Keeping a Bowl Clean..?

Question

There are a few things I was wondering about water changes and stuff for my beta fish bowl.

First of all, will changing all of the water in a bowl kill my betta fish?

Secondly, I have little rocks at the bottom of my bowl. (I'm just missing a fish, now. :P) How do I keep them clean?

I was planning to pour them out into a sand/flour sifter and washing them with tap water, but that would require dumping all the water in the tank out as well, making partial water changes impossible. Which is why I ask.

Thanks for the help. <3

Answer 1

100% water change are NEEDED if you don't have a filter. I do 100% water changes on mine all the time and they're just fine, right now I have 7 males.

I do exactly how you said you will, with a sifter so all the poop is shaken out. just be sure the new water i treated and the same temp as the old water. I suggest doing this twice a week if you have a bowl 1gallon or under or once a week if it's 2gallons.

I must point out though that bettas are tropical fish and will survive in a bowl at room temp but will only THRIVE in heated water (80°F is good). if the bowl is at least 2 gallons ( I don't really suggest anything smaller, they do NOT live in puddles) you can get a 7.5watt heater if smaller a light would work but I don't like lights because they create temp fluctuations when you turn them off at night, whihc you need to do. the best environment is a 2.5gallon tank with a filter and heater.

Answer 2

Frequent water changes are always necessary if you don't have a filter. Obviously you won't have a filter for a betta bowl, so I would advise investing in a syphon to clean out the gravel every once in a while. And when doing a water change, DO NOT take out all of the water. The sudden temperature and ph balance change could kill your betta.

Answer 3

How about investing into an at least 2.5 gallon tank with filter for your betta with a live plant?
That way you only need to do partial waterchanges of 25% with a gravel siphon weekly ;-)
And your betta is going to be much happier and more active as well

As for a bowl, you have no choice other then to clean it completely



Hope that helps
Good luck

EB

Answer 4

Best thing to do is to get one of those container things that stick to the side of your main (tropical) tank. That way they can't harm other fish, but they are living in a large portion of water with good filtration and (hopefully) water changes.