Is this OK?

[Rotten]

I'm a new fish owner, and recently got a male betta as a first fish. He is about 2 inches long, and I got a normal fish starter kit for him, as the betta tanks were TINY! As in, a fourth of a gallon. The tank I purchased is 1 US gallon.

My question is, is that OK? I feed him twice a day (as the food instructions say), test the water twice a week, and change 25 to 50 percent of the water every two days. He seems fine, and the local fish store said it was fine. I have two live plants, an under gravel filter, incandescent light bulb as a heater, and a marble in his tank. The water has some wierd white stuff in it occasionally, but it disappears eventually.

Here's the test results I got today:

Temp: About 74.6 degrees F (not Celsius!)
Ammonia: 0.25, before water change
Nitrites: 0, before water change
Nitrates: 0, before water change
PH: About 6.2
Hardness: 0
Chlorine: 0
Alkalinity: 0

Is that fine?

[doggyhog]

Sounds like a great little home for a betta! In the future, you may want to upgrade to a 2 gallon tank, but he will be just fine in the one gallon for now.

Welcome to the forum!!

[ScentedLove]

Welcome to the forum and your betta sounds happy however in the future its easier to maintain a 2.5 gallon and up.

[Scienceluvr8]

The home is fine, but the temperature seems a little low. Usually any temp below 76 degrees requires a heater, but as your tank being only a gallon there really isnt any for that size of tank. Maybe try relocating the tank to a warmer part of your room, away from vents but make sure it gets no direct sunlight= algae growth. But for the most part, everything seems good. Good Luck!

[Synthisis]

Once your tank begins to cycle, its ok for your Nitrates to go up to 40, but no higher. Ideal is between 10-20

[Rotten]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies!

The temperature is a bit low, but the betta seems fine. It also went up recently for some reason, to 75.2.

[Elena]

Hello, and welcome! Congratulations on getting your first betta fish. If your ammonia reads 0.25 before the water change you may want to consider doing 100% water changes every 2-3 days, the reason being that you are eventually going to see it accumulate if only doing partial water changes. Even low ammonia levels for longer periods of time can stress a fish and cause disease. The goal is to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates in an uncycled tank.

[puppyrjjkm]

sorry posted on wrong thread!

[Rotten]

Originally Posted by Elena

Hello, and welcome! Congratulations on getting your first betta fish. If your ammonia reads 0.25 before the water change you may want to consider doing 100% water changes every 2-3 days, the reason being that you are eventually going to see it accumulate if only doing partial water changes. Even low ammonia levels for longer periods of time can stress a fish and cause disease. The goal is to have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates in an uncycled tank.

Thanks! But, how would one go along doing a 100% water change? You move them to another container, right?