Given that bettas in the wild survive in rice paddies and mud puddles this is freakin Mar-a-Lago.
I once got super hyped by this thing and bought 3 of the still current version. It was absolutely awful and a huge mistake. It’s a huge pain in the ass to change out the plants, if they even manage to grow, and if you try reusing the rocks for your plants it’s going to smell awful really quickly. Plus, the plants don’t do the job well enough so you have to do regular water changes anyway if you don’t want to poison your betta in water conditions that even China wouldn’t want to breathe. Except, you have to take apart the whole goddamn thing to do a water change or clean the tank of algae or whatever. Rip out the heater, the water pump, etc, then reattach it to tank wall until the suction runs out and you just dump it nonchalantly.
In the end you’ll rip out the hydroponic top and just have this ugly bowl with no filter until you give up because your fish is dead or you chuck it and put your fish in a real goddamn tank (what I did).
If you’re looking for cool and pretty get a Fluval Spec V. It’ll be cheaper in the long run, and it’s super easy to maintain unlike this atrocity of bad design.
Because a fish tank is bigger than acres upon acres of land covered in about a foot of water…?
The people who say that this tank is too small for a betta LOL. Do some research before you post. I have two of these exact tanks. One purchased from Woot. In one - I have a colony of about 30 dwarf shrimp. The other - I have a betta who has been in that tank for almost a year. It is the older model, but the same size. It is perfectly healthy. Both tanks have all live plants.
Just like with any small aquarium setups - you need to commit to a couple things: regular 30 - 40% water changes (I do it every other week), and choosing the right location for the tank (in this case - also for the plants growing above it). I have both of mine located where they get indirect diffused sunlight from a window.
Bettas - in the wild; confine themselves to a tiny area. They’re not really roaming fishes. They find a small space for themselves and are territorial about it. A 3 gallon tank is plenty of space for them.
No heater is needed for bettas - unless the normal temperature in your home is below about 55 degrees. In which case they have mini heaters that you can easily use. They can be wired through the same slot that the air pump goes through.
No complicated filter system is needed if you are keeping 1 or 2 bettas. And you are consistent with water changes.
For those struggling with water changes: get yourself a short length of water syphon tubing. Insert the tube into the feeding hole at the top of the tank. Proceed to syphon out the water as you would any other tank. You don’t need to “take everything apart”. I have a long nose funnel that I place into the same feeding hole to add fresh water back into the tank. The long nose prevents water from splashing all inside the tank when I pour.
It takes me all of 10 minutes to do 40% water changes every other week. I also have a alae eating shrimp in there to help clean the bottom of the tank. It’s not rocket science.
Hilarious discussions about tank size being OK for the fish; how about the fact that it’s way overpriced for what you get? I bought this at Costco once upon a time for much less $$; had sprouts growing like crazy, 1 Betta fish and the tank gets disgusting and is very messy to clean because you have roots embedding themselves around everything. The fitment of the plastics was poor too and warped over time. All around a real turd of a tank.
Agreed. I just saw the exact same tank yesterday at Home Depot for about $45.00 on clearance.
If you really want to buy one of these I would suggest checking there first. It was in the house plants section.
I was at Home Depot yesterday. They’re a whopping $5 less than on Woot.
Not available for shipping though.
I didn’t know much about Betas but the debates caught my interest. So I googled it. Lots of sites on first page but none seemed authoritative so I went with earth friends. Per earth friends, a one gallon tank is fine for a single beta (this is a three gallon), and they recommended against heating the tank unless the temperature is carefully monitored (apparently too hot is more of a danger than too cold in an indoor environment).
On the other hand another site stated 2 1/2 gallon (for ease of cleaning) and maintaining a temp of 75-80 degrees which sounds really hard.
If anyone wants to become an expert I found a 62 page study on the issue–no time for me to read it!