My Boyfriend’s Mad We Live In A “Zoo”

Help show Aqueon that there is a demand for them to stop manufacturing betta fish aquariums 1 gallon and under.

Their betta tanks are some of the smallest tanks on the market. Most lack a filter and heater, and they don’t have enough room to create a stimulating environment.

Aqueon claims its goal has always been: “Doing what is best for the health and well-being of fish and aquatic life,” but by manufacturing these betta kits, Aqueon misleads consumers and exploits the resilient nature of bettas in order to maximize their own opportunities for profit. Bettas in these tanks endure low-quality conditions their entire lives. Here are the betta tanks 1 gal and under we are asking Aqueon to stop manufacturing: Betta Bowl Kit (0.5 gal total or 0.25 gal per fish) Betta Castle Kit (0.5 gal) Betta Princess Castle Kit (0.5 gal) Betta Puzzle Kit (0.5 gal) Betta Falls Kit (0.7 gal) BettaBow 1 Aquarium Kit (1 gal) LED MiniBow 1 Kit (1 gal) A lot of people have already been raising awareness about how unhealthy these Aqueon tanks are. As consumers continue to learn about proper betta fish aquarium needs (5+ gal, heater, filtration, enrichment, etc.), the demand for these kits will decline. For a company that claims “it’s all about the fish,” should Aqueon be proud to have its name and brand associated with these betta tanks?

Ways to contact Aqueon:

Fill out the “contact us” form on the Aqueon website:

https://www.aqueon.com/about-us/contact-us

Send a DM/Comment on Instagram: @aqueonproducts

Also, what are the best proportions for the top soil/sand/granite, and where did you get them from?

The topsoil used should definitely be organic. Note that topsoil is not potting soil! It is specifically labeled “topsoil”. It is primarily intended as fill to level ground and eliminate depressions in a yard. If it is organic it should be free of dangerous chemicals, and as it is not a potting medium it doesn’t have added fertilizers. It is purchased at a home improvement store or garden store.

Sand alone is definitely dangerous. Very few animals we keep live on loose sand in the wild. Some reasons it’s more dangerous than a mixed substrate are found in this post. 

When mixed in with a proper complex substrate, sand will behave differently than when it’s on its own. It no longer rolls loosely over itself, allowing the substrate to hold its form with much lower moisture levels. It will be less likely to be easily lapped up, so impaction risk is lessened. It’s also easier for animals to move on (think of how difficult it is to walk in dry sand).

Decomposed granite is granite rock that has been weathered and broken down into small mixed particle sizes. It has pieces ranging from tiny pebbles, to sand, to silt. It is found at home improvement stores or purchased online.

These three ingredients are not the only possible substrate mix. Some other arid bioactive substrates include ingredients like compost, humus, dirt from outside (it must be from a safe, pesticide free area, etc.!), coco fiber in low amounts, Excavator Clay or other clay, and organic materials. The recipe I use I got from @tokays.

The ratio I used was approximately 50% topsoil, 25% sand, and 25% decomposed granite. However, this mixture needs to be adjusted according to the materials used, as the make up of different materials varies greatly by brand and location purchased. 

It should be mixed together, and wet down, and then after it dries down it needs to be checked for how well it holds burrows and that when completely dry, it doesn’t compact hard or become dusty. This should be done before ever adding it to the enclosure and setting it up! 

After setting it up, bioactive enclosures do best with a month to grow in, let CUC establish, and parameters be monitored and tweaked.Other aspects of husbandry, such as humidity, diet, temperatures, and so on, must be correct, or the risk of impaction is higher. Any loose substrate can be an impaction risk, so if a person is having difficulty with basic husbandry they should not attempt bioactive.

So along with Crested Geckos I also keep several other species of reptile. This is the bioactive enclosure for my male Leopard Gecko, Aurelio. 

The enclosure is a 40 breeder that originally belonged to my female Leopard Gecko, Bonita. But after she passed I revamped it and gave it to Aurelio. The tank took a lot of work to set up and is the result of years of experimenting with bioactive with Leopard Geckos. 

The substrate is a mixture of Excavator clay, Quikrete All Purpose Sand, and a generic organic potting mix from my local hardware store. I do 50% soil, 30% sand, and 20% clay. After they were all thoroughly mixed I sieved the substrate to remove large pieces of stone and wood. When setting up the enclosure I took all the sieved wood and stone and used it to line the very bottom of the enclosure. I then added a ton of temperate springtails and some baker’s yeast to encourage mold growth. That mold becomes a good food source for springtails and bacteria that will help to keep the tank clean. 

