What does my betta need for lighting?

Maybe - bettas do not need a whole lot of light. They do need to determine when it is day and when it is night.

What about a cheap clip on light (like for reading books) or a small bendy desktop light and just point the bulb at the fish tank (of course use a timer). They make fish clip on LED lights too - dont know cost.

Also, when does the office lights turn off? If there is enough time (say 8-12hours) of indirect light + office lighting - then you should be fine without a light. Most fish lights are fluorescents so dont worry. If the lights do not turn off (like where I work) - that will pose another problem.

Good Luck

As long as the sunlight is very indirect, as like room light would be, he just fine.

Nothing direct or beaming into the tank continually.

You want to keep a temperture dominated and regulated more so by your heater and not by the sun.

Keep the temp (pick a temp) between 78 -82 degrees, and if the sunlight is a problem, you will know it because the thermometer you should have the tank will certainly tell you so

monitor that closely. you will know if it is problem or not.

Though how you describe it, it sounds very normal and not bothersome.

Bettas are so awesome, and they really truly do not need a constant bright light source from an aquarium hood light by any means.

My Betta gets the light during the day from "the day"...indirectly, and night from the night.

And ofcourse when i get home from work, he gets a desk lamp turned on near him but pointed away from him to give a bit of a light boost...he seems to expect it and enjoy it.

They are not demanding of high light.

As long as he is not getting stream line sunlight, then the room light and room night cycle is just great.

I am so glad that you got him out of that beer mug and into a 5 gallon tank! WHEW! that is great...realllllllly!!!!

I would not try and get a hood light, in freshwater they are mainly for live plant growth and our personal vieiwng pleaure...

It also contributes to algae growth, so i would say you are better off where you are at.

It is ofcourse up to you!

Much Peace and Happiness for you and Mr. Betta. <*)))><

Eco

You should turn it off when you go to bed. Your betta's tank is his whole world. But they are wild animals too, and just like us, they are used to a cycle of night and day, even out there in the paddy fields. Imagine one day you found that it was bright all the time. If you didn't have a clock - which your betta obviously doesn't - you wouldn't know when to do what. Having some darkness helps your betta figure out when it's time to slow down and get some rest. Without some kind of routine, he can get kind of disorientated. Having a light on all the time will also encourage the growth of algae. You should only have a light on over your tank for 10 hours a day, maximum, in order to prevent algae growth.

If he is happy, which he seems to be from the way you described him, I wouldn't worry about it too much. But, if you really feel he needs some light, they do make tanks with lightbulbs. I have a betta with a 7 gallon fish tank( I don't fill it up all the way though because he doesn't like too much space) and it has a lid with a four wat light bulb inside. By the way, don't listen to the other people who adviced direct sunlight- bad for beta fish!! It even said it on the container I got him in that told me how to care for my fish.

The fish only needs enough light to see by, same as we do. So a normal office light level under flouros will be fine. Lights are only NEEDED if you want to grow live plants, and are otherwise just used so we can see the fish better.

I have several tanks that are just lit by normal roorm light, the fish are fine, and the algae growth is generally less.

Ian

J S is right, they are fairly low-light fish, so lighting isn't a huge concern for you. If you want lighting, he seems to have your answers :).

I just wanted to add that too much direct sunlight will promote the growth of algae in your tank, which can be burdensome. It doesn't sound like your tank is over-exposed, but I thought I might give you a heads up, just in case.

yes direct sunlight can be enough for your little guy...but you can only keep him there for about an hour if you keep him longer the water will get heated up really fast.

So if you do put him in the sunlight..and you keep him in it for more than an hour remove him quickly..and let cool off for 15 mins. you can buy a light hood at wal-mart for about 20$.

Hope this will hope and hope you fish make it thoughr :()

it needs to know when it is day and when it is night..

rember no longer than an hour

No need to buy a new hood. This is a UK company, but the US must have the same type of LED set up.

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=123...

The lights can go in or on the tank and you can have it as an up lighter if that suits the location.

Yep.

But if you want to get a new lid make sure that it has floresent lighting b/c if it is near plastic then it wont melt it.

Natural light is fine, as long as he has "nighttime" and "daytime".