New fish owner... Advice please...

[Rhavaniel]

My sister has always had fish... But I haven't. Though I've always liked them, and wanted some for my own. Well, my cousin came to my house the other day when I wasn't there and put a betta in my room in a small tank (a large cookie jar. I don't know how many gallons... It's about a foot tall and a foot across and probably the same for the width (it's a hexagon shape).

I've had the fish for about a week so far. Only yesterday did I really start researching how to take care of them. On several websites it said that I need a small heater for my tank. However, I went to the pet store to get some actual beta food not goldfish flakes (lol), they said that I don't need a heater, because my house usually stays between 70-80 degrees, and the tank is small. I'm not sure which one I should go by...

I also read that I should put a mirror to the tank every once in a while to get my fish (I named him Misu (Japanese word for water) excited and give him.... exercise or something like that. However, I've heard of betta's getting stressed. Could the mirror thing cause that? What is "stress" for Betta?

Also, one other thing... What is cycling your tank?

[Campbell]

You probably should get a small heater. Bettas like about 78-84. The mirror thing is good every once in awhile. A fish will get stressed if you leave it in to long because they will vigorously try to chase of the other fish who, of course, will never leave.
You don't need to worry about a cycle, because a tank needs to be at least 5 gallons to even hold one. Did you get the betta food? It's important because bettas are carnivores and most flakes are vegetable matter.

[dramaqueen]

A lot of us here feed our bettas Hikari betta bio gold. There is also a tropical flake food for bettas called Tetra bettamin. These are good to use for their staple diet. You can also feed them freeze dried or frozen bloodworms, daphnia and brine shrimp as once or twice a week treats.

[Nataku]

*eyes username* Your name makes me think I've seen you somewhere else around the net.... *ponders*

Does the tank have a filter? It's not really needed (especially if you aren't going to be cycling it) but it's a handy thing to know. A heater is indeed more important to a betta. They are tropical fish and need warm water, at least 78 degrees. Pick one up the next time you can swing out to a pet store (or Wal-mart, they carry heaters too) and you'll notice a betta will be far more active in warmer water.

Bettas and mirrors. Bettas are extremely aggressive, territorial fish by nature, and they will flare, chase and try to attack any other betta (male or female) they percieve as a threat. A mirror is a fun thing to put up against the side of the tank and let them flare at several times a week. Many bettas will even play chase if you move the mirror around.
Due to this very 'high-strung' nature, a betta can stress itself out fairly easily. Hence why we don't leave a mirror up against the tank all the time, because the 'fish' they see will never back down every time they advance, and they can become very frustrated over this. The easy way to tell if your betta is stressed or not is to look for horizontal 'stress bars' along the side of the fish. If you see those, he's obviously not happy, and something needs to be changed.

http://www.fishforum.com/freshwater-...ium-cycle-252/

How often are you doing water changes on your tank? Since it's not cycled and doesn't sound very big, you'll need to be doing water changes fairly often to make sure your betta doesn't fall ill from dirty water conditions. I'd go with 50% twice a week as a geneal recomendation since we don't know the size of your tank.

[Rhavaniel]

Thanks for the replies ^.^

Dramaqueen>>>>> I went and got that Hikari Betta Gold pellet stuff... I got that about 2 days ago. It's what the pet store recommended. I don't enough money right now for Blood Worms and all that other stuff. >.<

Nataku>>>> This name is on Dungeons and Dragons Online, World of Warcraft, Cabal Online, and.... was on Albatross 18, and... Not sure what else. Possibly GaiaOnline. lol Anyway... About fish....

No, the tank does not have a filter. I thought I'd need a heater... But... I just don't have the money right now >.< Wish, my cousin had given me more notice.

Okay ^.^ Thanks for the mirror thing.

I've done it once so far... And it's been a week. I did the last change two days (when I got the food). I washed the glass rock things (they are smooth and made for fish tanks), with hot water and some soap (made sure all soap was off). I cleaned the fake plants. Washed the bowl with hot water. And then filled it up with everything inside it (except the fish of course), with water conditioner.... about 24 drops. He seemed a lot happier :) ^.^

[Campbell]

Next time don't use soap. Just rinse rinse rinse. Soap can harm a fish, and there is no way to get every little bit off. You should do fine with just rinsing in warm water a few times.