I was just wanted to know because I have two empty "goldfish bowls" that I thought maybe could be used for bettas. any info on this? thanks!

well they 'could' possibly live in the bowl, but its not really the best place for them to live. If they were kept in a bowl, you would have to do alot of water changes, and alot of people who have kept them in bowls have ended up dealing with some kinda of disease or death along the way. I recomend a min. of a 2.5 gallon, 5 gallon being better, and 10 being best (you could divide it, so you had another betta) You can buy the 2.5 mini bows that come with filters, and you can buy a small heater for them, but not everyone uses one. A 5 gallon mini bow is pretty cheap, with filter and all.

I personally dont recommend bowls. Their just too small and dirty for the fish. Good Luck!

This is a question that evokes a lot of reactions in people. Personally, I keep my bettas in tanks, the smallest being 2 gallon.

However, I do think if the bowl is big enough, and if the owner changes the water often enough, and if the room is warm enough, a betta could live in a bowl successfully.

BTW, how much water do your goldfish bowls hold?

sadly, they hold less than a gallon each. How often would I have to change the water and how much? Also, I think that there are some small heaters at walmart that are for it says 2-5 gallons or somthing like that, but could that be used for a bowl too (if you had it on the lowest setting so you don't cook them?)? they have 2-5 gallon filters too, would that cause too much current?(I'd also have to find a way to attach it to the inside of the bowl because it's supposed to stick with suction cups to the inside of the tank and my bowls are compleatly round)

I've seen bowl filters out there somewhere, but I don't know how well they work.

I just moved my bettas out of bowls. I was changing 100% of the water every day. The water gets dirty very fast. Course mine won't eat flakes. Only bloodworms and brine shrimp mostly. They're picky. Makes the water dirty faster.

Now they're in my 10 gallon hospital tank with a divider keeping it cycled for if my goldies get sick. They're much happier.

Umm, best bet is to get a larger space for them and then do partials (at least twice a week if between 2 and 3 gallons) The only problem I can see with the bowl filters is that you still need a bowl of a certain size and the water flow would probably be unwelcome by the betta.

I have mone in a 2.5 gallon tank with 2 dividers so they all got thier own lil space. Money is a problem and I wish I had a larger space fot them but i clean it out once a week.

I would say get a 2 gallon or larger. You can hardly put a heater in
anything smaller than a 5 gallon, and the water current with a filter
in the small bowl would really stress the betta out.

I recommend bowls because a bettas natural habitat is in small rice patties in asia, wich are smaller than a lot of bowls out there. Thats why people sell those little petagons for them

I've always kept mine in bowls. I know that's unpopular, but I am diligent about water changes, I have had two that lived 2 years, one of them is still alive. I tried putting male bettas (one male at a time of course, these were separate instances) in my 20 gallon, and unfortunately, they died soon after. I've read they don't like a lot of current, and from my experience, that has been true with my males.

My sister's second betta, Rubeus, is in a bowl which she changes completely once a week. He's doing very well - actually, he's the healthiest of all our fish. Bettas really do get stressed by current, and, because they do produce a lot of dirt, it's hard to get their gravel thoroughly clean in a tank. If you can compensate for those factors, a tank is best, I think, but the bowls you have are a great deal better than many betta setups I've seen. Just make sure you keep the water clean and at a constant temperature and you should be fine.

Don't they live in small closed off ponds? like catfish....

thanks for the replies! still don't know whether or not I'm going to use a bowl though!! there are apparently many different opinions on this!

true there are so many different opinions on it

the way i see it... how much room does the fish have to actually move around his surroundings? ... i mean... how boring or frustrating would it be to live in an enclosed area where you can barely go for a swim?

i would keep a betta in a 5 gal tank min, with a heater, and some plants for a bit of interest. also a filter if you can get one with a very light water flow