally would go to the LFS and choose a couple more males, the calmest ones, and add them if you go with the 100g ^.^ Sorry, it would just look awesome, and I'm too addicted to Bettas.

But yeah, if anyone came to your house and saw a 100gallon tank with a Betta in it... might just make them never use a bowl again.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

It would be pretty neat to be able to keep males together. I am just not sure if I am experienced enough for that yet. Plus if something happened I don't know what I would do! What if I combined my 20g sorority with the 20g community? It would be nine girls and one boy. Does that still seem dangerous? There would also be guppies, rasboras, cories, and a pleco. Plus shrimp and snails lol.


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## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

In a 100 gallon with plenty of cover I bet you can add multiple male bettas and they would be able to coexist.


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Oh wow! That would be so cool to keep males together with some community fish! If you had two males in a 100 gallon with lots of plants, they might not ever realize the other existed! XD

But I still know that I would be paranoid that they would fight, even though it's unlikely with that much space


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## BlackberryBetta (Feb 6, 2011)

No way, I don't think that there is a limit! The bigger the tank, the happier he will be. More to explore for him! Good luck!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Hmm..

Do you guys think it would be able to combine ALL of my tanks into one? That means three male bettas, 9 female bettas, guppies, rasboras, cories, snails, shrimp, and a pleco. 

That would be amazing to be able to have every fish in one big tank.


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## bettamaniac (Jan 6, 2011)

even though you guys will probably disagree with me there are aquariums that are too big for a betta. it is a very complicated thing to understand and to explain. space wise you can never have too big of an aquarium. but depth wise and in a way space wise it is possible for a tank to be too big. if you guys have ever been to the audubon aquarium of the americas and have seen that huge shark tank with the bleachers in front of it that would be too big for a betta. even though they might never go to the bottom the pressure would be far too great at the bottom. that aquarium holds thousands of gallons. imagine what the pressure is like at the bottom. the pressure would probably cause extremely large amounts of damage to the betta that it would probably be unable to move and lay at the bottom until the combination of lack of oxygen, pressure and hunger kill it. now I am just going to let you think about that for a moment.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

bettamaniac said:


> even though you guys will probably disagree with me there are aquariums that are too big for a betta. it is a very complicated thing to understand and to explain. space wise you can never have too big of an aquarium. but depth wise and in a way space wise it is possible for a tank to be too big. if you guys have ever been to the audubon aquarium of the americas and have seen that huge shark tank with the bleachers in front of it that would be too big for a betta. even though they might never go to the bottom the pressure would be far too great at the bottom. that aquarium holds thousands of gallons. imagine what the pressure is like at the bottom. the pressure would probably cause extremely large amounts of damage to the betta that it would probably be unable to move and lay at the bottom until the combination of lack of oxygen, pressure and hunger kill it. now I am just going to let you think about that for a moment.



Lol how is this even relevant? There is no risk of anyone putting a betta in that. Bettas don't even get that much room in the wild.


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## bettamaniac (Jan 6, 2011)

I was trying to state that it is possilbe for a tank to be too big I wasnt saying soemone is gonna put a betta in that. and Im not the first person on this forum to go a little off topic.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I know your not the first, but I would really appreciate it if you did stay on topic on my thread. There is no way I will ever have an aquarium that big, the biggest would probably be 200 or something, so I would prefer only information that will help me


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## bettamaniac (Jan 6, 2011)

you still probably shouldnt put a betta in something like a 100 gallon though.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

bettamaniac said:


> you still probably shouldnt put a betta in something like a 100 gallon though.


Why not? There is no reason not to.


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## bettamaniac (Jan 6, 2011)

knowing the amount of pressure that is probably in the tank I woudlnt. the maximum size I would ever put a betta in no matter what is with it is a 50 gallon.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

bettamaniac said:


> knowing the amount of pressure that is probably in the tank I woudlnt. the maximum size I would ever put a betta in no matter what is with it is a 50 gallon.


A betta will be perfectly fine in the 100 gallon, I honestly think the pressure is a non issue. Why would a betta not be able to handle the pressure but a tiny half inch rasbora be able? Bettas will be fine in 100 gallons, and probably live longer because of the exercise. I know of someone with a betta in a 200 gallon, so it is fine. Where did you read the pressure thing? Fish are water creatures, they are built to handle it.


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## baylee767 (Nov 5, 2010)

*Intrupts* Yes you can keep all those fish together (= I don't know if breeding on accident is a risk (wouldn't be NEARLY as aggressive though if it did happen because the male could choose the female and there'd be plenty of space to get away) (Also, I don't believe the member with the 125g ever had breeding problems)

Also, yes multiple males WILL fight. But only on the level of sorority girls, since Bettas tend to fight until they give up and they only get seriously injured in tiny tanks with no cover. And I believe males give up after a couple of nips willingly in large tanks, just kind of establishing territories and pecking order.

Also, 100 gallons is not too much pressure. In some places in rice paddies the water is multple feet deep, and they stay on the bottom there. The 10-20 foot zone seems more reasonable for too much pressure.

You should go for the mega community/sorority/male combo!! Awesomest (real word? lol) tank on Bettafish!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Omg I really want to do this now! It would be so amazing, I am already getting a bunch of ideas. It would also mean doing a water change on only one tank, not four!


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

You need to keep your other male tanks set up in case it doesn't work, though.


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## pumpkinspikepie (Feb 18, 2011)

Personally, I would be afraid of an infection or something breaking out and needing to deal with isolating / treating all the fish separately. Don't get me wrong, that sounds so awesome, but disease would be my main concern. With multiple tanks you wouldn't really have a problem on that large of a scale.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay I can keep the males' tanks set up. 

That would definitely suck if a fish got sick, but I have a community and a sorority already so I already have to think about that.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay so unfortunately my floor won't support 100 gallons. I read that one gallon weighs 8 pounds so that would be 800 pounds! *What is the smallest tank size I could go if I only combined my community and my sorority?*

Here are the specs again:

community:
one male betta
10 guppies
5 rasboras
one tiger Pleco
shrimp
snails


Sorority:
7 Female bettas
7 Albino Cories


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

When determining what tank would be "too big" you have to take the betta into consideration. I don't think a big fancy rosetail would appreciate having to patrol around the tank with all that finnage. same with a dumbo betta. It would stress him out. He may not be fast enough during feeding time either. Plakats, females, and maybe even VT's however may be fine... I'm not really sure. Lets not be so quick to anthropomorphise our fish and say that bigger is always better. We have bred bettas in such a form that they become weak swimmers in comparison to other fish. In large tank you should make sure there are plenty of decorations and tall plants.

For the minimimum size tank for the combination of your sorority + community I would say 50 gallons.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks so much Alex! I will probably just do the 50 gallon, maybe 60 or 70. The male betta that would be in there is a plakat so he shouldn't be bothered by his fins in the big space so much. 

I agree with you about the bigger is not always better. There are some people on here whose bettas get stressed in anything bigger than one or two gallons.


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