Hi all! I have recently bought a male betta, and I'm trying to make the best decisions for him to have a long, healthy life. He's in a 2.5 G tank with a filter. I'm going to buy him a heater tomorrow. He seems happy so far. Today he started making a bubble nest. Eee!
My question is about cleaning his tank. I keep hearing that you shouldn't change all the water at once and it has me a bit worried. I've owned bettas in the past, and I always saved the cups they came in and housed them in there with their current water to fully clean their aquariums. Washed all plants/"toys" and did 100% water changes. I never had any issues with my bettas doing this, but from what I'm reading it's not best.
I was wondering if someone could assist me on how to do this properly. Is there any "safe" way to do 100% water changes? If so, how do I handle the filter in this case? Thanks in advance.
Hi shy. If you look at OldFishLady's "Water change recommendations" thread at the top of the beta forum it has a lot of useful information! I was initially confused to on the water changes :demented::demented::demented:
She says 50% water changes twice a week and vacuuming the gravel. If you're not sure what 50% is just get a ruler and put it next to the tank. Say you fill your water up to the 10inch mark, then get rid of the water to the 5inch mark.
I just leave the filter in. Get a disposable clean cup and start scooping the water into a bucket so you can dump it. That is how I do it anyway
Thanks koincidenskis! Does the water stay relatively clean doing it this way? Also, how would I go about conditioning the water? Do I recondition it every time I introduce new water? Do I only treat the new water, or the whole tank? Sorry for all the questions. Just want to make sure I do it correctly.
Just condition the water you are putting into the tank.
Actually, this forum is a bit unusual in that we recommend 100% changes for smaller tanks (not necessary if they are filtered, except maybe for a really good clean once a month or so). This is for several reasons:
1) Bettas can be trained to swim into cups without being stressed, and can therefore happily tolerate 100% changes
2) Smaller tanks are uncycled. In larger tanks, 100% changes can destroy or damage the cycle, but in smaller tanks there isn't usually a cycle to damage. Therefore, 100% is fine.
Make sure you turn off your heater and filter whilst doing a change. Once a week/fortnight, rinse your filter pad gently in dirty water from the tank.
I second the turning off of the heater...I forgot once and the heater cracked and shattered. It sucked as the heater was only a month old. such a waste but I learned my lesson
+1 Bombalurina, although a filtered 2.5g can hold a cycle. It's a little tougher but it can be done. I cycled my mini bow and it's been better for my fish because between the plants and the cycle, the water parameters remain safe. Do 2 weekly 50% wc with substrate cleaning and keep your eye on your water parameters.
The instructions for both of my heaters say to always unplug it 15 minutes ahead of taking it out of the water.
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