After the most recent demise of my last BettaHot Temper, who bless his heart, lived 2 years in a 1 gallon fish bowl, I found myself in a fish store (not so soon after, I did mourn the little guy). Wandering about I could not deny my instant love for a feisty beautiful little guy the size of a small drapery tassel, I brought him home (instant gratification and instant love is my middle name)...and proceeded to give him 'Hot Temper's' life all over again (yes...in a bowl), but this time I thought he might benefit from living at work with me (I work all the time)...fast forward to cute little fish, living on my desk, and between calls me looking up just what might make him happy (er)...I come to a sudden realization that I sucked as a fish mom(formerly) and needed to give the little guy what he truly deserved, more oxygen, more "toys", more room and heat. I bought this little aquarium wonder (w/a black top),bye bye bowl, and wow have I got one happy fish! This tank is an easy set up,the filter (that worried me sick) is great, it will not swallow or eat your Betta (as far as I can tell so far...thank goodness!),he is not struggling through any major currents and as far as I can tell, he is a happy camper (or show off). I purchased a small heater to keep his temp at what is most conducive to his normal habitat, my Betta is making bubbles nests, and showing off like a full finned champ. I always thought I had a happy Betta, until now, this fish is unbelievably active and showy. I know it's a fish, but he sure reminds me of a puppy with fins! I love this little tank, perfect on a desk top, easy to set up, perfect for a Betta (just buy a heater, plants, gravel and hiding nook and you're set!) Love this!!
I got this aquarium almost 5 years ago, and I love it! I even have two now.
I've had several different kinds of fish, neons, barbs, but this aquarium is really awesome for a betta.
The filter is great and with a betta I only change the filter every 4-5 months (no algae or anything). For multiple fish I had to change it maybe every three months because of the excess... waste :)
There is plenty of room in here for my betta, a plant and a little rock he likes to hide in as well as some gravel. The only reason I ordered the 5 gallon version of this tank is that my Betta has been alive for nearly 2 years and he's huge now! So I'm going to put my smaller betta in the 2.5g and I got the 5g mini bow for my betta-shark ;)
This aquarium has stood the test of time, I took it to my dorm and it moved with me into my apartment and has no scratches or leaks or anything. Because mine is rather old I've gone through about 2 light bulbs but Wal-mart carries replacements so it wasn't a big deal. Mine is also some what dirty on the outside (dust and gunk) but that's due to the age.
This aquarium would be perfect for any kids or first time aquarium owners! I absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone... EVERYONE!
It's hard to find a small aquarium with an actual filter instead of just a bubbler, and this is perfect. I only wish I had gotten it in a different color because the red doesn't really match anything now!
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I bought this item at a local pet shop and immediately had to bring it back because the lower part of the filter had not been included with the kit. I told the people at the pet store and they told me that they have had a LOT of problems with Aqueon not including all of the kit parts in the box, and that they were planning on having a discussion with their Aqueon rep about the issue. It wasn't a huge deal, but I would certainly hesitate when buying this product online, because of the difficulty of return. They gave me a new one, but not before opening the new box and checking to make sure every single item was in there. (The person who was originally behind the counter was apparently a new employee and didn't realize there was an ongoing problem with Aqueon, so she didn't open the box to make sure everything was in the box)
Otherwise, the product works as advertised.
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Love the tank, love the filter. Works amazing. Only problem was my beta could not swim against the current of the filter sucking in water. I had to jimmy-rig something with some tubing to reduce the suction in one area and so my fish could swim. Other than that, good tank for some other fish maybe.
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I bought this little tank for my desk at work, since it was the perfect size for a pico saltwater reef. For the most part, I'm liking it.
The light bulb that came with it was absolutely worthless, but that's common with MOST things that come with bulbs, so no harm there. I replaced it with a 9w Corallife 50/50 mini compact fluorescent. That bulb alone would be more than enough to keep many types of corals in a tank this small...except for one design flaw that I couldn't see until I got the product out of the box.
The light bulb screws in on the right and points to the left, so the bulb is more on the left side of the tank than the right. This wouldn't be a problem, except that the built-in filter is ALSO on the left side of the tank. The filter hooks onto the side of the frame, so it will ONLY go in this one spot, and consequently, it blocks more than 50% of the light!
While this product has its uses, I should have known better than to try to buy a cheap product for serious--rather than casual--use. I can adapt this one to work, but I should have saved myself the trouble and gotten a more professional item to start with.
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The box works very well. The inner box does a decent job of skimming any particles off the surface and retains flow even after a power outage. There were a few things I wish had come in the package: a priming tube and assorted sized connectors for various sized flexible tubing outputs. The inner box is larger than I anticipated taking up a decent size chunk of real estate inside the tank. Overall it works very well though, it gets the job done.
