can a 1 gallon vase with a bundle of water plants growing roots into the water operate as a "cycled tank"? what if i were to use an airline as a vacuum 1-2 times a week and 25% water changes using distilled water? im a newbie to bettas so sorry if these questions are too elementary.

well, ifound out that distilled water is a no no. and that this bettas setup is not very good. i will make sure his owner is well informed about betta care.(i found a very comprehensive caresheet after an extensive search)

This is one of the worst set ups for a betta
What? it can filter it self up NO WAY they can so say what they want but
sirsly do you guys think that it would work
and i bet it says "does not need to be taken care of" or some thing like that
lol i saw the same thing
belive me stay with a jar or Aquarium

Well, you obviously decided not to go with that.. but I love your idea of using the airline as a gravel vac, that's so cute!

I don't see how any container big or small can successfully become established/cycled unless there is a filter system of some sort. If anyone can explain to me in detail as to why a tank or little bowl can build a successful working bio filter without mechanical filtration I would be very interested in reading it. I just assumed that those little glass bowls people put bettas in worked because they changed the water so much. Not because the little bowl ever becomes "established/cycled". I'm always open to learning something new if someone has any input on this.

a cycle is possible without a filter, but a mega MEGA low speed cycle, maybe enough biological filtration to deal with 1 small neon in a 10 gal tank..... purely from bacteria living on surface area.

hope the neon to tank ratio drills home how little filtration this is

What the ratio you are talking about, that would be similar to keeping 1 adult goldfish in something like a 1000 gallon tank. Mechanical filtration is a must!

yeah deffinettly, no dispute about that, just explaining that there is some form of chemistry without a filter , and yeah a thousand gal tank for a gf , wanna try it ? lol!

Any way a vases water service is really small it would be really
hard for a fish to go and get some air
With a plant

It is very possible to cycle a small unfiltered tank, and i have easily cycled a 5 gallon which housed a male betta.


However it is difficult to keep the cycle stable in a tank smaller than this and instead it is best to do 100% water changes, and use kordon amquel, or seachem prime, to keep water quality in check

Lol... my betta likes it when i clean his tank...
i don't know why

I know what you mean. I had to keep shooing mine away from the gravel vacuum so he wouldn't get sucked up. I was surprised on how unafraid and curious he is.

Most of my fish have stayed out of the way of my gravel vacuum, including my bettas, but one of my new cherry barbs swam right into the vac while it was sucking water out! The poor thing was a little scared but no injuries.

THat happend to me but my vaccum
is not the best