# Betta "Bowl"



## danfpa (Oct 18, 2008)

Hey folks-

Do you think that a bowl made out of a 2-liter pop bottle would be suitable for a male betta?

What I'm thinking is cutting open a "side" along the whole length and laying it on its side (on a stand so it doesn't roll!  )

Would there be any materials in the plastic that would be bad for my betta?

And if this would work, does anyone know if a bottle can be melted, so I could fuse more than one together?

Thanks!

Daniel


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## Kellsindell (Sep 15, 2008)

I do hope that you are planing to put some sort of filtration into this thing as well as water movement and something to keep the temp up. if you are then i don't see any reason why the bottle shouldn't work... as for melting them together, i believe it'd be possible but you always run the rist of a hole... i don't think the plastic would affect the tank. anyone else any thoughts?


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## Tyyrlym (Jun 1, 2008)

This has bad idea written all over it. First off half a gallon of water is pretty insufficient for a betta. Second unless you cut off the top and replace it with something you have no way to get the betta in unless you jam him through the hole. Third, without some kind of opening to admit oxygen your betta will drown rather quickly. Fourth, without said opening you have no way to get a filter into the "tank" and the only way to do a water change would be to unscrew the cap and pour it out which has stress written all over it for the betta. Fifth, no way to get a heater in. Sixth, its not going to be pretty to look through for long and will always be highly distorted.

Get a proper tank.

Finally, yes, you can melt bottles together, but I wouldn't trust the joint to be water tight. There's a fine line between softening, melting, and fire with these kinds of plastics.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

I agree 100%. You're much better off getting a glass or acrylic aquarium. You could also use a glass container of at least 3 gallons with a decent amount of surface area exposed to the air, such as a large pickle jar.


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## Kellsindell (Sep 15, 2008)

Yeah that, sounds much better. thanks for the back up on that.


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## danfpa (Oct 18, 2008)

Thanks everybody for your comments!

Tyyrlym - I'm not sure that you understood what I meant. I certainly would not try to stuff the betta in the small opening of a pop bottle, nor induce that much stress when changing the water. I was thinking laying the bottle on its side and cutting open a strip the entire side of the bottle, and perhaps putting a whole bunch together so that he would have a long shallow tank that could go in a rather narrow area.

Thanks again for your thoughts and ideas!

Daniel


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## Tyyrlym (Jun 1, 2008)

No, I understood what you meant but you made no mention of making an opening along the top, just on the bottom to keep it from rolling. Even if you do that you still have several problems.

1) It's not big enough.
2) It's not durable.
3) It won't look good for long.
4) It's not big enough.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

i have to say i'm the same thoughts as the others,i would
just like to add that i don't think plastic bottles are very
safe for constant use,i could be wrong but i'm sure
i heard somewhere about them leaching plastic pollutants back into
the water.


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## kritas (Feb 29, 2008)

You aren't wrong willow...

Bob(Username: Herefishy) used to tell us all the time, back when he was a mod, plastic has fatal pollutants in it, so don't use plastic decorations in your tank, unless it's from an aquarium shop.


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