Air Bubbles??

Question

OK I have a question..when u go and buy tropical fish at a pet store they have them in a tank with a filter and such with air bubbles ya know and I was wondering,,,are goldfish and bettas the only fish that dont need air bubbles that come from the filter and stuff or does ne fish "really" need the bubbles to live.If u put them in like a cup of water without bubbles would it die?? Just wondering..thanx

Answer 1

goldfish do need filtered water to live. I once put a goldfish in a cup of water ( a very small one) because it was sick and i was scared my others would get it. The next day he was dead. I think it was the lack of swimming space. I learned my lesson. Bubbles are good for the aquarium but not absolutely neccesary.

A regular filter will be fine for a goldfish if it has enough room. Bubbles aren't essential. but do look nice and fish like to play in them. Im not sure about other fish but goldfish need filters more than others because they poop a lot. i have a 55 gallon goldfish tank and it seems like they poop all the time. I have to clean the thing once a week, i have a really expensive bubbler and a filter.

I also have betta fish. They live in large bowls happily without filtration. I do change their water once a week though.

Answer 2

Those bubbles are actually powering the filters in the shop tanks, not supplying air. The air exchange happens at the surface, and the only thing bubbles do is to keep the slime that forms on top of the water from keeping the gas exchange of "carbon dioxide out/fresh air in" happening... Those filters are "sponge-filters" and the bubbles are creating a current up the tube which then sucks the water through the sponge. Bubbles in a tank do nothing as far as adding any air.

The best way to "add air" is to do partial water changes often and
keep a good power filter running to break up the slimy surface so the gas exchange can happen.

It would die in a cup because the cup would be so full of toilet water in a few hours that there would be no oxygen left since the bacteria in there would have breathed it all... If you want to know why Bettas can do it, see the guy above who posted about "Labyrinth Fishes".

Answer 3

The bubbles actually do not do all that much for adding oxygen. Unless your tank is 50 feet high you are not going to get much oxygen from the bubbles. It is more important to have filtration, and all fish, yes even bettas need filtration.

If you do not have filtration, it is the same as if I put you in a closet with only a bucket to do your buisness in. You would still get plenty of food, and I would empty your bucket once a week, but would you be healthy?

Neither would a fish. And they have it worse, because they don't just have to smell their waste, they swim in it.

Answer 4

fish known as labyrinth fish -- bettas, gouramies, paradise fish -- don't need oxygen in the water because they breath air from the top of the water BUT the beneficial bacteria you want to grow on the bottom of the tank do. This is one of the reasons bettas thrive in bowls -- goldfish usually don't do so well unless you change the water a lot -- which has ample fresh oxygen in it for them. bettas generally prefer stangant water so they can blow bubble nests and not get their fins torn up from filters. you can suppliment their water's oxygen by java fern and java moss and a few other plants that don't need a lot of light.

Answer 5

They do not need the air bubbles but you do need to leave at least a one inch gap when you fill your aquarium with water. DO NOT FILL CLEAR UP TO THE VERY TOP!

I have 3 large aquariums in my home right now. (some of my fish are 10 years old, They started out as those 15 cent goldfish and are still growing)

Have fun.

Answer 6

First of all they aren't just air bubbles, it is actually oxygen going into the tank....goldfish don't need as much as a Betta but they can't live in a cup of water either.
I have a koi and goldfish pond I have to have a aerator because koi need so much oxygen.

Answer 7

Flying kites is my decision although as a toddler I enjoyed paying for a pot of soapy 'bubble liquid' and seeing how vast i ought to blow the bubbles. the two have a similarity in that seeing kites or bubbles choose the flow up into the air has an escapist sense. in case you sense under pressure, doing the two could make you sense you're letting pass of all your issues and that they are drifting off into the huge blue yonder too!

Answer 8

I believe that even goldfish require filtered, oxygenated water to survive. Bettas have a unique metabolism that allow them to filter oxygen from the water around them to survive, but even they do better when their water is oxygenated.

Answer 9

acctually they need it.

the "bubbles" is actually providing air to them because the water needs oxygen so that they can live.