GEtting a fish for a friend?

Question

Last year for my friends birthday I bought her a small(2.5 gallon) tank with a lit cover, filter, and heater ith a few guppys(we decided she wanted this ahead of time and she was willing ot take the resposibility) unfoutunetly, neither of us knew at that time that you have to cycle the tank, the guppys died. I was thinking as a late christmas gift I would help her set up her tank again today and have her cycle it and in a few weeks buy her a betta

The only problem is, she is not the good at keeping hte tank clean, but I am willing ot help her casue I spend the night at her house usually at least once a week. On the rare occasion that I dont, would the betta be okay without its tank being cleaned for 2 weeks? Or do you have any other recommendations(like some kind of shrimp?)

sorry if this is a repos t but it been like 20 mins and my other question wasnt showing up in the fish secion

Answer 1

i dont kno how long they can go without being cleaned

Answer 2

how thoughtful!

i have a few bettas and about 50 betta babies :]]]
the 2.5 gallon tank with filter and heater sounds like a perfect home for a betta!! they don't really need a big tank, my bettas just live in a bowl :]]]. guppies are very fragile and very sensitive to ammonia.

it is ok to not clean the betta tank for two weeks, especially if you have a filter. sometimes i don't clean my betta tank for two weeks and we dont even have a filter. hehe. but it gets kind of disgusting and the algae forms on the wall. i think yours should be fine since you have a filter.

also, bettas dont need a cycled tank. with bettas, it is a bit waste of time if you do the cycle. i do a FULL water change every week, and everytime we do a full water change, the cycle is over and we need to start a new one. so you can buy your friend a betta anytime she wants it :]]]

bettas sound like a wonderful choice for your kind of aquarium! i am sure he would be very happy in it. just a warning, two male bettas can NEVER be put together in the same tank. it would not be a good idea to put a male and a female together, either. if you want to get more than one fish in the tank, then i would suggest getting females only. they might flare a bit in the beginning, but soon they will become good friends.

Just you change your mind about bettas, i have some other recommendations. Platies will do pretty well in your tank, especially dwarf ones. since bettas are medium sized, (2-3 inches) dwarf platies are perry small (1-1.5 inches) and it would make a totally different tank theme from a betta tank. platies can live through cycle, but i recommend having it cycled before getting them. if you have a betta in your tank, it will have a few (if female only) big fish and one or two plants, and possibly an ornimant. if you have a dwarf platy tank, it will have lots of small fish and have lots of plants. Surely, betta is easier to care for. but my faovrites are swordtail and second is platies so i like recommending them :]]]]

please email me if you have any questions.

sadie

Answer 3

I answered your other post also. ;-)

Yes the tank can go without cleaning for 2 weeks provided that it has a filter.

You don't mention if it does or not, but if doesn't you should consider adding a bio-wheel mini and a 10w heater to the tank.

You can certainly cycle the tank with a betta.

When you clean the tank simply change 10-20% of the water in the tank and wipe down the glass. Don't change all of the water, and don't scrub down the tank. Use no cleaners of any sort in the tank either (windex, etc.) Just plain water and elbow grease if needed.

Answer 4

The Betta should be just fine in the 2.5 G, as long as its the only fish.A two week cleaning interval should be fine,once in a while,but weekly is better. Don't over feed! One light feeding a day is plenty. If you do partial water changes every week the fish would probably be O.K. while the tank cycles. Good luck! PeeTee

Answer 5

yes it should be okay. but she should have a filter in the tank to provide continuos clean water, so you wont have to clean out the tank that often, maybe only once every 3 months. providing she doesn't leave the light on for ages, feed the fish too much, or doesnt give new water. to save you time you should just put new water in the tank {about 1/3 of the tank.}

Answer 6

I have found that bettas are very tough little fish. Mine jumped out of his tank and dried out completely, and I threw him back in and he started swimming in a few minutes. They come from living in rice paddies in the wild (mud puddles pretty much) so they really only need enough water to cover them. I have found that if you give them too big a tank they tend to freak out. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend all that, but my point is that your 2.5 gallon tank is probably perferst for this fish and cleaning it once a month is prabably better cuz it will stress the fish less. I put mine in a glass of water when I clean it. good luck.