New to bettas - care questions, new tank, etc

[Alexandrite]

Hi betta-lovers! I'm very glad to have found this forum :)


A friend of mine is moving overseas, and left her 2 adorable bettas in my care (probably indefinitely). She had them in two vase-like bowls - since I'm in Australia and grew up in Canada I have no clue about gallons. They are maybe one gallon each?


She also gave me their food, some Aqua-Cycle, and some water neutraliser stuff for chlorine etc when doing water changes. I've had them about 5 days and am already in love with them, they're utterly adorable little fish :)


However - I want to get them out of those bowls and into something nicer!! They seem a bit quiet and sad in there, I want to enrich their lives with more space, and some plants to hide in. My husband picked up a fantastic deal today, a secondhand aquarium with dividers for bettas. It has 4 "compartments" but I think I will only leave the central divider up, to give both the fish more room. I've been reading up on how to clean it safely without detergent or soap. It came with gravel - is there any chance that fish diseases could still be lurking in there, even though it looks to have been dry and empty for quite a while? Should I just get them some new gravel?


Their dividers are see-through glass - is there another divider I can make that ensures they cannot see each other and get stressed?


I also did a water change for them today (it was a week since their last one, my friend says that's how she kept them), and judging by the size of their small bowls, probably replaced 80% of the water. Is this okay? I tried to follow my friend's instructions - pour fish into large cups temporarily, emptied the rest out, rinsed the gravel (well - poured new water in and swished the gravel around until most of the fish poop came out and the water ran more or less clear), poured in new water, and added 8 drops of the water neutraliser and 3 drops of Aqua-Cycle to each bowl. Then let the water settle for 20 mins or so and poured the fish back in, with the old water they had with them in the cups - so 20% old water.


One of the fish isn't eating his dinner right now, though, and I'm a little worried that I messed something up with the water change :( Especially because he seemed to be the stronger fish who always goes right for his dinner. The other one who usually doesn't notice food for a minute or so, gobbled his right up. No, I don't think I accidentally switched them!! :) Should I just let him rest a bit and see if he will accept food a little later? One bit of his food sank to the bottom, I removed the others after they floated on the surface for over 5 mins.
(EDIT: Actually, just checked again, and I don't see the food pellet that sank anymore, he must have gotten to it and eaten something after all.)


Water temperature is 24C (I don't know Fahrenheit) - they do not have heaters yet, but it's summer in Australia so that's room temperature. I will get them a heater for their new tank.
I don't yet have a water test kit, as my friend did not have one either. I intend to get one asap, especially for setting up their new aquarium.

[cjayBetta]

You seem to be doing everything pretty much right. Although you are right they are probably not very happy with their vases.

This is what I do. I have my Betta in a 5g(Min req is 2.5) filtered, Uheated(for now) tank I have a cave in which he can hide and lots of Silk plants in there as well, Not enough to over crowd but enough that he has lots of room to swim and play in the plants. I feed him flakes 2 times a day, in the morning and at around supper time. I would feed him pellets but I can seem to find any small enough for his tiny little mouth.. Pellets would be 2 in the morning and 2 at night. I do 1 50% water change a week with pre conditioned water.Just scoop out half the water and pour more in, you dont need to remove the fish just be careful not to accidentally scoop him out or pour the water directly above him.
For a 2g unfiltered bowl I was told 1 100% a week and one 50% a week. Hope this helps!

[Alexandrite]

Thank you cjayBetta!

Good to know that I can leave the fish in the bowl for water changes. Actually, come to think of it, when I was growing up and my parents had a big aquarium with goldfish, that's exactly what they did - have pre-conditioned water ready to bring in for water changes, and siphoned the gravel.

I hope the fishie feels better soon. I tried to give him another pellet of food, he left it to float for a few minutes but now I don't see it anywhere, so it must have made its way into his tummy eventually.. He normally gets 3, if he hasn't hidden them he's had 2 tonight, I'll try to give him another in the morning and see if he will eat it. The pellets do seem a bit big for them, sometimes it takes them a couple of tries to swallow a pellet.

Going to make a project of cleaning their new tank tomorrow and researching proper tank dividers! I really want to give them nice living quarters.
You know, it will be very hard to give them back when/if my friend comes back from overseas, though I'm not too sure if it will be within their lifetimes anyway :) And if I do have to return them, I'll definitely get bettas of my own!

[cjayBetta]

No problem... Im sure if there is anything I missed someone will come along and let you know :)

[Alexandrite]

Eeek, the fish that was a bit listless after his water change yesterday, is still not eating :( He's got a bit of a bubblenest happening in one corner of his tank... And he is normally the fish that gobbles his food right away. He came up for it today but spat it back out again. He's spending a lot of time sitting at the bottom of his vase. The other fish is eating just fine, and perked right up after his water change. I don't get it!

I am feeding them "Wardley Betta Food" pellets, 3-4 a day, which is what my friend gave me along with the fish.

What do I do? I don't want to have a sick fish in less than a week of having them :(

[Alexandrite]

HMMMMM just another fish update... he's still spitting out the food, but I can't see the two pellets I dropped in earlier. They must have gone somewhere - hopefully into the betta's stomach! I just gave him one more, which he spat out, but if he eats it, that will be his 3 for the day...

Could he just have randomly decided to be picky about his food? With animals, there's usually no such thing as "random" though... Should I do a partial water change, 25% maybe, see if he feels better, or just leave him alone for now?

Can't test his water yet, haven't had the chance to go get a kit :(

[BlueHaven]

Did you make sure the water temperature was the same while doing a water change?

[cjayBetta]

Sometimes betta's get bored with their food... Try picking up some flakes to feed them as well and some Freeze dried blood worms as a treat. Betta's love them but they aren't super healthy for them, nutrition wise.

[turtle10]

Celsius to Fahrenheit= (Celsius temp x 1.8)+32
For example: 24* C=(24 x 1.8)+32=75.2*F
Fahrenheit to Celsuis= (Fahrenheit temp-32) divided by 1.8
For example: 32* F= (32-32) divided by 1.8= 0* C

Do you use liters? I believe one liquid gallon is about 3.6-3.7 liters.

[Pekemom]

I've got a small female betta and the regular sized pellets were too big for her. These are the ones she gets now (just a few) and they are perfectly sized for her mouth!

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2754919