Hey along the lines of pet care, someone Ive been looking up to in fishcare (has tons of healthy beautiful saltwater tanks) told me today that a 10 gallon would be way too big for a betta and kill it because they come from small puddles and its way too deep for them to survive… Ive done a good deal of research and can only find the opposite of what he told me, should itrust this person or the internet, one says its gonna thrive one says its gonna die ;-;

petcareawareness:

petcareawareness:

I would seriously steer clear of this person. I know next to nothing about fish and even I apparently know more about betta care than this person. It’s possible they’re very well experienced and knowledgeable on saltwater fish and just don’t know anything about freshwater fish but the fact that they’re that clueless about the care of a very commonly kept freshwater fish is to me a red flag.

@connorstomacock do you want to add anything at all? Fish aren’t really my forte.

– Dark

The “puddle” misconception comes from the fact that wild betta often live in rice paddies, and clueless [Westerners] think they’re shallow when they can actually be rather deep. Don’t listen to that guy at all! 10 gallons is fine for your little guy

-Nick

Long-tailed bettas shouldn’t really be kept in tanks over ~18″ deep because they need to surface and breathe air occasionally, so you don’t want them fighting to get to the surface. I wouldn’t suggest a short-tailed betta in a tank deeper than 24″, either. You don’t want to see them having to put considerable energy into getting to the surface quickly, it should be visibly easy. Also, a betta kept in a bare 10g would probably be nervous due to lack of cover. Aside from those specific exceptions, no, a large tank will not kill a betta. They can live in a puddle, yes, but that doesn’t mean they should. It doesn’t mean they usually do, either. They can survive being trapped in a puddle, but their natural habitat is something like a pond, a slow-moving creek, or a pool of water in a swamp. 

There is no such thing as too large of a tank unless you’re dealing with very small fry and can’t fill the entire tank with the proper density of food. It is impossible to kill a fish with too much space.