I know a few of you have 2.5 gallon mini bows that you keep your bettas in. How do you like them? I have a couple questions.

Does the incandescent light heat the water a lot?
Is the filter too strong? I read several reviews even the lowest flow was too strong.
If I don't like the filter, is there a space to hang a little HOB filter (red sea nano) without having to cut anything?
Is there enough room to easilly syphon the tank with a mini gravel vacuum without disturbing the betta too much?

Any photos of the tank and your set up would be appreciated.

Although I have never had that paticular tank, my 10g originally came with incadescent bulbs. During the summer, the bulbs would raise the temp by 7 or 8 degrees to nearly 86F. I then switched to screw in fluorescents, mainly for my plants, and I stopped having temperature fluctuations.
If your budget allows, I would suggest getting one of these fluorescent bulbs. You could get a screw in compact flourescent in the pet section at nnnnnnn or in some other LFS as well.

Yikes, that's high. My tanks got to 86*F last summer without any tanklights. However, even if I go to Tucson for school, I doubt they will keep the dorms as hot as my parents kept our house. If I go to flagstaff it will be much cooler, but I don't think the dorms there have AC if we need it. BLAH. I am so tired of thinking about college. Up until a month ago I was extremely good at not thinking about it. Now I can't keep my mind off college and it's even worse

I have one of those tanks. The incandescent light raise the tank temperature by about 6 degrees during the day. That's maybe too big of a change, but I turn the lights on anyways, because otherwise the tank tends to be on the cool side, even with a mini heater in it. With the lights on, it's just fine. I turn the lights off at night, unless we're expecting a big freeze or something. Then I leave them on.

Mine only came with an undergravel filter, which I haven't been using because it seems just as easy to do a weekly 100% waterchange than to figure out how to clean and vacuum a UGF. There is a little opening on the back of the hood, but I don't know how that corresponds to the filter you mentioned. I tried to put a submersible in there, but the current was too strong, plus the betta got himself wedged behind it, even when it was off!

I'd like to have a filter, but the weekly dump and scrub has worked well so far.

The opening in the hood is big enough that I worry about jumping, though, so I don't fill the water all the way to the top.

I got rid of the filter mine came with and got an Elite filter for a 3 gallon tank. It's a bit more gentle on the lowest setting for Beta's.

The light it comes with does tend to heat the water, but Beta's are tropical fish and don't seem to mind.

I use the light as a heater. My tank never goes over 82 degrees.

I replaced the filter because the motor kept falling off. I got a small air powered filter. I now use it on my 10 gallon. lol. Motor still falls off if it gets bumped.

Like Zelanie said some just use the weekly dump and scrub method on such a small tank. Almost any filter you get is going to take up a lot of room in a small tank.

The thing I don't like is that it gets scratched so easy! Mine has tons of tiny scratch from gravel or decorations. Its not that bad though. I'm just more gentle with it.

They are great little tanks. But if you want a small tank just get the 2.5 gallon glass tank from petsmart. I think its only $9. I've been thinking about getting it to replace mine but I haven't been able to go to the store to just look. Been so busy that I only have time to run in and buy the stuff that I need.

Is that plain glass tank 2.5? It looks smaller. I took a look at it and it looks nice, but the glass lid doesn't seem like I could hook up a filter. D

I'm kinda weary about using lights to heat tanks. Can I just as easilly replace the incandescent light on the top fin desktop aquascene tank as the mini bow?

is the elite mini silent?

Kissy, I have both my Thailand bettas in two seperate minibows and I love them.

As for the filter. It has an adjustable sliding switch on the back on the bottom so you can turn it super low or off all together.

As for the light. yes it heats my tanks up to 76-78 degrees without a heater. Beware of using heaters with these tanks though. I had a hydor miniheater ( 7.85 watts ) and it developed a a big crack in the front of the tank that leaked. I think form the heat contracting and expanding the plastic . You should do o.k. with just the light on .

as for the gravel vaccum. yes there is room. however as Sushi mentioned it is a whole lot easier just to empty it into a bucket . I just take out the marbles and ornament and rinse them off. As for the tank I take a papertowel to scrub the inside so as not to scratch it. I tried using a mini gravel vacuum, but just found it easier to dump the water out.

On the other hand, I wasn't OK with just the light on where I live, but I don't know if my classroom is heated overnight. The tank was getting dangerously low at night until I put in the hydor 7.5. With the heater and the light, I still only get to 78.

