Is my Betta Ok?

[Payton Broussard]

I bought my Betta about 2 months ago and she's been in a living in a tank in my dorm room. I don't have a heater but ive been putter her near a lamp and checking the temperature to make sure she's warm. She eats fine and swims normally except when she sees me she swims very fast towards me and bumps her tank. The only thing is she has been changing color. It seems like she's been getting black spots on her but it is not in a horizontal line like stress stripes. She was tiny when I got her so I'm assuming she was pretty young. Do you think she's just going through puberty?

 

[Sylvan]

How big is the tank? Do you have a filter for it? How often do you do water changes? Do you know what your water parameters, e.g ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, are?

 

[Payton Broussard]

It's a gallon tank with a moss ball in it. I do partial water changes every week but I'm not sure of the water perameters. I am going to try to go to PetSmart this week and get something to check it.

 

[Essjay]

I'm afraid the tank and lack of filter and heater is the problem.

1 gallon is too small, bettas need at least 2.5 gallons though I would not keep one in less than 5 gallons. If there is no filter, water changes should be done daily, especially in a small volume of water. The temperature should remain constant at 76 to 82 deg F.

If you could manage to get another tank, even 2.5 gallons would be better, together with a filter and heater your betta would be much happier.


When you buy a tester, you need to be aware that strips do not test for ammonia, which you need to know. You'd need to get an extra tester for that. Or buy liquid testers for ammonia and nitrite as these are the two most important.

https://www.fishforums.net/threads/betta-splendens-caresheet.423362/