new betta owner, new to site :] very excited!

[reeree528]

Hello all ! :] ive been reading up on this forum for about a week now. went and bought my very first betta. :] he is beautiful...and i feel that i am addicted lol....im not sure to tell the v-tail or differences between them..(not that educated yet lol) ...i have him in a 1 gal tank as of right now (will have a 2 gallon hopefully next week)..he's beautiful and im in love lol...i have read and learned about several different things on this site including..leaf hammocks (so i bought one) and live plants...so i bought one of those too lol...i also read that my live plant could be causing his water to be foggy/murky...does this mean i need to rid the tank of the plant?..i sure hope not..he seems to be very fond of it...swimming and resting in it..please help. need betta care/tank changing tips (where to put him..how much water to change..to leave in...etc.).. and also..he doesnt seem to like the flakes that i have been giving him..so i switched to pellets..and he loooves them. but the flakes said they help with his color...omg im so confused lol...i want to have a healthy happy fish...oh and also..since he is in the 1 gal tank right now..ive heard all sorts of different tank changing things..25% 50% ...every day...every other day...every week...ahhh i feel like my head is spinning with all these facts lol...someone please help. :] . i look forward to hearing/chatting with all of you at one point or another..thank you so much :]

[lvandert]

Ahh I can't believe I'm the first one lol, unless I take forever and someone beats me Welcome to the site. If he's the pic oin your avatar he's a veiltail :) I'm pretty sure the live plants are alright, mine are a bit cloudy at the moment but it's not effecting the fish any. When it comes to flakes vs pellets its all your fishies taste in food. My Walter wont eat blood worms :P

[Olympia]

People do say water changes daily or every other day for one gallon.. However this is pretty stressful on your fish. He should be good with a 100% change and a 50% change every week :)

[tpocicat]

Welcome to the forum.
Water changes twice a week should be enough as long as you do it consistantly. 100%, then 50% the next time. A larger tank of course will make it easier because the water parameters won't change as fast.

[reeree528]

thank you all so much :] . im so very excited :]. yes that it him in the picture..his name is Poseidon :] & im already in love :] . this might sound a little stupid but..can someone please explain a 50% water change...do i take him out...(obviously in a bowl of the old water) lol..save half the water...add more water and then another water conditioning tablet? m sorry...still just very new..and a little paranoid that im going to kill him :/ . i plan on doing it tomorrow..and i just want to make sure i do it right..:D & thanks for all the warm welcomes as well :D

[lvandert]

If you have a heated tank, forgive me but I read a bunch of threads every day and forgot who's got what. I would take some water out and float aged new water in cups on the surface until the temp is acclimated and then just pour the water in. If your working with room temp water (like me) make up a gallon of water with chemicals and let it sit for a day to get room temp. Then siphon out about half of the water in his tank and slowly pour the new stuff it. Tada 50% water change :) Thats how I do it at least.

[reeree528]

lol its okay...thank you so much!!. i do not have a heated tank . plan on getting one with this new 2 gal tank im getting... but all the pet stores around here only seem to have heaters for 5 gallon tanks . lame. so hopefully maybe i can find a smaller one?......but everyone at all the pet stores also say they keep their betta's in those horrible cups at room temp and that they have "never" lost one.....but everything i read on here says heater heater heater ! lol so im so confused. i just want the best for him :]

[lvandert]

I'd get a in tank thermometer and check to see what the temp is. They like high 70's and low 80's a lot but as a kid (this is bad I know!!) I kept them at room temp around low 70's and high 60's on cold nights. Surprisingly I had two boys like that for two years.. so its more what every works for your fish. I have one of those "bowl heaters" that raise the temp of the tank 5-10 degrees above the room temp. Originally I bought it to use in my spawn tank but I found an old heater in my mom's attic that'll work better. But on the other side my house is kept warm enough not to need a heater due to my cockatiel.

[reeree528]

so wait, they have bowl heaters? i have a plastic led lighted bowl as of right now..never heard of this bowl heater though?

[lvandert]

Yeah it was at Petco but I can't find it on their site. here it is on amazon. It might work better with your 2.5 gal

http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-Heater-B...1782872&sr=8-3