new betta owner...

[foureyed_dragon]

Well I recently moved to an apartment complex that wouldn't let me bring my cat, and I got empty pet nest syndrome, so I went and bought a betta. I got him a 2.5 gallon tank with a light, sand for the bottom, couple nice plants (sadly fake), and a rock. I put the drops that the pet shop man said I should get for the tank and am letting it sit. Mr. Betta will just have to sit in the jar he came in for now.

I currently can't afford to get a filter for him, but he should be fine right? Also, the pet store man said I shouldn't put any other fish in with him, but I've read a little and most of you seem to think it's fine? What about putting something that will eat the algae in with him (one of those little water snails maybe?)?

Also, I know that they need warm water. My house usually stays around 74, and I turn it down to 68 at night. I have him in my room which is the warmest spot in my house, and the water in the tank is currently a little warmer than room temp. Will this be okay?

Thanks for all the help!

[Falina]

You'll really need a heater. bettas need temperatures in the range of 76-82 and it needs to be constant. Else they becoe lethargic and susceptable to disease and lack of appetite. A drop from 74 down to 68 could cause real problems and even kill him if it drops sudden enough.

In a tank that size i wouldn't recommend adding anything else. bettas and shrimp are iffy combinations, sometimes it works and soemtimes it doesn't, and snails are very dirty creatures, producing a lot of waste. Especially since you dn't have a filter I would just keep him by himself. Bettas are solitary fish and don't get lonely.

Congrats on your new betta. :)

[Oldman47]

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Is the stuff you put in the water supposed to remove chlorine from the water? If it is, it would only need to sit for a few minutes to do its work. The biggest challenge for you will be getting the temperatures matched before you turn him loose in his new home. Usually people float the plastic bags that fish come in to let the temperatures get together but it is a little more challenging with a plastic cup.
As far as getting more fish, I keep my bettas with other fish but they are in a 10 gallon and a 40 gallon tank. A 2.5 gallon tank is too small to keep other fish in it. The betta alone is a full load for a tank that size. He will be fine alone so that's not a problem its more of a preference thing. When you can afford it, it would be easier to look after him if he had a heater to keep his tank about 80F. Without a filter, you will need to do lots of water changes to keep him healthy. With a filter once a week change of half the water might be enough but without it you will need to change most of the water every other day to keep up.

[foureyed_dragon]

he does seem a little sleepy, and not interested in his food. How much do heaters usually run?

and the stuff i put in there says to let it sit for 24 hours...

[foureyed_dragon]

I'm a little concerned that my betta doesn't seem to be eating much. I've been feeding him freeze dried bloodworms, and he'll nibble on them then kinda spit them back out. I hope he's just eating them when I'm not looking, but I still a little worried. He also likes to just kinda hang out around the bottom of the tank, which I've read is bad for them.

I do turn off the bubbler for a bit, and am thinking about turning it off completely at night to give him a bit of a break from the current, even though I really want to keep the water moving.

[Dtld9]

I've tried feeding my Betta dried bloodworms, didn't work, he wouldn't eat them. He loves the frozen ones though ,practically jumps out of the tank to get them :D

[Oldman47]

Frozen treats mixed with a good balanced dry food would probably work best. What people do nowadays reminds me of when I was a kid and everyone thought meat was all you needed to feed a dog. There were a lot of malnourished dogs those days. Now people seem to think a betta just needs high protein foods like worms. Its just wrong. They need a balanced diet even though they love the frozen or live treats.

[foureyed_dragon]

I also got him flakes, but he didn't really touch them either, I ended up just having to clean them out. It would appear that he is eating the bloodworms since they seem to disapear.

[puff]

Hey I am a new Betta Mom myself, but I'll try to give you some info I gathered during my teething stages.

I initially had a 1 gallon tank in which I kept Bertie , my betta.I fed him thos Fish stone foods which are supposed to last a week- as advised by Petsmart ( I hate those guys, they keep bettas in small cups ).
What happened was that Bertie was sluggish and disinterested.
I then upgraded my tank to 2.5 gallons, got a filter, a thermometer and a small 25watt heater ( $20 for the heater and $2 for the thermometer- both got at Petsmart).
I also got Bertie a couple of fake plants and a small cave to hide in.
I then proceeded to set up the temp in his tank to 78, put a small light next to his tank and Started feeding him HIKARI BETTA BIO-GOLD pellets - he kinda spat them out for a day or two, but now he's hooked on to them and eats an average of 5 pellets a day.
The other day he blew a bubble nest and I was ecstatic.

I guess the take home lessons are - Warm temperature, Water conditionner and a whole lotta love!

Do let me know any updates and hope your fish feels better soon!
:D
Puff

[foureyed_dragon]

The water seems to hold steady at about 75-78 degrees without a heater. The light that came with the hood seems to give off a lot of heat (at first I was scared it might actually melt the hood) which I think contributes to the warm water.
I think he must be eating because the worms disappear (dont see them on the bottom of the tank or floating on the top). He usually runs and hides when I come up to look at the tank (mayhaps because we had a bit of an incident when i was taking him from his old fish bowl to his new tank? do they have memories that long?) but when I'm in bed (the tank is near my bed) I see him swimming around like crazy.