betta fish questions?

Question

1.) I've read that tap water sometimes isn't good for fish. I have my betta fish in a bowl of tap water but I use betta conditioner drops that I drop in the water to "make it safe". Should I keep it in tap watter or use bottled water?

2.) I go away every other weekend and am not here to feed it. How bad would it be if my betta went from friday morning to a sunday night without getting fed?

3.) I bought the betta in a really small container and the person at the store said it would be fine to keep it in that. I thought that it was to small and wanted to roam around a little bit so I put it in a bigger fish bowl. (it's actually a vase that is shaped perfectly for a fish) but for the holidays I wanted to use the vase and maybe use it permanently, is it true the betta is supposed to be in small areas like the little container I got it in, or would it be better to have it have more space?

Answer 1

Tap water is just fine for fish, as long as you use dechlorinator, which is what those betta conditioner drops are. You *can* use bottled, but there is absolutely no reason not to use tap water.

2 or 3 days of not being fed twice a month is no big deal. Many breeders recommend that you let your betta fast for one day a week anyway, to clear out their system (bettas are susceptible to bloating and impaction if they eat too much)

The petstore was LYING, unfortunately. Bettas are NOT okay in those little cups. Bettas kept in small tanks, jars, cups, even vases, do not live as long and have many health problems.
Bettas come from Thailand, where the water is a nice, warm 80F. Their water is clean, and contrary to popular belief, they don't live in little puddles. They live in large, shallow, warm open ponds and slow flowing streams.
http://www.ibc-smp.org/images/misc/Ko_Samui_1.jpg
http://www.plakatthai.com/bettabreedingscene/bettapool2.jpg
http://www.plakatthai.com/bettabreedingscene/smaragplace8.jpg

In a small container, the betta just doesn't have room move. It is also too cold, which leads to problems like impaction, because they can't metabolize, and the ammonia builds up too fast because there is no filtration, which leads to health problems like finrot, fungus, dropsy, swimbladder, etc.

I suggest you get a 5 or 10 gallon tank with a good bio-wheel filter, a heater set to 78-80F, and some nice plants (get a tank with a fluorescent bulb). You can probably get all this stuff used - try your local classifieds, craigslist, or your local aquarists' society.

Read up on the nitrogen cycle. Here is the gist of it:
First of all, have you cycled your tank? In the wild, and in established tanks, there are nitrifying bacteria that break down toxic ammonia from fish waste and excess food into less toxic nitrates. In a brand new tank, these bacteria don't exist, so any fish in the tank will produce ammonia, which, not being broken down by bacteria, will kill or weaken the fish. So, it is vital to cycle your tank.
There are a few methods. Do you have access to an established tank? These bacteria live in the gravel and in the filter cartridge, so if you can get some from another tank, you can put the bacteria right into your tank (don't let the gravel or filter cartridge dry out). If you do this, in a day or two, your tank will beready for fish.
Another way is to get Bio-Spira. It is the actual live bacteria in a little pouch, and your tank will instantly be ready for fish.http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html

Other methods, which include putting a source of ammonia in the tank and letting the bacteria build up on its own, or putting a fish in and letting the fish produce ammonia (which borders on animal cruelty, because the fish will suffer from the ammonia in the tank), take 2 to 6 weeks before your tank is ready. If you rush that, any fish you buy may die, so try one of the instant methods I mentioned above (bio-spira or gravel from another tank).

Once cycling is complete, weekly 20% water changes are recommended.

Anyway, good luck with your new fishy :) In a real tank, I promise you he will be happier, he'll be more colourful, and he'll live longer.

Answer 2

The person you bought the fish from is wrong. Bettas need bigger spaces. NO less then 5 gallons of water with a filter and a heater. Bettas are tropical fish so they need the temp to be stable at 78-80 degrees. They are sensitive to poor water quality so a filter is a must and weekly 25 percent partial waterchanges where the gravel is vacumed is a must also. An aquarium is a closed system and even tho the water looks clear, there are dissolved organics that are invisible to the eye that need to be removed on a constant basis. In that vase or bowl, the water needs to be cleaned DAILY and that in itself is stressful for the betta and if you dont clean it that often the fish will get fin rot or columnaris, or popeye, or dropsy, or ich ect..
Tap water is fine aslong as a water conditioner is used to remove the chlorine and chloramines and neutralize heavy metals.
If a water softener is used then you need to bypass that or if you cant bypass it then use bottled spring water. Never use distilled.
A week without eating is perfectly fine. Do not use those weekend feeder things they foul the water.

Answer 3

A betta will prosper in a 10 gallon tank. when you consider that bettas are not education fish, they could be able to't sense lonely. purely keep the adult males faraway from any anabantoids. In a 10 gallon tank with a betta, you are able to't somewhat extra healthful a lot extra into there. purely keep the betta on my own for now. when you're to operate fish, be certain they're no longer colourful, which mimics a rival betta. Bettas make large community fish in a spacious aquarium.

Answer 4

1. I agree that tap water should be fine, but let the water sit for a day or two so the chlorine can evaporate and continue to use the drops you have.

2. Yes, betas do well when they go a FEW days without being fed. If you'll be away for a week, make sure you ask someone to feed him for you.

3. I had a beautiful beta in a large vase for three years. He was fine, but I felt bad that he didn't have any plants or rocks in there with him. Just recently my friend found an abandonded aquarium. There were two fish in it ... a beta and a neon. The aquarium wasn't worth saving, so she bought a 5-gallon aquarium and added rocks at the bottom, some sea shells, a castle, and some fake plants. THEY LOVE IT! They come to the surface when she goes to the aquarium to feed them. I'm so sorry I didn't do this with my beta, but my boss kept telling me, "They live in water where water buffalo have made footprints in the mud. They don't need anything." He was wrong and now I feel REEEEALY bad!

Answer 5

1.) Tap water should be OK as long as it is properly conditioned. Some pet stores will try to tell you that if your water is too hard (mineral concentration) it's bad for fish, but I have read that this is bunk.

2.) This species of fish should generally make it a couple days without food - at least, in my experience.

3.) Seems like this species tends to dirty up smaller bowls faster, so I went to a larger (maybe 1.5 gallon?) bowl. Needs weekly cleaning, but the fish has more room to swim around.

Answer 6

Answers:
1) Tap water is not good at all for your fish..Tap water has chlorine in it, which is deadly for fish. You could use distilled water, or you could just use your betta drops, just go out and buy some chlorine remover from your pet store next time you are out.

2) Betta's are able to live for weeks without food, although I would highly not recomend this, you fish will be fine for the 3 or so days you will be gone, just make sure you feed him enough the rest of the days you are home.

3) Betta's are able to survive in small containers, it is thought they actually lived in mud puddles where they came from, when the river over-flowed. BUT, and this is a rather large but...Although betta's CAN survive in small containers, I NOT recomend it, mainly because I have found betta's live way better and happier in larger tanks. You can mix these fish, just don't mix them with the same species or fish with long flowing fins. More space for the fish would be alot better.

hope that helped.