Loaches Online Forum

I have a male betta that lives in a 2.5 gallon tank. He is my husband's fish. He really enjoys having him in his own tank by his bedside. There are currently 2 ghost shimp in there as well. I do water changes in the tank once a week. There is no filter in this tank. As a girl I had several betta that lived like this and never had any problems.

Why is it that betta can live in a tank that does not have a filter. The ammonia is high enough to kill any other fish so why can they handle it?

What health problems should I look out for with him?

Thanks for any info

Betta live in rice paddies or swampy areas, they also have a lybrinth organ that helps them in bad water quality. They can breath air and water. I dont agree that he should stay in a small tank I have had 2 bettas and one is very healthy, while the other I had to put to rest. The one that died was named "crimson" He had popeye, but Ive managed to cure that. Not to long after he got dropsy, after I moved him into my community tank. I hope this helps.

The pH might be on the acidic side, and the ammonia is in the form of NH4+ which is less toxic to fish.

Do more water changes. (Daily, until you can get a filter and cycle the tank)
Get a small filter for this tank. Red Sea makes one, and a couple of other companies make similar ones. I use the Red Sea Nano on small tanks like this.

Bettas do live in shallow puddles during part of their life, so they can survive poor times, but normally they live in larger bodies of water with plants, and water movement. Even a rice paddy is flooded most of the time, and has rice growing in it. It is shallow water so even if there is little water movement there is reasonable oxygen levels, at least at the surface.

Keeping them in the worst conditions (Ammonia, no water movement, no heater, small tank) is replicating the worst conditions where they are barely surviving, not thriving.