AquaOne AR126 ?

[ameliaaahx]

Hi there. :)

I've had an AquaOne AR126 tank for quite some time which I have always used as an isolation tank for pregnant swords. It's about 21litres -- roughly 5.5gallons.

Recently I decided to ditch all my livebearers and have purchased instead a Veil-Tail Betta. He seems very happy in his new home and I love him. :)

The only thing is this particular tank has quite a strong filter. I've always had to unplug it when feeding my prego swords because otherwise they wouldn't even get a chance to eat before the food was swept away.

I have had it unplugged so far -- but do you think it would be safe to have it running? I'm terrified of him getting his tail caught in the filter or getting battered by the current. Would he be happy without any filter at all? Should I let it run for a few hours a day and then turn it off? Any experience with this type of tank and bettas would be greatly appreciated. I've added some floating watersprite to dull the current if I do decide to turn the filter on but I'm so scared of hurting my wee guy.

[ldoerr]

I have found from personal experience (I currently have 10 bettas, and have had MANY more over the years) that they do not do well in strong currents. I just plugged into aqadvisor a 5.5g tank and 1 male betta. I did not insert a filter at all. It came back saying that you need to do an 8% weekly WC. Your stocking level is 80%. If it were me I would just not run the filter on that tank. If it buggs you do a couple of WCs every week. I think that he will be fine. You can get a plant or two and some substrate and that would be all that you need. I have 6 males living in a 20gH right now. Aqadvisor says that I do not need a filter even. I do run a sponge filter on there though.

Like I said, DO NOT run the filter on there. Male bettas HATE currents.

[ameliaaahx]

Thanks. :) Yes, his little tank is planted. Great to know, I'll just leave the filter off then.