What do I do with my betta fish?

Question

okay. technically it's my sisters fish, but I mostly take care of it. I heard somewhere that betta can't see their reflection or they'll get scared. is that true? also, the water in my bowl goes down pretty quickly. should i fill it more often? and i feed the betta pellets, two every other day. is that right? i hate when animals die, and i want this fish to live as long as possible. what do I do

oh and there are plants in the bowl. only two, because the person who sold it to us said they liked plants. thanks!!!

The fish's bowl is a normal size fish bowl. it's not really little or anything. and the plants in the bowl are fake. his name is Rupie, btw. We're fans of Zelda, so we decided to name him rupie. lol. that was random XD

Answer 1

Your betta sounds like it is doing fine, except for one thing. You need to heat your betta's water. Bettas are from Thailand and need water at a steady temperature in the high 70s. Although you may say that your tank is in a room that is always in the high 70s, it is more important that your betta's water temperature be CONSTANT. Temperature fluctuations are by far much worse than an unsuitable temperature for a fish's system, and are enough to kill a fish, or at least give him some pretty fatal diseases. I'm not sure how you would get a heater into a bowl though, so maybe you can consider upgrading him to a tank? Anything above 1 gallon is fine.

Bettas do like plants, and it's always good to have some leafy ones in there for your betta to rest on. Your water changing and feeding schedules sound fine; yes, you can top up the water daily with dechlorinated water. The amount of evaporation going on in your bowl suggests you don't have a lid for it - you need to get one, as bettas are terrific jumpers. However, make sure the lid is perforated to allow airflow - bettas breathe from the surface and if their tanks are completely covered, they can suffocate (just as you would if you were placed in an airtight room.)

Oh, and they don't get scared by their own reflections. They just get aggressive because they think it's another male betta invading their territory. You'll notice his fins spread out and become brighter when he sees his own reflection. His gills will also turn outwards. He's trying to make himself look bigger and more intimidating to chase his rival away. This is known as flaring. It's fine, even advisable, to flare your betta once a day for about ten to fifteen minutes to give them sufficient exercise.

Congratulations for wanting to take such great care of your betta. Good luck.

Answer 2

calm down. How big is your tank. If it is a small fighting fish (betta splenden) bowl (a betta bowl is a cruel place to keep a fish as it has not much room to swim) you should have fake plants because real plants will take the oxygen out of the water (unless you have a lager bowl with a small aerator).

If it is a male betta tis reflection will not scare it, it will make it think there is another male and it will start to become agressive against the reflection (do not put a mirror against the tank as this will create a reflection and will stress the fish. So move it away from mirrors).

Feed your (or your sisters) betta pellets like you are but give it a weekly treat of bloodworms (frozen or live), brine shrimp (which is a betta favourite) or even mosqitoe larvae. Feed it about twice a day in small meals to avoid bloating (remember, a betta's stomach is about the size of its eyes, sometime the qoute eyes bigger than your belly is true for bettas.

change the water regulary (use water ager) DO NOT use distelled water as this will deminish your fish's health greatly or in the worst case kill your fish.


Don't use a betta bowl as i think it is animal cruelty (if other fish get big tanks why shouldn't betta splendens).


P.S. Use a heated tank with a filter and aerator to give your betta a happy and health life.

Answer 3

Your betta will be fine for now, but to give him the best life, upgrade your bowl for a heated and filtered tank, at least 3-5 gallon, where you can even get him some tank buddies, like plecs which can help with the cleaning.

Betta ares terrotorial. they will fight with other males, so when they see there reflection,(they think its another male) they flare up, preparing to fight with the other male.

But for now make sure you do between a 25% - 50% water change once a week atleast, also make sure you clean all the glass, you can buy magnetic glass cleaners which are really good.

The water level in the bowl is due to evapouration, so you may want to think above not having your tank next to direct sunlight. This is bad for your betta aswell, he needs plenty of shade. Also your bowl by the window is likely to have a serious build up of algae and as your tank is un filtered, i would suggest moving it.

Feed your betta daily, but dont feed him too much. Your betta doesnt have to have really plants, obviously having real plannts are sometimes better for the fish as they take away all the toxins but its not essential that they have plants in thier tank.

Hope this helps.

Ax

Answer 4

what everyone else said is right. Although I got some things called bowl buddies, they are for the water for a beta, you just drop one in the water when you do a total cleaning and it is ok to put the fish right in the water after the tablet disolves completely. Just wanted to give you one major warning, if it is the live plants that just havet the roots in the water. DO NOT take dead leaves off of the plant, I know it is hard to resist, but if you take the leaves off a the roots put a toxin into the water that is deadly to the fish. This is not something that I made up! We had heard this before but didn't think it really happened, my mom couldn't resist the dead leaves and low and behold the next day the before very healthy fish was dead. Beta's are like the easiest fish to take care of so it should be easy for ya if you keep doin what your doin, and yeah do add water more often if it is getting low fast!

Answer 5

Do a 25% waterchange once a week with a gravelsiphon, that should also solve the problem you having with low water
I would also feed him daily
That with the mirror is not true, they don't get scared, I have already heard that people even put a mirror next to there betta bowl


I hope though that you're thinking about getting him an at least 3 gallon filtered and heated tank, because it sounds like your bowl is pretty small
They are much happier in a bigger environment


Hope that helps


EB

Answer 6

They don't get scared when they see their reflection, it's b/c they're fighting fish so they start to get all defensive. It's pretty cool to watch. Me and my sister will put our betta bowls next to eachother and watch them flare up and stuff. I know i'm horribly mean lol. But the reson the water goes down is because it's like evaporating or something like that. My Dad cleans the fish bowls (I'm too lazy lol) like every 2 weeks or so, it just depends. But yeah they do like plants and stuff.

My mom says that you're supposed to feed the betta like every day, 3x a day, but im a horrible owner and i feed my fish like 5 pellets whenever i remember which is usually every other day. My sister's fish gets like 2 or 3 3x a day though. But it's wierd b/c my fish is a lot bigger and fatter than hers lol.

Do you know how to clean the bowls properly? B/c i didn't so me and my aunt killed my favorite fish! It was so sad i cried lol. But yeah you put them in a baggie with their old water, clean everything and make sure you move the gravel/rocks around to get everything clean, then fill it back up and put either distilled water or you can just buy this betta water drops. (Put those in their fresh tap water to make it safe) and then let the baggie sit in there and then the water tempature of the baggie will gradually change to that of the bowl. If you don't let them sit there for like 20 mins and just stick them back in, they WILL die. Just a little warning =]

That's like everythign I know!!! Lol. Good luck!

Answer 7

Change the whole bowl atleast once a week.I feed my two bettas 5-7 pellets twice a day with one day where they get 2 pellets twice a day. I would feed the betta 5 pellets every other day.My bettas bug me if they don't get fed everyday though

Answer 8

it sounds like your doing very well!. how often are you chainging the water? and do you let the refill water sit for 24 hours if from the tap?. its not that much of a danger but tapwater has clorean in it. set it in a bowl or cup for a day and the clorean will filter out

Answer 9

chill out. your beta's sound find. make sure you're refilling the water with distilled water and if there are rocks at the bottom, take them out periodically and rinse them (with distilled water). if you don't, waste will accumulate in the water and kill your fish. i feed mine every day.

its true that if the beta sees it's reflection it will get defensive and spread its fins. its not bad for it...just a reflex. it thinks its another fish and because they are fighting fish it immediately prepares for battle. just m ake sure you never put two betas in the same tank....they will fight til the death. seriously.