How often should I cleand my beta's aquarium? I just bought him Friday.?

Answer 1

Hello! My name is Betta Splendens...



My ancestors came from the shallow stagnant waters of Thailand's rice paddies. Us Bettas may look like ordinary fishes, but we are actually very special: unlike all the other common fish, we can breathe air from above the water’s surface. Of course, we need water to live, but we don’t need any aeration, airpump, or filtration. So we are extra easy to care for and do well in small bowls, providing they are kept very clean. We can also be happy in a fish tank, with other gentle community fishes, as long as they don’t nip our beautiful fins (that hurts!). However, never ever put two of us male bettas together as we will fight to death and tear each other’s fins to shreds within seconds. We are very competitive with each other. We also are very aggressive towards our females, but gentle with other fish species (go figure). Our female bettas usually get along well with each other and can be kept together and/or with other gentle fishes without problem.

I can get as old as two years, which, in fish years, is pretty impressive! So how do you care for me?

OK, I am very easy to care for, but still have my needs, likes and dislikes (watta you expect?):



DO feed me once a day, only what I can eat within 5 MN. I don’t usually like flake food, but any betta food will do. I LOVE live freezed dried brine shrimp or blood worms, ‘betta bits’ or other fish store betta food. I don’t like freeze dried worm cubes, though. (blah!). Don’t let uneaten food rot in my jar. It will make me sick. Also if you do feed me live food, make sure to rinse it well and only give it to me if it is alive and clean. Semi dead live worms which have been marinating in brown putrid deadly bacteria sworming water is not my idea of a gourmet meal. Yeuk!!! It will make me sick and possibly kill me.

DO clean my bowl once a week if it has no filtration. Keep around a 2 1/2 gallon plastic water jug to pretreat water for my weekly cleaning: fill it with tapwater, add 10 drops of ‘Amquel’ (to remove chlorine, which kills me) and 10 drops of Novaqua, one teaspoon of aquarium salt (not table salt!!). Make sure water is the same temperature as my jar’s water. Use cold tapwater only, then let it sit until it reaches room temperature. Your finger is a great tool to try to match temperatures :) I would also really appreciate it if you would get a PH kit to test the PH of your local tapwater. It may be necessary to slightly adjust the PH which often times is very high. A PH of 7.0 (neutral) is best. But I do fine in anything from 6.5 to 7.5. If your tap water has a very high PH, do not add more than 2 drops of PH down per gallon. Even if that means my PH s still high. Better a high PH than burning my fins/skin with the acid contained in PH down! Or you can mix distilled water and tapwater, but do not use only distilled water. When time comes for my cleaning , simply gently dump me in a soft fish net, rinse my bowl well, fill jar with new clean water and gently dump me back in there. Boy, I just love clean water!! I feel like blowing me a little bubble nest now…

DO keep the top of my bowl covered, because I am a good jumper and will jump out to my death :(. A lid with some holes for air, or a piece of computer transparency sheet works well.

DO plant a live plant in my bowl, it is healthy for me. I like to rest on the leaves like a butterfly... You can buy ‘Betta Bulbs” at Petco, they are inexpensive, grow well and last long. Just don’t let the plant take all my space, though. If necessary you can trim it down if it gets too big. If leaves rot remove them, as they will pollute my water. If you put a plant in there you will need some gravel. Warning though!! Gravel accumulates lots of debris and unless you rinse it well every time you clean my jar, it could get me sick.

DON’T place my bowl in direct sunlight (it freaks me out), or near a cold vent or draft or in a cold room. I prefer warmer, even temperatures. I need to be in a room of at 65F but prefer it around 75 to 80F.

DO make any water condition changes VERY GRADUALLY. If you decide to put me in bottled water for example, you should gradually mix my tap water with the bottled water over the course of a week or so. So I get a chance to get used to it. I know all waters look the same, but not all waters are the same. For example, would you drink water from your toilet bowl? No, I didn’t think so. Get my point?

DO rinse very thoroughly my jar if you wash it with soap. Never let soap (or any chemicals) drip or come into contact with in my water or I will die.



Us males sometimes blow a whole bunch of bubbles on the surface of our bowl. It is called a bubble nest. This is a good sign because it shows we are healthy, so don’t worry if the water looks like it foamed!! My colors are brighter during the day and I can look pale when I am sleeping but that is normal. If you place a mirror near me, I will huff and puff and flare and dance around thinking I am seeing another rival male. I look very impressive when I do that... But it also wears me out so don’t forget to later remove the mirror.

If you keep me in a community aquarium with other fish, and they pick on me, it may make me sick. I may stop eating or stay in a corner at the surface and not move. If that is the case, or if my fins look torn (from other fishes nipping them), I should be removed and kept in a jar of my own.

If my water is kept clean, I shouldn’t get sick. But in case I do get sick, you will have to isolate me, and play doctor. Fortunately, you can find right here on this marvelous web site (hum… I am plugging my Mom’s site BETTATALK www.bettatalk.com, we bettas are shameless hehehe) yes, as I was saying, you can find all the info you need about all betta diseases right there. Please read it, print it, frame it, memorize it, do whatever you have to do, but make sure you know what you are doing when I get sick because I don’t want to die! I am too young!

Thank you for taking great care of me and giving me a good home, I promise I will entertain you and show off for you and even come nibble on your finger…

I will be your little finned buddy until the end.

Answer 2

Well, bettas are really the easiest fishes to take care of. They have very minimal needs. I have a betta in a vase with no filter or heater and do water changes once every two weeks (because the bettas poo builds up at the bottom). If you really need to clean your betta's aquarium, just do a 10-25% (depending on the size of your tank and how much you feed your betta) water change once a week (or two weeks) to take out fish waste.

Answer 3

This depends on how big your tank is and if you have a filter. If you don't have a filter then you should change the water daily, replacing it with fresh water from the tap that is the same temperature and treated with a dechlorinator product.

Simply empty out most of the water leaving enough for to keep the betta covered, and then replace it with the new water.

If the tank is filtered then you should do 10% water changes weekly.

Answer 4

it kind of depends on his tank size, filtration and what you are feeding him. i feed hikari pellets -- like 6 a day unless he is really big and then go with a couple more to minimize waste. other food often mucks up the water faster especially if its not eaten. they have a habit of blowing bits out their gills which you might not notice until the food they are blowing out breeds bacteria that smells like death. if he doesn't eat something suck it out with a turkey baster. you can do the same with noticable poop. it will keep the water cleaner longer. in something under a quart i would say every 2-3 days mine are in 2 1/2 gallon unfiltered and i change at least once a week. they can probably go longer but i think clean water smells better and i have too many to have them smell bad.

in short you can't clean too often. i keep a bucket of water around just incase -- that way it is already at room temperature and ready to go.

Answer 5

How big is the tank? Don't get any sucker fish, that's stupid advice. Sucker fish like plecos need 55 gallons or more. I'd change the water 100% weekly in an uncycled, unfiltered tank.

Answer 6

I would say about once a week..just be sure to condition the water first and make sure it's the same temperature...only do partial water changes.

Answer 7

well i suggest getting a sucker fish sometimes Betta's don't fight them