# 2.5 Gallon Requirements?



## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Hello, please don't judge me for what I did wrong. Thanks :-D

I have a 2.5 Gallon aquarium, I feel like it should need all the normal things a 5 gallon would need.

Heater and a Filter?

Alright... For now I'm going to place my aquarium in my room that has an A/C (Air conditioner) 

I have no other space to put it because my mom is very territorial. And also very negative. (I said "Mom why don't we put my betta in a bigger tank?") (She answers "Because it's a small fish") (I Asked "Would you like to live in such a small space?") ("Yes because it's easier to clean" She answers) 

And well, i got really angry so im ignoring her about her recommending the tank i already have which is the starter tank which is around *400 ml. poor betta is going to die


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Welcome to the Forum!

A 2.5 gallon is fine for a single Betta. In order of importance you need:

Water Conditioner (Seachem Prime is the best if you can get it in Singapore)
Heater and thermometer
Cover for the tank (this can be as simple as plastic wrap
Filter

This thread will be of major help to you as a cycled tank means a healthier tank for your Betta and less maintenance for you:

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=507585


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

A cycled tank could be completed by having the requirements for those uh. Beneficial Bacteria right?. Alright, is Aquarium salt recommended?

Lol i was scared that those filters and heaters would cost me a bundle worth of 200$, and i was so surprised to find such a thing as "18$" Filter.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I don't recommend Aquarium Salt. But there are still those who swear by it. Ultimately it boils down to personal preference. I simply don't see the need unless it's being used to treat medically.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Wait, but the top of the priority table, is about the A/C, it can change the temperature of the tank. How do i equally level the heat... (I'm pretty sure i would screw up this one.)


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Betta need stable temperature between 78-82. A heater isn't just to heat the tank; it's also to keep temps from fluctuating. Is that what you're asking? The top is to keep a Betta from jumping out of the aquarium.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Oh, so it would keep the heat stable?

Yes, i have a bunch of solid acrylic plastic (eh... maybe you don't know what i meant but it simply means) Clear plastic. it should keep my beloved Betta in.
what else is on the priority list?, i may have forgotten some.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

You'll want to get a 25W *adjustable* heater, and a thermometer to check the heater. Get the smallest filter you can find. Let us know before you buy, so we can help you get the right one. If you can't get Prime, let us know what water conditioners are available so we can recommend one.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

What type of filter? Sponge filter? (there are 4 variable sizes, Small, Medium, Large, EXTRA LARGE.)

Um the size in inches are approximately (note: 1/2 is half and 1/3 is quarter if you don't know)
Small: 2 (1/2) inch x 2 (1/2) inch
Medium: 3 inch x 3 inch
Large: 4 (1/3) inch x 4 (1/3) inch
Extra Large: 4 (1/2) inch x 4 (1/2) inch

again, this is approximate size, I may not be correct.

and a 25 watt *adjusable* heater. right.. but I don't think the aquarium shop would have it. let's try my luck.

Sadly didn't find any Prime, nor Conditioner. For now I'm using bottled water with Reverse Osmosis. (its 5.5 liter bottle)


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Prime _is_ a water conditioner. We use it here a lot. RO water is not good. It doesn't contain minerals that are necessary for healthy fish. What brand water conditioner can you get?

Your aquarium shop should be able to order a 25W adjustable heater for you.

Get the smallest filter you can find. Sponge filters are very good. But a filter that hangs on the back or one that fits inside the tank are also fine.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

RO Water is apparently what I got, and it's 5 liters. (common sense not to put it to waste though.)

What water should be good without having a conditioner though?.
Boiled Water? (yes obviously I will cool it down before putting into aquarium)
Bottled Water? (7.5 pH should be around the chart)

eh... okay if non of these are proper options I will try my best to get a conditioner. Thanks for telling me.

BTW, The RO water is mixed with 30-40% of the water that my Betta already had, pretty sure he still has enough minerals. But not for long.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Usually, if your tapwater is drinkable, it's good enough for fish. And it contains all the minerals. Go to the water supplier's website and see if you can get the specs on your tapwater -- hardness, pH , mineral content.

