Zoo Med Betta Bed Leaf Hammock

• Mounts wherever you want it – the suction cup fixes to the glass at a height you choose, so you can set it to suit the individual fish rather than accept a preset position.
• Suction cup supplied – nothing else to buy, and no clip that needs a particular rim thickness to work.
• Broad leaf shape – wide enough for a betta to settle across rather than balance on, which is the difference between a resting spot and an ornament.
• Sits above the substrate – keeps a resting fish up in the water column, close to the air it needs.
• Nothing to power or service – no cord, no battery, no consumable.
• Two sizes in the Zoo Med range – BL-20 standard, which is this one, and a larger BL-21.

Zoo Med makes two resting products for bettas and they solve the same problem differently. The deciding factor is whether your water level stays put.

The hammock is the right call when you want to place the resting spot deliberately – tucked behind a plant, out of the filter's flow, or at a particular corner your fish already favours. A floating lounge goes where the current takes it.

It is the wrong call in a small open bowl in summer, where evaporation drops the water level a centimetre or two in a week and a fixed leaf ends up sitting in air or too deep to be useful. In that setup the floating version does the adjusting for you.

Clean the glass where the cup will go. Suction cups fail on algae film more often than they fail on their own.

Place the leaf a few centimetres below the water line, not right at it. A betta wants to rest close to the surface and take a breath without a real swim, but a leaf breaking the surface just collects debris.

Keep it out of the direct outflow of a filter. A resting spot in a current is not a resting spot.

Then leave the fish alone. Some bettas adopt a hammock within an hour, some ignore it for a fortnight, and a few never use it at all. That is individual temperament, not a fault in the product.

Suitable for

• Betta tanks with flat glass sides and a stable water level
• Keepers who want to choose exactly where the resting spot goes
• Taller tanks where a betta would otherwise settle on the substrate
• Adding cover near the surface alongside floating plants

Not suitable for

• Curved bowls and textured or frosted glass, where a suction cup will not seal reliably
• Open bowls that drop a noticeable amount of water to evaporation between top-ups
• Tanks with strong flow across the glass
• Anyone expecting every betta to use it. Some will not.

Zoo Med publishes the item numbers, the two sizes and the suction cup fitting for the Betta Bed, but does not publish the leaf's material or its dimensions.

We are not going to estimate either. A leaf width printed as a specification is the sort of number people order a tank around, and a guessed one is worse than no number at all.

If exact dimensions matter for your setup, ask us before ordering and we will measure one from stock.

Re-seat the suction cup every water change. Cups relax over weeks, and a hammock found on the substrate has usually slipped rather than been knocked off.

Wipe algae off the leaf when you clean the glass. A broad flat surface near the light is exactly where a film builds.

Never clean it with detergent. Rinse in tank water or under plain tap water and put it back.

Check the cup for splits after a year or two in warm water. Suction cups perish long before the leaf does.

• Zoo Med Betta Floating Lounge – the floating alternative, and worth reading if your water level moves.
• Zoo Med Betta Plant Bamboo – vertical cover to go with the horizontal resting spot. Bettas use both differently.
• Zoo Med Betta Play Tube – enclosed cover down low, for a fish that wants somewhere to hide as well as somewhere to rest.
• Zoo Med BettaTherm Betta Heater – a betta that rests on the substrate is often a cold betta, not just a tired one. Worth ruling out first.
• Browse the full Zoo Med range for the rest of the betta line.

Zoo Med publishes no warranty term for this item and we will not quote one. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law apply in full and are not limited by anything on this page.

Small, light and unbreakable in transit. Ships as standard freight.

Why do bettas need a leaf hammock?

Bettas have a labyrinth organ that lets them breathe air at the water surface, and in the wild they rest among vegetation near the top of shallow, densely planted water. A tank with no structure near the surface leaves a betta either hovering to hold position or lying on the substrate. A leaf hammock gives it somewhere to settle within easy reach of air.

How high should I mount the Betta Bed?

A few centimetres below the water line works well – close enough that the fish reaches the surface in a flick, deep enough that the leaf is not breaking the surface and collecting debris. Keep it out of the filter outflow, and remember that the height is fixed once the cup is set, so you will need to move it as the water level changes.

My betta ignores the hammock. Is something wrong?

Usually not. Bettas are individuals and adoption varies from within the hour to never. Before assuming the fish is uninterested, check the leaf is not sitting in the filter current, is not right at the surface, and that the tank is warm enough – a betta resting listlessly on the substrate is often a temperature problem rather than a furniture problem.

Will the suction cup hold on a curved betta bowl?

Not reliably. Suction cups need a flat, smooth, clean surface to seal against, so curved bowls, textured glass and frosted panels all cause trouble. If your betta lives in a round bowl, the Betta Floating Lounge is the better choice because it floats and needs no mounting surface at all.

What size is the Zoo Med Betta Bed?

Zoo Med sells the Betta Bed in two sizes, item BL-20 standard and item BL-21 large, but does not publish dimensions for either. This listing is the standard BL-20. We would rather tell you the figure is unpublished than print an estimate; if the exact size matters, ask and we will measure one from stock.