Guest Author - Jilly Florio

It's pretty easy to keep betta fish and dogs together when you think about tank placement. The biggest problem with putting fish tanks and dogs together is usually a rambunctious dog knocking the tank over. A playful dog or strongly wagging tail can knock a fish bowl right onto the floor.

Dogs usually don't pay much attention to fish - not the way cats do. Dogs just don't notice fish activity that much. As long as you keep the betta bowl up safely on a table or shelf, everything should be fine.

If you keep a lid on the bowl, then you won't have to worry about a dog playing with a flopping fish who has leaped onto the floor. A lid is just a sensible precaution anyway. Many of the small betta tanks come with lids in any case, but you can be creative with using just about anything for a lid on an open bowl. Make sure the seal is not airtight, so the betta will be able to access fresh oxygen.

Another reason a lid is a nice idea is to keep your dog from drinking from the betta bowl. For some reason, dogs seem to really enjoy drinking from bizarre sources like toilet bowls, houseplant catchpots and fish tanks. When I traveled in my motorhome, my dogs would climb up onto the dinette to drink from my betta bowls. While the bettas survived this unwelcome attention, it was probably stressful for them, and annoying to me. :)

If you do have a dog that is overly interested in the antics of your fish, you might want to dogproof your bowl as you would if you had a cat. This article is all about Keeping Bettas and Cats.

How to Buy Toys for your Fish
A Better Betta Bowl
Betta Care Quiz