The next few steps are hard to explain in depth without pics, so I’ll keep things short and simple. Basically I added my substrate mix next, I added a black plastic hide on the right, and a half log hide on the left. Both are buried under substrate and stones so they’re basically invisible. I furnished the enclosure with stones taken from a local state park, that were then sanitized, and a couple types of plants. The plants I chose were  Euphorbia tirucalli and Sedum reflexum “yellow bouquet”. The plants are doing well and have been growing nicely. 

For a cleanup crew I have temperate springtails, tropical springtails, Armadillidium vulgare isopods, dwarf white isopods, terrestrial nematodes, fungus gnats (for some people these are a pest but as maggots they can be a great cleanup crew in the soil), dubia roaches, buffalo worms/beetles, mealworms/beetles, and lots of various bacteria and fungi that are naturally present in the soil. The enclosure is only a month or so old but already my Leopard Gecko’s waste is getting broken down after only a day or so. Which is a GREAT sign!

The tank is lit with 3 grow bulbs, as well as a 24″ T5HO 10.0 UVB bulb. I strongly believe ALL reptiles should have access to UVB so despite some articles out there, I chose to give my Leopard Gecko UVB. For heating I use a 150w CHE on a thermostat. The CHE is in a wide-domed lamp allowing for max heat distribution. This gives my gecko the opportunity to thermo-regulate as he has access to basking areas ranging from 78*F up to 94*F. The ambient temp in the cage is 74*F during the day with a 2*F-4*F drop at night. As said before, Aurelio only has two hides. One cool, and one warm hide. However, due to the fact that the cage is bioactive and is misted weekly the hides are BOTH humid hides with humidity ranging from 60%-90%, something VERY important for a Leopard Gecko’s health as despite common knowledge, Leopard Gecko’s naturally seek out more humid areas and burrows in the wild. Exposing them to consistently dry conditions in captivity can be very detrimental for their health.

*are let out*

Rats: “wanna go home bye”

*goes to close the cage door*

I made a cage.

To save some space, I made a cage to fit on top of my dresser. Being that my boys spent all of their time on the top level of their old cage, this new layout will hopefully mean that they have more usable space than they did with their DCN. They very rarely spent any time in the lower level. This new cage isn’t as large as the DCN but it’s all top floor so I feel there’s less wasted space.

The dimensions are 63″ wide x 18″ deep x 24″ tall. It’s 15.75 cubic feet. The single unit Critter Nation is about 11.42 cubic feet and the double is about 22.85 cubic feet so this cage falls somewhere between the single and double.

It has about 13.5 square feet of floor space. The single unit Critter Nation has about 8.3 square feet of floor space and the double has around 16.6 square feet of floor space.

It was modeled after the Martin’s cage design. It’s basically two R-680s stitched together side by side.

Some of my accessories from the DCN don’t work in this cage so I’ve got a little bit of shopping to do but so far I’m really happy with the new cage.

I think the boys approve.

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I take the term “filter media” for granted because I always assume people know what I mean when I say it. That’s not always the case, as I have come to find out, and me just saying “filter media” doesn’t always give people a good idea about what I’m actually referring to.

Some people think disposable cartridges or carbon is filter media, when that’s not the case. Some people don’t understand biological filtration, or mechanical, or chemical. These are important terms, it’s important to know what filter media is and what is the appropriate substance to be putting into your tank.

Also:

Filter cartridges are worthless, they are a scam, and you will destroy your cycle each time you change them out. DON’T USE FILTER CARTRIDGES.

I want to preface this: I loved bettas, at one point when I was about 15 I had well over a dozen bettas. Nothing could stop me, especially when Minibow 5’s were constantly on sale. I still like bettas, I think they have a ton of personality and they’re really fun, engaging fish that are incredibly accessible and are pretty cheap to set up. The unfortunate thing is that bettas are sick, they’re overpriced genetic disasters which can be a grab bag of problems. Bettas ten years ago aren’t the same bettas we have now, we have so many different varieties in such a short span of time, all due to inbreeding offspring to parent or offspring to offspring in order to preserve, expand upon, or replicate a desirable trait that sprung up from the genetic mish mash that bettas are. I still assert that non-dragon scale plakats, normal veils and crown tails are some of the healthier bettas you can get.

Now, I am NOT saying that you’re a bad person for having a betta of whatever variety, healthy or not. I am not telling you to get rid of your betta or to never ever get a betta again. You can have your bettas, you can get future bettas. This isn’t an article that’s telling you to get rid of your bettas. I know that everyone leaps to that conclusion any time I or others make posts critical of modern bettas and their ‘designer’ varieties.

But the thing is, you don’t always need to go back to bettas. You can expand your horizons and choose healthier fish in tanks that people normally just leave for bettas. All of these fish have their own charms and quirks, and while some might not have the same pizazz that you expect from bettas, they’re still worthy of appreciation.