cycling a betta tank

Question
Hi Jaymie,

I don't know what is happening , but I managed to kill two more bettas. The only thing I can think of is the temperature. I had the tank at74 during the day, but am thinking it might have dipped to 72 over night. Now what I have done is raise the temp to 78 and then if it drops a little, it will be normal. I am going to try again.I cleaned the tank all out and am starting from scratch.

Now the real question I would like to ask since you know bettas so well. Some people on a forum told me that I should cycle the tank. I have never heard of that with bettas. This is a first. Since you are the expert, what do you think.   Thanks

Answer
Pat,
A lot of people just do not understand the Betta that well. He does not need nor does he like a filter. The only Betta tanks, that I own, that have  filters are the fry tanks. None of my adult tanks have them. You will be fine without a filter just remember to do the water changes. The heater needs to be at 80 degrees. Make sure the heater is the dial kind that you set the temp. The heater that claim they keep the water a certain temp rarely do. Having the temperature fluctuate like that will stress the fish and he will get sick. Just make sure the temp is right, the tank size is right and if you do not add a filter, make sure you are doing water changes weekly, or more often depending on the tank size, and you should be ok. If you do use a filter, it will need to be cycled first and water changes will have to be done weekly.