Do Betta Fish Need Air Pump?

Betta fish do not necessarily need an air pump, as they have a labyrinth organ that allows them to breathe atmospheric air. However, an air pump can help maintain water quality by promoting oxygen exchange and circulation, which can be beneficial for their overall health.

Even though betta fish don’t need an air pump, you should still have one in your storage. Air pumps are used in special circumstances. In the rest of the article, I’ll discuss what air pumps do, how they are different from a filter, and, lastly, when they come in handy.

So, let’s get started.

Let’s See What Other Betta Owners Think

I asked a popular betta subreddit if an air pump is a must for a betta tank or if just a filter is fine. Here’s the post’s screenshot:

Everyone remarked that an air pump is not a must. I especially liked the fourth comment from user jenbobo7. He gave an excellent tip.

Just make sure the water line is about a quarter inch below the filter outflow. This will essentially create a waterfall effect, breaking the surface of the water and, as a result, increasing oxygenation.

What Does An Air Pump Actually Do?

An air pump produces air bubbles that rise towards the surface of the water and create surface agitation. As a result of this surface agitation, oxygen from the air gets dissolved into the water. The dissolved oxygen is crucial for fish’s breathing.

If you want to increase the amount of dissolved oxygen in the tank water, you’ll need to create surface agitation. Surface agitation actually means creating movement on the surface or disturbing the water surface.

When the water surface gets disturbed, i.e., agitated, then oxygen from the air gets dissolved into the water. This is what an air pump is designed to do.

When you turn on the air pump, it sucks air from the air and pushes it towards the air tube. The air tube connects to an air stone, and the air stone passes the air through bubbles.

These bubbles rise to the surface, agitate it, and absorb oxygen from the air into the water.

Why Betta Fish Doesn’t Need An Air Pump?

Betta fish have a very interesting physical characteristic. Like all other fish, they can absorb oxygen from the water through their gills and scales. However, bettas have another way to absorb oxygen from the air.

Betta fish have labyrinth organs. Thanks to this organ, they can absorb oxygen by gulping air from the water’s surface. You might have seen your betta suddenly rushing towards the surface of the water and returning back just after touching its mouth to the surface. It is just gulping air from the water’s surface to absorb oxygen.

As bettas can absorb oxygen from the air, there is actually no need for an air pump to dissolve more oxygen into the water.

Is Air Pump The Only Option To Dissolve Oxygen Into The Water?

Air pumps are definitely not the only option to increase dissolved oxygen in the water. There are many more ways you can achieve that. If you can create surface agitation in any way, the oxygen will get dissolved. It is that simple.

An excellent example can be a HOB (Hang on Back) filter. When water from the HOB filter falls on the tank, it creates a good surface agitation. As a result of this agitation, oxygen gets absorbed into the water. So, if your tank has a running HOB, there is no need for an extra air pump (For most fish).

Another way to increase the amount of dissolved oxygen is to have real plants in the tank. Under the presence of light, plants absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. This is their basic photosynthesis.

As a result, more oxygen gets dissolved into the water. That’s why real plants always create a better aquatic environment for the fish.

Air Pump vs Filter

As I have mentioned earlier, many people mistake an air pump for a filter. Let me clear it up: Filters and air pumps are definitely not the same thing. Both are completely different.

By now, you already know what an air pump does. It pumps air into the tank which creates bubbles, the bubbles rise towards the surface and create surface agitation. As a result of this whole process, more oxygen from the air gets dissolved into the tank water.

On the other hand, filters have more complicated jobs and purposes. A proper filter (Sponge, HOB, Canister, Sump, etc.) makes the tank environment actually habitable for the animals. It cleans the water in three levels: mechanically, biologically, and chemically (not always required).

Mechanical filtration means the sponge or pad of the filter screens out all the dust particles from the water. It makes the water clearer. Biological filtration means developing a colony of beneficial bacteria so that the bacteria can deal with harmful toxins like Ammonia, Nitrite, etc.

In some cases, the filters might also perform chemical filtration if you put a bag of activated carbon inside the filter media chamber. Chemical filtration comes in handy if the tank smells bad.

So, you can see that filters have versatile and more complex jobs than a simple air pump. Some filters also provide surface agitation, so they do the job of an air pump, too! Examples are HOB filters, Sponge filters, etc.

When You Should Use An Air Pump?

Even though bettas don’t need an air pump, it is a smart idea to have one near your hand. In some circumstances, an air pump can actually become very important for the betta, such as:

If the Betta Gets Sick

When a betta gets sick, it can’t move fast enough. Moreover, if the betta is suffering from swim bladder disease (which is very common for bettas; in fact, I lost a betta to this disease), then it won’t be able to swim properly, let alone gulp air from the water surface.

Also, when you treat betta fish with medicine, the amount of dissolved oxygen can be reduced. Most medicines reduce the dissolved oxygen level as a side effect.

In such cases, it is important to run an air pump 24×7 so that the betta doesn’t face problems breathing.

Bettas Love & Hate Air Pumps At The Same Time

This is a very interesting topic. It has been seen that betta can love and hate the air pump at the same time. Bettas love the air pump because of the bubbles it produces. They hate the air pump because of the water flow it creates.

Bettas are very playful. When an air stone constantly produces bubbles, it can intrigue them very much. Many owners have actually seen their betta playing with the bubbles.

At the same time, bettas can’t deal with the water flow that the air stone creates. Bettas like slow moving water, it gets really difficult for them to swim where there is a lot of water flow.

So, you can say, bettas love & hate the air pump at the same time.

Final Words

Even after reading the whole article, if you want to keep an air pump in your betta tank, just go ahead. It is nothing crucial. Just make sure that the air stone is not creating too much water flow. I’ll recommend choosing an air pump that lets you control the airflow.

I hope if you found this long discussion helpful. Happy Betta Keeping!