Do plecos NEED an air pump?

I have a male betta in a 5 gallon tank, i was researching information about my betta and discovered that Plecos and Bettas can be tank mates. I wanted to add a small pleco to my tank with the betta, but i cant find any helpful information for exactly what I'm asking. I'm aware that bettas dont like current and I read that too much oxygen can cause harm to fish. So will a pleco survive without an air pump, if i add a small filter to the tank? Or would i be better off buying an air pump instead of adding a filter? I've had my betta for a year and i wanna make sure they both live comfortably.

Answers

Book Shelf

Plecos and bettas can be together, but only in a larger tank, starting at 20-30 gallon for the smaller "plecos". You might like nerite snails, they're far better algae eaters. Could I convince you to get a small sponge filter or Azoo Palm filter and some nerites instead of a pleco?

noselessman

Your betta needs a filter, Any type of filter can be easilly diffused to reduce the current, and other filters dont need to be diffused. Their is no way that too much oxygen can get into water, Even if it did, Betas are labrynth fish, and they get oxygen straight from the air when they come to the water surface. Meaning that they probobly get more oxygen then the non labrynth fish species. Bettas will attck other bettas, and fish that they mistake for other bettas. But in a large enough tank, many bettas will live fine, even benifit from a wide variety of tank mates. The bettas fins are vulnerable to nippy fish, and active fish, bettas are easill out competed for food, especiall when they are still getting use to life with tank mates, so tank mates must be carefully chosen. A plco could live with a betta, but the smallest dwarf betta nedds a 20 gallon tank, and more commonly avalable dwarf pleco, like the bristlenose need at least 30 gallons or more. And other pleco species can get over 2 feet long. In the 5 gallon filtered and heated tank you could keep a snail or 2 with the betta. Few fish really need an air pump. The water can only hold so much oxygine at once, an air pump can help if you need more then average oxygenation, like if you turn up the temp to medicate, or in an overstocked tank. ALL FISH NEED A FILTER!

Anonymous

I've also researched about fish keeping, and nothing in your question agrees with anything I know about aquariums and aquarium care. I would suggest that you may want to research further.

Yeah

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Do plecos NEED an air pump?

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