5 Gallon Tank I'm back to fish keeping after a 30 year haitus due to my work. I have a 5 gal Betta tank. My scale baby is a premium blue male half moon butterfly.

I did my home work well, and had a nice cycled, heated and Betta appropriate decorated home for my BettaBlue prior to bringing him home. I am having trouble keeping the water below 82 in my office due to the inability to control the heat (I'm in a medical setting). He is happiest at 78F. I've removed the heater from his tank and it still stays at 80-84, and he does NOT like it! I am thinking of getting him a 10 gallon tank, but not sure if that would make a difference considering the ambient temperature is the issue. I'm afraid if I leave a fan on it will get too cool at night. Any thoughts or suggestions? Maybe I should move him closer to the window for the winter months?

 

Maybe turn the fan on but then have the heater going at night so your little betta doesn’t freeze. Also if possible the ten gallon would be a great idea! Your betta buddy would love the extra space!

 

I did my home work well, and had a nice cycled, heated and Betta appropriate decorated home for my BettaBlue prior to bringing him home. I am having trouble keeping the water below 82 in my office due to the inability to control the heat (I'm in a medical setting). He is happiest at 78F. I've removed the heater from his tank and it still stays at 80-84, and he does NOT like it! I am thinking of getting him a 10 gallon tank, but not sure if that would make a difference considering the ambient temperature is the issue. I'm afraid if I leave a fan on it will get too cool at night. Any thoughts or suggestions? Maybe I should move him closer to the window for the winter months?

Is the heat turned down during the night in the office? If not then I don't think a fan would get the tank too cool. Closer to the window may cause an overabundance of algae to grow. It would take longer for 10 gallons of water to heat up than 5 gallons so once cooled down it should stay that way longer.

 

Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately, folks here love the high temps at night, so they are the culprits for it being too warm. I was planning on a 10 gallon for Christmas, but was holding off, because I do want to keep BettaBlue on my desk. He's very social and loves interacting with me. I reckon I'm just gonna have to give up some desk spaceI also just covered the vent in my office and his tank is down to 79 with my office door open and the window ac going. I have a desk top fan I can leave on low tonight and give it a test run.

 

Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately, folks here love the high temps at night, so they are the culprits for it being too warm. I was planning on a 10 gallon for Christmas, but was holding off, because I do want to keep BettaBlue on my desk. He's very social and loves interacting with me. I reckon I'm just gonna have to give up some desk spaceI also just covered the vent in my office and his tank is down to 79 with my office door open and the window ac going. I have a desk top fan I can leave on low tonight and give it a test run.

Maybe it will stay cooler in your office if the vent can be left closed at night too. You may not want to run the AC all night but the fan should help.

If you move him to a bigger tank don't totally break down and store away his 5 gallon. He may love his bigger tank and then again he may not. More than once I've read here where folks give their Betta more room and their little guy wasn't happy. They find that the little guy's personality changes. Where before he was outgoing and friendly now he is lethargic and standoffish. I have to think some of these little guy's are like some of us and don't do change very well. I am sure there are thousands of them that don't care one way or the other though.

 

Maybe it will stay cooler in your office if the vent can be left closed at night too. You may not want to run the AC all night but the fan should help.

If you move him to a bigger tank don't totally break down and store away his 5 gallon. He may love his bigger tank and then again he may not. More than once I've read here where folks give their Betta more room and their little guy wasn't happy. They find that the little guy's personality changes. Where before he was outgoing and friendly now he is lethargic and standoffish. I have to think some of these little guy's are like some of us and don't do change very well. I am sure there are thousands of them that don't care one way or the other though.

Thanks so much. I had an aquarium years ago, but Blue is my first betta fish. I tried to do my homework well before bringing him "home." Yep, I've totally blocked off the vent, so hopefully I can get him back to his happy place of 78F. There is no direct sunlight on my desk. I will take your advice on the 10 gal. I truly appreciate your insight!

 

Thanks so much. I had an aquarium years ago, but Blue is my first betta fish. I tried to do my homework well before bringing him "home." Yep, I've totally blocked off the vent, so hopefully I can get him back to his happy place of 78F. There is no direct sunlight on my desk. I will take your advice on the 10 gal. I truly appreciate your insight!

You are so very welcome. I was very happy to help. I spend a lot of time here so pick up these little tidbits of information so am able to pass them on from time to time.

 

Maybe it will stay cooler in your office if the vent can be left closed at night too. You may not want to run the AC all night but the fan should help.

If you move him to a bigger tank don't totally break down and store away his 5 gallon. He may love his bigger tank and then again he may not. More than once I've read here where folks give their Betta more room and their little guy wasn't happy. They find that the little guy's personality changes. Where before he was outgoing and friendly now he is lethargic and standoffish. I have to think some of these little guy's are like some of us and don't do change very well. I am sure there are thousands of them that don't care one way or the other though.

I did as you suggested. I let the 10 gallon tank fully cycle before I moved him, and kept the 5 gal running with 2 nerite snails. I moved all of his decor, a floating log (his bachelor's pad), a bottom hollow log, and a small cave from petsmart, as well as his plants. So, its basically identical with just more room. He is acting like his usual self, only for some reason he has fin rot. Could he be stressed and I don't know??? The water parameters are pristine!

 

I did as you suggested. I let the 10 gallon tank fully cycle before I moved him, and kept the 5 gal running with 2 nerite snails. I moved all of his decor, a floating log (his bachelor's pad), a bottom hollow log, and a small cave from petsmart, as well as his plants. So, its basically identical with just more room. He is acting like his usual self, only for some reason he has fin rot. Could he be stressed and I don't know??? The water parameters are pristine!

I wish I could answer that question. It stands to reason that fin rot can be prevented by just keeping the water fresh and clean but I know you are doing that. Are you positive he isn't biting his fins? Maybe with the bigger tank he is struggling to get where he wants to go and his fins are slowing him down. I don't know if that is happening but I don't know what else could be causing what is happening although the move could have caused him some stress.

You may want to start another thread over in the Betta section and hopefully someone that knows a lot more than i do will know what is going on. I have a feeling the first thing they will suggest is Indian almond leaves. They are supposed to leach something that has a calming affect. If the fin rot is stress related the leaves may very well help.

I am assuming you are seeing 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and low nitrates in his home. What is the PH level reading? I don't know that it really matters but too high or too low could possibly be a problem.