How to clean tank?

[Philly KDub]

Hey yall, I'm new here. My wife and I recently bought our first betta fish two days ago. His name is Jack. I'm VERY new to this since I never owned a fish before but I fell in love with Jack. He's a very sweet guy. He's doing great swimming around in his fishbowl. I plan to buy a bigger tank for him later this month.

I've been reading stuff online about cleaning the tank. I want to make sure my fishbowl is always clean so Jack will be satisfied but the problem is I don't know much about cleaning the bowl. Remember, I'm very new to this so any help would be very appreciated

I plan to clean the fishbowl sometimes this week but I'm not sure how to do it. Should I put Jack in a separate container like a small cup or whatever while I clean up the fishbowl? Or should I let him stay in there?

Suppose I fill out the fishbowl with new water, should I put Jack back in the bowl right away? Or should I put him in a separate container then put the container in the water to allow Jack to be accustomed to the water temperature?

I'm not sure what to do so I thought this would be the best place to ask. I'll need to learn a lot on how to take care of Jack. He's doing very well right now but I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I do anything.

Any help would be appreciated!

[dr2b]

Welcome! How many gallons is the bowl? I'd do a 100% water change a couple times a week if it is not filtered. I found keeping the original cup they come in a huge help with water changes. If you put them in that and then do the water change it helps you out tremendously. I'd make sure to rinse everything well (aka gravel, etc). You need to acclimate Jack before you put him in the bowl of new water. You do this by letting him sit in the water while in his cup for a while and then add a little bit of the new water to the cup to let him acclimate...and finally release him into the water.

Also, did you buy water conditioner when you bought Jack? That is very important since Chlorine is toxic to fish. One last thing, bettas are excellent jumpers. So if you have him in a bowl with no lid, I recommend you get some kind of covering for the bowl. Some people use see through/sheer like materials so they can still breath (since they are labyrinth breathers) but not jump out of the water. You'd be surprised by how high they can jump lol.

[1fish2fish]

Ok.. What size bowl is he in? (Anything under 1 gal is going to need a water change every other day). Do you have water conditioner?

Your going to want to do 100% water changes. What you do is take him out and put him in a cup (with a lid). Rinse the bowl/gravel/ decorations out with HOT water and no soap. Fill the bowl back up, put the water conditioner in it. Float Jack in the cup in the clean bowl for at least 20mins. Then net him and put him back in the bowl.. try not to put the dirty water back into the clean bowl.

[Philly KDub]

Great! You guys been a lot of help for me I got another question. When I put Jack in a separate container like a cup, should I put a cup in the water and scoop Jack in it because he's accustomed to the water temperature?

I got Prime water cleaner. My bowl is approx 1 gallon. The instruction on the back of Prime container said I should add 2 drops for every one gallon of new water. Is that correct? Do you guys use more? After I add Prime water cleaner, should I let leave the water there for awhile to allow it to clean itself?

When I put I don't have a heater and PH test kit. I know I need to buy them ASAP to make sure the water is good for Jack to live in. I really don't trust anybody at the Pet Shop so I thought this would be the best place for me and my wife to learn how to take care of betta fish.

[1fish2fish]

You don't need a pH test kit. Just a test kit for ammonia really unless your cycling a tank. If you mess with the pH you could harm your fish.

Put Jack in the cup with the water from his bowl... it will minimize stress this way.

2 drops per gallon sounds right for Prime. Just put it in and leave it for a few minutes then start re-acclimating Jack to the bowl.