Fish in a fruit jar?

R

Robert H

Aspiring Guru
Aug 28, 1998
453
0
0
Salem, Oregon
www.aquabotanicstore.com
You know, I don't get up on a soap box for a cause very often...but this
just infurates me and I have to share it. Pardon the off topic...

Reading the May issue of FAMA magazine and a little article by Joy Tippit:

an aticle explaining how to build your own Aqua baby with a betta... USING A FRUIT JAR!!! She even has a picture of it, it is literally no bigger than a mayonaise jar! She says to use a fruit jar with a spider house plant growing in it!!! MY God! And this is a respectable magazine! She called it the perfect gift for a child.... She doesn't even mention that you should change the water once in a while! She does acknowledge that the room temp may be a little cold for the fish!

Now for the last couple of years there has been a big hubbabalu and a boycott of Aquababies, a commercial deathtrap that holds one betta or other fish, as well as the Betta vase, but this is even worse...and actually promoted in a national magazine!!! Its no bigger than a betta bowl! This is totally disgusting! This writer should be fired! Not only is every Betta society, club, and association against keeping bettas in such small containers, even PETA has taken issue with it! But to tell people in a printed magazine its OK to keep a betta in a little mayonaise jar?

What
gets me is in the same magazine, there is a regular Betta colum by a presumed Betta expert, Gene Lucas. I'm really tempted to email him and demand he speak up against the nonsense. Now I have seen some questionable articles in FAMA before, but this really takes the cake. Not only is the writer off her rocker, but the fact the magazine would print such a thing is disgusting.
People should email FAMA and give them a little education.

FAMA Magazine
P.O. Box 487
Sierra Madre, California 91025
Fax : (626) 355-6415
Phone: (626) 355-1476, or (800) 523-1736.
info@famamagazine.com

Robert Paul Hudson
 
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Despite PETA agreeing with him, Robert is right. Bettas don't belong in small jars or even in those little betta bowls. Think 1 gallon minimum, and on the warm side of room temp with very regular water changes.

Some betta folk do use large mason jars. These are not to be confused with small mason jars, jelly jars, mayonaisse jars, or anything that says something like "24 oz." on the side.
 
I started with Bettas a couple of years ago and first used to keep them in small jars. I didn't have much luck with them but then switched to keeping them in nice little 1 gallon thing i found at Wal-Mart. Right now I have a single Betta in his own 5 gallon and he is a joy to watch as he swims back and forth exploring and building bubble nests. I can't imagine going back to watching the lonely floating betta in a jar. They are much too majestic of a fish to do that to.
 
I used my betta as the first fish in my 70 gallon tank. With a lot of plants and 70 gallons of space, he was swimming all over the place after a few hours. He 'surfed' the outflow tube jets and seemd to be having the time of his life. He still does.

Bettas swim around and enjoy space as much as any other fish. They deserve a quality environment.
 
yeah right PETA is dumb they are trying to change the name of the town i live in (Hamburg) to veggieburg...if thats not dumb i dont know what is i dont think betta should be kept in small jars in such but if PETA is involved........i'm not
 
Converseballer, there are some cases where people with whom I disagree intensely have good ideas, and PETA is dead on with this one. I understand your dislike for them, but, if it is a worthy cause, why would you not do something?

I've actually done work for my school on Volunteer Day, though the organization Planned Parenthood was affiliated with the Day as well. You can work independently of PETA, just like I worked independently from Planned Parenthood.
 
I have mentioned this before, but it fits in here that in Germany it is illegal to keep fish in a tank less than 60L (13Gals). I would hate that to be the case here in the UK, not becuase I'm pro mini tanks, I'm not, but because small aquaria do have their uses. For example, the rearing of young livebearer fry in 5gal tanks.

But fish in a jam jar is outragous - especially if it is done with kids in mind. Over here in the UK, certainly around where I live, there is a sort of expression 'keeping bettas in jam jars' - but it doesnt mean it literally, and actually refers to tanks of about 4gals - which is really an absolute minimum for any fish. And the keeping of fish in such small spaces is really a job only for experianced aquarists who have the knowledge and capabilities to do as such.

Unfortunately bettas are taken advantage of in the way of keeping them in very small 'tanks' (if you can really call them as such) as, being anabantoids, they have their labyrinth organ (a sort of lung) which allows them to breath atmospheric air - and hence can survive in rather stagnant water, but that is all it is really: survive, not flourish. But they do need space to swim and stretch out...I would put an absolute minimum tank size for them as 4gals - preferably larger, as large as you can go.

Thom.
 
It's not the volume of water that counts for a betta. It's the plants. Especially the plant cover overhead. Tom from St Louis is the only one here who's mentioned "plants."

Keeping a betta in a large tank with a mishmash of other fishes and no place to lurk is as primitive as the jam jar, pretty much.

I keep a Paradisefish, that other solitary jealous territorial anabantoid lurker in weedy waters, in a drum-shaped glass salad bowl, 10" diameter, water depth 4." That's 314 cubic inches, less than 1.5 gallons. It's so packed with young plants that he has to eel his way around.

This is a more massive fish than a betta. He's possessive of this territory. He challenges me, or the barbs in a nearby tank.

He gets a 40% water change every five days or so. I've just tested his nitrates and they're undetectable.

Am I just a New Yorker, or is the quality of your furniture more essential than the size of your apartment?
 
I disagree. I have several fish who will challenge me when I approach their tank--one being a 4.5 inch mandarin goby (SW) who is in a 65 gallon tank with few tankmates. He doesn't challenge me because he's insecure or has inadequate space, he challenges me because that is HIS tank, and I better durn well know it. Fish don't have a concept of how many gallons their home is, they understand what meets their needs. IMO, the problem with small tanks is the lack of cover, the lack of challenge. Every betta I've had has patrolled his turf constantly, poking at snails, messing around with leaves--I have one now who pushes a marble around. Keeping a fish like this in a space he can barely turn around in is pretty sorry, and, well, they get bored. Given something to bully and push around and inspect, and they will be fine.
 
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