Spring water (not RO or distilled) has minerals. But it gets expensive. Water conditioner in tapwater is your best bet.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

It does not state anything about hardness nor mineral content (pretty sure its normal mineral content, and least medium hardness.)

pH is 7.5-8.5 Because of fluctuating and very poorly spread water.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

That's a pretty wide range of pH. Anything you can do to stabilize that (like aging, outgassing, IAL or sphagnum moss)? It's not dangerous. But you should do smaller more frequent water changes to keep down the pH drift.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

So like

10% water change, first day of week.
20% second day of week.

or a bit bigger like 20% then 30%


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

Water Conditioner is a Must, especially if the city chlorinates the water. 

I recommend the Hydor Theo 25w heater. It works well in my 2.5g tanks.


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## Zippy2014 (May 4, 2015)

Water conditioner is very important. I even switched the brand at one point when I couldn't find what I usually bought and the bettas were not happy with it. Now I've switched back since I finally found it again and they are back to making bubble nests.


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## Eric Holder (May 6, 2015)

Im guessing 2.5 gallon is fine since they sell them in plastic jars, which is just depressing to me. The smaller the tank, the dirtier it will get though


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Zippy2014 said:


> Water conditioner is very important. I even switched the brand at one point when I couldn't find what I usually bought and the bettas were not happy with it. Now I've switched back since I finally found it again and they are back to making bubble nests.


Thanks, but I found something called "Anti-Chlorine" is this the same as Water Conditioner?. (I suppose so.)

Haha I've finally found some live plants for my Betta to hide in, he's so happy to get something new. (but he's still inside his fishbowl)

(this pic is before I got the plant)


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## ZeroChan (Feb 1, 2015)

Just wanted to comment on sponge filters, in case you weren't aware (because I wasn't when I first read about them!) - you need to buy air pumps and airline tubing for these. Some uses check valves too, but it's okay without one. Cheaper air pumps will get very noisy. So be sure you include all these in the cost and that your parents won't mind the noise


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

InsertCheesecake said:


> So like
> 
> 10% water change, first day of week.
> 20% second day of week.
> ...


More like 25% every second or third day. 

It's important in a small, uncycled tank to use a water conditioner that detoxifies ammonio. It should say so on the packaging and in the literature. Please tell me what brands of water conditioner you can buy.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Hallyx said:


> More like 25% every second or third day.
> 
> It's important in a small, uncycled tank to use a water conditioner that detoxifies ammonio. It should say so on the packaging and in the literature. Please tell me what brands of water conditioner you can buy.


What I found was some Chinese branded "Anti-Chlorine" which I found was around 5-10 dollars (not your currency but mine) its 120 ml bottle and it looks like those pH tester bottles.

Then there is a big bottle that clearly states "Water Conditioner" also a Chinese branded one, it's seriously overpriced. 38 dollars. I think its 300+ ml or so.

So far I have not seen anything such as "Seachem Prime" or even a good branded Water conditioner. I will try to get my parents to go back to the aquarium shop to see what's good.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

If you can't find one that removes or detoxifies ammonia, I'd suggest cycling your tank as soon as possible. 

CYCLING: the two-sentence tutorial 

Get a test for ammonia at least. Change your water when ammonia gets to 0.25ppm.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Do live plants help the Cycle? I just need to know.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Well, live plants don't actually help the cycle. But they do the same thing as cycling bacteria does. They remove the ammonia. That's the bottom line.

In fact, plants eat ammonia faster than bacteria. So if you can grow plants, you're way ahead of the game. But you have to grow lots of plants. 

I'm sorry I didn't mention that to you, or ask you about it before.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Oh no, it's okay really. We all forget to mention things  alright, so how many plants can it be? I only got one though, and its quite small. My Betta is currently happy in it because he got something new and finally not boring. (He's still inside his fishbowl)


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Stilll in the bowl? How big is that? He should be in the biggest water you have. Do it right away. Get any dechlorinator. Don't wait.

Then change half of his water every three days.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Hey, I was wondering if I could have some tetra's live with my Betta, I have no choice but to get one (or else my mother would stop me from putting my Betta in the tank due to loneliness) Can you suggest what is the maximum tetra's I can put in the 2.5 gal?


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

You can't have a tetra in a tank that small. Having just one is even worse for the tetra.