Mr. Handsome Bartholomew Fifty Cent got himself stuck in a plastic plant today. This was the first time he'd been stuck since I had the filter in, when he'd wedge himself behind it.

Could I take all the stuff out of the filter it goes with and put ammonia chips inside? If not, is the hole in the back big enough to hang a tiny HOB filter like the red sea nano? I'm thinking the rechargable ammonia chips might be easier than trying to cycle such a small tank.

Actually I love the filter and yes you could add whatever medium you want in there. It has an adjustable sliding switch on the back of the filter to be so you can run it very low or high. I would leave the filter that is in there in there. I have two of these and I think it would be hard for the lid to lay flat if you put another filter in there. I love mine. My light usually heats up the tank to 78 degrees. If your school is not heated at night then going with a filter might be good. My old tank cracked but it was a used one off of Craigslist and the lady told me it was only a month old but maybe she was wrong so maybe the heat did not crack it. I ended up buying another 2.5 minibow to replace it. I love these tanks. I may put the heater back into Sunti's tank. his tank is on the nightstand next to the window and it has been below 20 degrees here in St. Louis lately. I notice Suchin's tank stays around 78 with the light on cause her tank is across the room. Good luck

so what did you decide to go with Kissy?

Well it probably will be a while before I buy new tanks since the ones I have right now are bigger, so I'm not in much of a hurry. They don't sell mini bows at my petsmart, so I am going to check out petco this week. Hopefully they are under $40. I found the 2 gallon hex aquascene at petsmart. It's nice and I like the tall design, but I don't really want to deal with an undergravel filter. I'd have to cut or drill the clear plastic cover to fit a different one. The tank itself is cheaper, but I don't think they sell replacement bulbs.

I had one of those aquascene things and did not care for it. You can get the minibow cheaper at Wally World. That is where I got my two. The 2.5 gallon was only $25 and they do have a 5 gallon minibow there as well for $35 dollars. The easy replacement of the light bulb with any standard 15-20 watt fish tank bulb was also another feature I liked about it.

Only $25? That's only a couple more dollars than the aquascene at petsmart. I don't usually go to that store, but maybe I'll make a little exception... I'll check it out this sunday.

Yeah I just recently bought two of them for that price each recently. I am thinking about getting a 5 gallon for $35 soon.

Hiya Kissy! I have to agree with Bettaqueen...I just love the mini-bow tanks. I have the HOB filter and a few silk plants and gravel in it, and my guy loves to swim among the plants. I keep the filter turned down low as well, and he doesn't seem to mind it a bit.

I was at wallyworld a few weeks ago, and I saw the tanks for that price. Great deal! I don't know if you have a dollar tree in your area, but we have them here in KY. I buy the bags of river rocks &/or glass stones there.

Keep us posted!! : )

Thanks Goldyfan. I'm planning on using marbles as a substrate in both tanks. Leaf (mostly red) will have clear, and I think Stormy (blueish) will have a clear, light blue, maybe with some deep blues mixed in. I've already got some, but I need more

I have marbles in both my 2.5 gallon tanks. in fact Petsmart had bags of certain colors on clearance for $1.19

Sounds like your setups will be very pretty, Kissy. Carter is solid red, so he is in a red mini-bow, with burgundy gravel. Kip is mostly blue, and he has blue gravel. I love the way the colors accent the fish' color so well.

Cool Bettaqueen. That's a good price for Petsmart! I have some beautiful aqua blue stones, with no tank for them yet...hmm...guess that means another shopping trip soon huh!

I forgot a very important question! Is this filter that comes with the mini bow silent?

I almost forgot to look at the marbles last sunday and did a hook turn back to that isle and a man tripped over me. Ooops. I'm kinda used to it at school though lol. Pretty marbles! The clear ones are the same as mine so I can get more of those if I need them. I really love the light blue for stormy...

yes it is pretty quiet. It is one of the tetra whisper filters.

Kissy, sounds like my day at work. lol Always running into someone or something.

You bet, the mini-bow is the quietest set-up I have ever had. My other betta is in a Marina goldfish starter kit, and that one came with an elite mini filter. Also very quiet. (Got that kit real cheap; it's clear acrylic, with purple feet and lid. Kinda cool!) I think the volume is like 2.65 gallons or something.

Okay thanks

Yes, I am always getting trampled. I'm a small person to start with, but my body usually follows my eyes and I don't pay attention to my surroundings. At school its awful because he have SO many people. All the doors leading outside are heavilly tinted, so there are accidents daily....