New Betta

[Emlyn]

Hi there, first post here but I've been reading for a few months.
After seeing my mates Betta I was quite keen to get one, however, having moved away for a while I figured I'd just have to leave it.
Recently was in a LFS in Edinburgh (Aquatic Rooms) seemed pretty awesome and had alot of Bettas for sale, all of them looking pretty nice also. They sold glass bowl setups and said they're pretty decent to keep them in, guess they would say that though... Anyway, due to my hideous impulse buy disability I went out and bought one, reading on the bettatalk website and the sticky topics here, made me sure it'd be fine.

I'm guessing the bowl is around 2 gallons maybe just under, and since it doesn't have a filter I've just been changing about 20% water every 2 days. I understand it is good to do 100% water changes every so often though. How often is it recommended that I do 100% changes though? I've seen information saying weekly, but it seems a bit extreme, maybe not?

Temperatures are a concern aswell, they're at 25 to 26 but in a "window left open" incident yesterday it went down to 22 which is not good.
Don't intend keeping this bowl setup, just need to get another job to get some more cash in for another tank, at the moment it seems alright as long as it's maintained.

As for the betta, he's sort of a bluey green colour with red on the bottom half of his fins. I'll try and get some pictures up soon of him and his bubblenest attempt. Could be an effort with only phone cam though...

Any other tips, for keeping the bowl in acceptable conditions?

Cheers

 

[bubblesburst80]

congratulations on your new betta, he may have been an impulse buy but atleast you are doing what you can to take care of him right, i look forward to seeing pictures

xXx

 

[xweeqtx]

I might have to take a trip and see Aquatic Rooms - where abouts in Edinburgh is it?

The Riverside Aquarium in Stirling is really good - they do the betta glass things as well; is it like a vase type thing you got? Personally, I wouldn't use them. But if its temporary it shouldn't be a problem, my own betta was in a coldwater tank for a short time til I got a bigger tank to transfer my other fish into I kept doing a daily water change and adding lukewarm water. I also kept him in the kitchen for the heat from tumble dryer, cooker etc.

Can't wait to see pics!

 

[Emlyn]

Pic I took earlier, as expected phone cam was rubbish... I'm sure there's a better camera in this house though. He's called Mr. Bubbles...
Aquatic Rooms is on Leith Walk just off Princes Street, about half way down on right side of road. It's really good, has a couple floors and alot of tanks, marine stuff, turtles, crabs, lobsters, mudskippers and a great variety of tropicals, a good few goldfish aswell.
If you're near Edinburgh it's definately worth a look.

 

[garethusa]

oh i love that name, Mr. Bubbles! that's a very happy name.

i highly recommend the baby biOrb, a 4 gallon tank, for Mr. Bubbles. That is, if you only intend to keep him in there.

i have had mine for a little over a month now and the water is crystal clear, i've got the ammonia down to either zero or .25, can't really distinguish from the color scheme guide on the indicator card (but it's an improvement from the consistent 1 level it was about 2 weeks ago and then .5 reading i got about a week ago). my boy, Peaceful, is thriving in his tank and i do about 30% water changes now every 2 weeks.

 

[Lynda B]

I'm guessing the bowl is around 2 gallons maybe just under, and since it doesn't have a filter I've just been changing about 20% water every 2 days. I understand it is good to do 100% water changes every so often though. How often is it recommended that I do 100% changes though? I've seen information saying weekly, but it seems a bit extreme, maybe not?

Since you have an unfiltered bowl, you should do 100% water changes weekly. Ammonia is toxic to fish and, if you don't remove it manually, your betta will slowly be poisoned. It's not extreme at all to do 100%. My personal rule of thumb is any tank 10 gallons or below gets 100% water changes weekly, anything 10 gallons and above, gets 50%. And these are all filtered tanks.

 

[degz30]

Emlyn how far would the shop be from waverley station? thanks

 

[emerging]

He's a very handsome fella! Funny, I named my betta Bubbles, and sometimes I call him Mr. Bubbles! Great name!

 

[Emlyn]

The shop would be about 20 minutes walk from Waverly Station, just on the right side of Leith Walk.

Point taken about water changes Lynda Going for 100% change today, needed to fix the plants positioning aswell so I'll get that done too.