Try telling her the crowding can kill BOTH of them from the ammonia. If that doesn't work, try explaining to her that bettas are called fighting fish for a reason(though bettas can have tankmates in larger tanks, none are suitable for a 2.5 gallon. Tetras are recommended for 10 gallons and above. If at all. They apparently are very nippy to the betta's fins.) and the betta is likely to just kill any "friends"


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

She is stubborn, I can't get her to listen that Betta's need at least 2.5 gallons to live. Okay, I'll ask the aquarium owner to tell my mother that Betta's need 2.5 gallons to live.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

They can survive, sick and weak, in smaller than that. To really thrive and be a pet, they need 2.5 gallons. 2.5 gallons is too small for a tank mate because it's only big enough for one fish. If you got a bigger tank, you could have african dwarf frogs or guppies or ghost shrimp or a snail, etc. The betta won't be lonely in a 2.5 gallon. He'll likely kill anything added because his territory is too small to share.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Alright, i'll convince my mom to get my Betta into the aquarium I already got, or instead I'll just play stubborn and buy myself another 2.5 gal.


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

If you can get a couple of java ferns and anubias they need very little light or care, you can float them and they will help keep the tank paremeters stable. The heater and lid are the highest priorities. There will be varying opinions on this but I'd get the plants before a filter (after the heater and lid) because they can act like liviing filters. However, if you get a filter a sponge will be best for a small tank.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Plants can do the same thing as filters: remove ammonia. But Anubias and Java fern grow too slowly to have any effect on water quality. To be effective at removing ammonia your plants should be fast-growing. 

The members over on the Plants Betta tank section know more about it than I do, but floating plants like Anacharis, Frogbit, Wisteria, duckweed and such are great at removing ammonia.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Alright! I'll take a bunch of pictures on what the plants look like as the aquarium shop owner didn't state what type of plant it is.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Bamboo (the short kind): You can plant the roots in the tank. But keep the leaves out in the air. They eat tons of ammonia.

Meant to ask you: what is your pH?


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Currently Nomi is in the mixed RO water and the water he had before. According the bottle, 7.3 pH or less.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

the 1 point ph swing is most likely due to co2 degassing form the water over time, my water jumps a point after 24 hours because of this, I would suggest salvinia as a floating plant or dwarf water lettuce, and you want to use conditioner for you water because it also gets rid of heavy metals in the water, you can age the water to get rid of chlorine not sure if that works for chlormine, I know it doesnt work for the heavy metals either.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Getting rid of chlorine after breaking up the chloramine molecule is not the problem; all sodium thiosulfate dechlorinators do that. The problem is what to do with the ammonia left over after breaking the chlorine/ammonia bond that makes up chloramine. We can't even find out what the OPs water service provides. 

Stone, does you pH really jump a whole point (like from 7.2pH to 8.2pH) just from CO2 outgassing? Actually, that's not much of a problem because your hardness remains relatively stable.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Okay, I got a 30 ml bottle of Tetra Aqua-Safe, (5 ml for 10 liters is really nice, it should last 6 changes) So I guess I will add 5 ml for every change within 6 weeks?. (8$ hm, may be too overpriced for such 30 ml but it was recommended)

I also got a sponge filter set with an air pump, (woah 20$ for the whole set?)

Thinking of getting 2kg of gravel to fill my 10 liter up (3$ per kg)

And by the way. I went back to the aquarium shop where I got Nomi from, I asked the fish professional if i can have 4 or less Tetra's and a Betta in a 2.5 gal aquarium. He said yes, it is possible. Is this really true though?.


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## Matilda (Apr 25, 2012)

In such a small tank I wouldn't have anything else except the betta. In a 10 gallon yes, but not in a 2.5 gallon.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

... You're right but nah we still gotta put something. Do you not have empathy for you're fishes? all you do is just "Feed fish and clean their water"?. We all know fishes don't know about empathy but they enjoy new things, they are curious. They thrive with curiousness, show some of that heart and brain in you.


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

The message in their signature means that's what they spend all their time doing^^ It's just saying they devote all their time to fish care. (I'm assuming)

You can't have any tank mates in a 2.5 gallon. Just the betta, nothing else.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

hallyx- Yep my ph jumps a whole point, must be a ton of dissolved co2 in the water, which explain why with small daily water changed my plants do well, if I do large weekly or bi-weekly changes I have BBA issues from co2 swings I could get into the whole science of it.Basically plants get used to having co2 or not having co2 and it takes time for them to switch back and forth, whereas algae can switch on a dime and takes advantage of this and starts growing like crazy


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Thanks for that good info, Stone. Glad you're still here.


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## Matilda (Apr 25, 2012)

InsertCheesecake said:


> ... You're right but nah we still gotta put something. Do you not have empathy for you're fishes? all you do is just "Feed fish and clean their water"?. We all know fishes don't know about empathy but they enjoy new things, they are curious. They thrive with curiousness, show some of that heart and brain in you.



