Questions for a new betta home

[Wenlace19]

Hey all, new betta owners here. While we were gone over the weekend, my fiancee's mom ended up getting us 2 betta fish that were being given away by someone she knew. We came home to find the 2 betta fish in a small divided tank, and my fiancee and I are looking for something bigger.

Seems to me most people have a 5.5g tank or so, and im thinking about getting one that size also and dividing it. My fiancee seems to think that they need some water purifyer or something like that since the water we are using is from the tap, but the guy her mom got them from said as long as the water isnt really chlorinated then they would be fine.

So all in all, im just curious as to what people would recommend for a 5.5g tank as for a heater, and filtration and the likes. Also, what about feeding? they eat the little brownish pellet things, not sure what brand because the guy just put a bunch in a container. How many of those should they get a day and should they be on a feeding schedual like in the morning and at night, or once a day?

[dramaqueen]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I can't tell you about the filter but I would recommend the Marineland stealth visitherm heater. They're just about the best you can get. Also, tap water needs to be dechlorinated to make it safe for fish to live in. I think a 5.5 gallon divided will be fine for your bettas.

[Wenlace19]

do they require a heater? or can they get adjusted to the water and not require a heater? also, seeing as they are 2 males, should i make the divider a solid color instea of a clear plastic so they cant see each other?

[dramaqueen]

Bettas are tropical fish and should have a heater unless they are kept in a very warm room. They like temperatures from 76 to 82 degrees. You can use a colored divider or a clear one. You can always put plants along the divider to help block their view of each other.

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

Welcome to the forum!! I have clear dividers with silk plants up against it so they can't really see each other. They'll flare occasionally, but they eventually realize that they can't get to each other and calm down.

[kelly528]

Originally Posted by Wenlace19

Hey all, new betta owners here. While we were gone over the weekend, my fiancee's mom ended up getting us 2 betta fish that were being given away by someone she knew. We came home to find the 2 betta fish in a small divided tank, and my fiancee and I are looking for something bigger.

Seems to me most people have a 5.5g tank or so, and im thinking about getting one that size also and dividing it. My fiancee seems to think that they need some water purifyer or something like that since the water we are using is from the tap, but the guy her mom got them from said as long as the water isnt really chlorinated then they would be fine.

So all in all, im just curious as to what people would recommend for a 5.5g tank as for a heater, and filtration and the likes. Also, what about feeding? they eat the little brownish pellet things, not sure what brand because the guy just put a bunch in a container. How many of those should they get a day and should they be on a feeding schedual like in the morning and at night, or once a day?

Welcome to the forum!!!

Frist off, I think a 5.5g is a very wise coice for you to start off with. The bigger the tank, the easier it is to take care of. All the nasties are diluted out in all that water, plus it takes a lot longer for temperature or pH to change in larger volumes of water.

I recommend picking up some water conditioner, since it is hard to predict what exactly you will find in tap water. Even the slightest bit of chlorine will irritate your fish, not to mention city water sometimes experiences surges in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels or contains heavy metals, all of which can be eliminated by a good water conditioner such as Seachem Prime, NovAqua or Amquel.

For heating and filtering a 5.5g, well... bettas arent picky. I would just stick with whatever comes with your starter kit (just a tidbit, the all-in-one kits are cheaper than buying all the equipment separately). If the filter is blowing them around too much (their flappy fins act like sails in strong currents) you can easily modify your filter using a sponge or a plastic water bottle to baffle the flow.

Now for food. Hmm. Every good betta diet nees two things: a staple (dry food), and some supplements (live or frozen food). For a good staple pellet I highly recommend both HBH Betta Bites (which is dirt cheap as an added bonus) and Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. Your betta will only need 2-4 of these per day, as a betta's stomach is roughly the size of his eye. If you overfeed him or feed him a food that takes on a lot of moisture in water (like freeze-dried) you run the risk of the food swelling with water inside his gut and causing bloating, constipation and eventually swim-bladder disorder. I don't think you'll run into that problem with any of the foods I mentioned (as long as you don't overfeed) because they are pretty good on the digestive tract.

For his supplements, you can treat your betta to a nutritious frozen or live meal about 3 times a week. I am not a huge fan of live myself (too wiggly and too hard to find!) but I find the frozen line by Hikari to be very good. It comes in convenient pop-out portions and is well-sterilised. Your betta will relish any frozen, but I specifically recommend Bloodworms (good source of protein), Daphnia (prevents constipation) and Krill (good source of Carotene, which will enhance his color). Each pop-out portion will probably last you for a while between only two bettas so you can crush the cubes in a sandwich bag under a rolling pin to break them into smaller portions.

Hope that answered your questions and enjoy your new bettas!

[dramaqueen]

Kelly, how big are those portions and would 1 feed 11 fish?

[Wenlace19]

Thanks for the info kelly, now,when you recommend the supplements, the Hikari frozen ones, are the bloodworms, daphnia, and krill all in that mixed together? or when you talk about those 3 supplement are you talking about getting them live and just getting all 3?

[kelly528]

Originally Posted by dramaqueen

Kelly, how big are those portions and would 1 feed 11 fish?

Oh yeah for sure... they're about 2cm x 1cm x 1cm. I find one cube feeds a community quite nicely and you don't have to worry about them swelling in the gut obviously so you can feed them a little more than you would with pellets.

Originally Posted by Wenlace19

Thanks for the info kelly, now,when you recommend the supplements, the Hikari frozen ones, are the bloodworms, daphnia, and krill all in that mixed together? or when you talk about those 3 supplement are you talking about getting them live and just getting all 3?

Each variety comes separately. I think each pack probably has about 20 cubes or so. You should be able to purchase bloodworms and daphnia live (probably not krill though) if you are very brave.

[keshinvk]

oh man............... ok im freaked out
my betta will not eat because iput him in a tank for the first time in his life (i got him a week ago and i have no other fishes or tanks) my fish also wont stop fighting his reflection on the filter can u help somehow