Hagen Marina 5 Gallon Aquarium Kit (Style 5)

Recently I lost my crowntail Betta fish. He lived in a 4 gallon aquarium; however, it was plastic and did not allow for a filter or a heater. Before purchasing my next Betta fish, I decided that I should upgrade my tank a little bit. A filter was definitely the first thing on my list since I really didn't want to be doing 100% water changes all the time and I also needed something small to fit in my bedroom.

Upon visiting my local PJ's Pets I noticed that they had a number of their aquariums and aquarium kits on sale. I really didn't want to spend a bundle on the cutesy orbs or cubes (none of the cubes were really large enough anyways), but then I spotted this cute little 5 gallon aquarium kit.

This kit comes with the following:

• a 8 inches long x 16 inches wide x 10 inches tall (5 gallon) aquarium
• a full canopy with incandescent bulb
• Marina Slim Filter S10 (plus 2 filter cartridges)
• a small net
• a supply of Nutrafin Max Fish Food
• Nutrafin Aqua Plus and Cycle
• a thermometer
• a care guide 

The aquarium itself is solidly built, your classic construction of glass and silicone. The canopy is black plastic with a stainless steel-like decal on the front, but it does have an annoying plastic bubble over the on/off switch. The bulb that comes with the canopy will do for now, but it casts a yellowish tint to the aquarium. The filter is very quiet and does its job pretty well (I have one Betta in my tank so I don't need a full force gun-ho filter and this filter seems to be pretty comfortable for my fish).

One downside to this aquarium is that it does not come with a heater, but I was able to pick up a 25-watt Marina submersible heater at the store. The heaters can be pretty pricy though, even for a small one to heat this aquarium.

Another downside is that it does not come with any gravel or decorations, everything has to be purchased separately. In my case, I had gravel and decorations left over from my 20 gallon aquariums so this really wasn't a big deal.

For me, this aquarium kit was pretty much everything I was looking for. It was affordable, good looking, and had most of the stuff I was looking for in a starter kit. Small enough to sit on my dresser, but big enough to give my Betta enough space to swim around and explore.