*Hang on a minute. Am I being put down because of a sentence in my signature? It was meant as a light-hearted comment due to the large number of aquariums I have. I don't just "feed fish and clean their water." I take time to plan out each tank in regards to decorations, plants, tankmates & size requirements so they have as good a life as I'm able to give them. I monitor their health & activity on a daily basis & do research into their feeding needs so as to give them the best I can.

I find it incredibly insulting that you would use one sentence to make such a sweeping generalization about me & a very inaccurate one too I might add!*


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Sorry about that, sometimes I just get pissed off when someone puts me down, what I thought you meant to say was that just having an empty aquarium with a Betta in it, plus. Why is you're avatar that picture?


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Stone said:


> hallyx- Yep my ph jumps a whole point, must be a ton of dissolved co2 in the water, which explain why with small daily water changed my plants do well, if I do large weekly or bi-weekly changes I have BBA issues from co2 swings I could get into the whole science of it.Basically plants get used to having co2 or not having co2 and it takes time for them to switch back and forth, whereas algae can switch on a dime and takes advantage of this and starts growing like crazy


Algae is also known for dead fishes washing upon beaches, they're called "Algae blooms" they look colourful but they literally eat up all the oxygen that the fishes in the ocean tend to die or swim away onto the beach. (good thing algae blooms don't exist in aquariums)


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## Matilda (Apr 25, 2012)

InsertCheesecake said:


> Sorry about that, sometimes I just get pissed off when someone puts me down, what I thought you meant to say was that just having an empty aquarium with a Betta in it, plus. Why is you're avatar that picture?


*I wasn't trying to put you down at all, not sure why you thought that. I have a few 2.5 gallon tanks & always had some gravel & live plants in them for my bettas but unfortunately they aren't big enough for more then one fish.

There's a huge thread on smaller tanks that was started quite awhile ago & is still going. There are lots of pictures of small tanks & you might see a setup you like & give you some ideas.*

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=117828

*As far as my avatar goes, I found it recently & liked the quote.
*


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

It's just that I don't like being discouraged, like even when its simple as "you shouldn't touch that" I would get pissed off. Like seriously.

sometimes I even get pissed off at forum rules, (like wow I know right?) I cant control my inner anger when it comes to discouraging. But I will feel joy when I am encouraged.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

InsertCheesecake said:


> sometimes I even get pissed off at forum rules, (like wow I know right?) I cant control my inner anger when it comes to discouraging. But I will feel joy when I am encouraged.


You may not like them but still have to follow them (as we all do). 

Assuming that the previous posts by you in this thread were a misunderstanding? If so, let's get back on track and keep this thread on topic please.

Thanks!


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## ZeroChan (Feb 1, 2015)

I don't know how this exploded in anger, dont even get the trigger... 
In the end, Matilda is trying to help by saying.. if you want to minimise the chance of a fish dying from bio-overload in a 2.5g, dont put another living creature it in. Betta can live with certain aquatic creatures but it is not necessary. You could of course try with test kits and relevant water changes. I think there were threads where ppl talked about keeping nerite snails in it with betta, but one will have to be prepared to do lots of cleaning/water changes and risk of overload.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Another way of looking at tank size and bioload: Up to a point, it doesn't matter so much how big the tank is. What really matters is how much area and volume there is to support bacteria colonies large enough and efficient enough to cycle the bioload. A small tank with a large filter can handle a higher bioload than a larger tank with a smaller filter .... up to a point.


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## InsertCheesecake (May 6, 2015)

Hallyx said:


> Another way of looking at tank size and bioload: Up to a point, it doesn't matter so much how big the tank is. What really matters is how much area and volume there is to support bacteria colonies large enough and efficient enough to cycle the bioload. A small tank with a large filter can handle a higher bioload than a larger tank with a smaller filter .... up to a point.


Isn't Area and Volume based on size?.
Anyways I had to learn the hard way, my mom kept going on about getting more fish because Nomi is so small for a "big tank" so she went to get some Tetra fishes (colourful ones) without me. And the Tetra's were picking on Nomi and biting his fins. Poor guy was being bullied so I took him out and put him back into his bowl. and my mom was stating that they were "playing".

god.. Well for now I'm thinking of getting a 7 liter tank.


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