BettaBabe94

I’ll have to try that with the AC one. My nano one just died again. I don’t know if I got a defective one or not. Ugh.

Has anyone else had issues with the USB nano air pump? I’ve had it a month now and it’s shut off on me twice. The first time was a while ago, I thought it was because of where I had it plugged in. Today I get home from work and notice my betta’s sponge filter wasn’t running. I thought maybe this time it was the wall plug that comes with it, but even after plugging it into a different one it didn’t turn on. I ended up having to lightly smack the pump against my hand to get it to work. I recently got the new aquarium co-op air pump for my 20 gallon tank. My original plan was to stop using the nano one completely and connect both of my sponge filters to the one pump with a T fitting, but it didn’t work. I had most of the air going to the bigger sponge filter and like no air going to my nano sponge filter.

Hi everyone! My name is Erin and I live in the capital region of New York. I’d consider myself just slightly above beginner when it comes to fish keeping. I grew up with some goldfish, but my first betta was when I was 19. Warning: Long post alert! Like any uneducated betta keeper my first betta started out in a one gallon bowl. Without being told otherwise I just naturally started feeling bad for him and he got upgraded to a 3 Gallon. I loved him, he was such a character. His name was…..Douchebag…..yeah not a very nice name opps. He was a firecracker and I loved his grumpiness. He would flare out at me, but he loved my husband (then boyfriend) because he was kept at my husbands house so he fed him more often then I did. We finally moved out after I had him about a year, but it was in winter so I left him with my mother-in-law until I felt like we got used to living on our own and had the heat situation figured out. Since she was only down the road I would stop to her house everyday and do his second/evening feeding. Finally after about a month I cautiously decided to bring him and my other community tank to the new house. A week later the power went out in the middle of the night and I had no idea until I woke up for work and realized how cold the house was. His tank was very cold (50s). The power came back right after I got up so our heat and his heater kicked into action. Unfortunately, the cold had shocked him so bad that about 5 days later I found him dead in his tank. I was so upset, I was a sobbing mess. I couldn’t bring myself to take him out of the tank, I had to have my husband do it. After him I had had a handful of bettas, but I never really got attached to them. I loved having them and taking care of them, but I never named any of them or formed a bond. Finally by 2019 I realized that my bettas weren’t living as long as they should be because of how bad my tap water is (SUPER hard and high PH). So in March of 2019 when I brought home my next betta I made sure to only use store bought water. My tank was still only 3 gallons at that time. Like I had been doing previously, I didn’t name this betta. For the purpose of this post though I’ll call him Peekaboo. He loved his rock and whenever I couldn’t find him I’d shine my light in the rock and he’d peek his little head out like “Hey! Stop with the light.” Since I didn’t use my tap water, Peekaboo lived almost 3 years. Still not ideal, but I hadn’t made my break through on the best betta care yet. He died in November 2021, not sure if it was constipation or dropsy. He was laying at the bottom of the tank and couldn’t get to the surface. I made a holder that would keep him near the surface so he could breath and I learned that cooked and shelled peas could help with constipation. I fed him the peas for a week, trying to help him. He ate it readily, but he never got better. The last day I fed him in the morning and he was gone by the evening. Trying to solve his issue got me started down the path of the best way to take care of bettas and other fish for that matter. I spent the rest of November and all of December researching and watching the Aquarium Co-Op and Girl Talks Fish videos. I learned so much! I ended up getting a 5 gallon tank, live plants, a sponge filter, and all this other stuff in preparation to do things right. Last week I got a Nerite Snail for the tank. And on Monday I brought home my newest betta. This time I made sure to name him, because even though getting attached sucks in the end, I feel like giving him a name makes you want to try harder to do everything you can for him. So his name is Tweek (from South Park). He is such a spunky little guy that zooms around my tank and I am already in love with him. If you made it this far thanks for reading this book of a post lol Pics: Douchebag = Blue and red betta flaring (also my profile pic). “Peekaboo” = Blackish betta. Tweek = Blue and white betta, along with his snail friend lol

@Stef the bubbles are fine and flowing the way they should be, there is just a lot of movement. I will definitely be getting an air valve. Thank you everyone for the help 🙂

This is my first time with a sponge filter. I have a 5 gallon (tall) tank. I bought the nano sponge filter from aquarium co-op, the ziss air stone, and the nano air pump. I have the air stone tightened all the way. I think I saw that it was safe for a betta. It seems like a lot to me, but maybe he just needs to get used to it? Does anyone else use the nano sponge filter in a betta tank?

Near Albany, New York