Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

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bolivian_d

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Hello,

I purchased a betta this morning and broke some cardinal rules of fishkeeping. I'm hoping that this won't be too great a problem, and if it is, that I can somehow rectify it.

I purchased a Marina Betta Bowl, it holds 1/2 US gal or 1.84L, which I realise is smaller than the ideal home. I rationalised that it would be ok considering I live in Australia (warm climate) and that I'd be doing daily water changes (no need for a heater or filter). I have a mature 20G tank set up in my room, the water quality is great because I carry out small water changes every second day. My LFS suggested that I use tank water for my betta bowl, doing this may have been my first mistake. However, nitrates are never over 20ppm and that way I can do a water change for my betta everytime I do a water change in my main tank. This would ensure a relatively consistent temperature without trying to work out a microscopic amount of dechlorinator to use.

The second mistake that I made was that after I floated the bag for 20minutes I totally forgot to add a little tank water to the bag before adding the fish. The betta no doubt suffered a a PH shock (PH for my tank is 7.5). I panicked and quickly added the water that it came with to try and neautralise the effects, which in hindsight was stupid. The fish is now incredibly active, in stark contrast with how still it was in the shop (where it was in a far smaller container). It's pectorial fins are moving very quickly. Is this normal? If it isn't, is there anything I can do to lessen the shock, or do I just hope for the best?

Thanks
 
The pectoral fins are usually moving on bettas, this is a sign of health and vitality, they clamp when the betta is bored or upset (or sometimes when he's just resting).

The reason bettas need space is not due to water quality. If water quality was the only factor, people would just keep them in cups and treat the water with ammo-lock and there would be no problems. Please move him - he needs at LEAST a gallon of water to feel comfortable. He simply doesn't have enough swimming space in anything smaller.

The use of tank water in the bowl is fine. If the betta is okay now and is not gasping or floating motionlessly, he has recovered from the pH shock and should be okay. To get him fully used to your pH you should do a few more water changes on his bowl today.

I'm in Australia as well and none of my bettas have heaters or filters either - they are housed in jars which I bought from Overflow for $14 and which are over 1.5 gallons (over 6 litres). So if you want to upgrade his quarters (I strongly recommend that you do, he honestly won't be comfortable in that little bowl long term) it doesn't have to be expensive. If you really wanted to blow out, Big W sells some tanks that are ideal: Junior Aqua Box is good, Sapphire Aquarium is better (though the filter needs blocking up) and the Panorama is great. They are all filtered and lit. But they are not necessary. You can keep a betta in a jar quite comfortably - I just think it needs to be a little bigger than what you've got.
 
Thanks for your reply Laura, it's reassuring that I haven't yet killed him.

I will get a bigger "tank/bowl" for him within the next couple of days. The Vitapet Panoramic Aquarium looks perfect, far more cost effective/sizeable than the tanks my LFS were offering. It looks as if it will still be ok to put on my desk too.

Will the betta be ok in the bowl for another 2 days? That'll be the first opportunity I get. I could put him in a 9L bucket in the mean time otherwise.

Thank you
 
your betta is just in shock. As a temporary measure he will be less stressed if you dont move him to different homes. Crystal cean water with a smidge of aqua salt should help him...
 
At least you've admitted your mistakes :good:

I personally blame the lfs :angry: and all the other lfs's that will sell these pathetic little bowls along with a betta. Heck, my wine glass is bigger than most of them :nod:

I'd give him a chance to settle before moving again, but bear in mind that the ammonia will build up fast. Our juveniles in their gallon jars start to show ammonia after 12-16 hours.
 
I've kept bettas in one gallon with ammo-lock but it's not ideal, they dont' like it much. I've got at least 1.5-2 per betta now. The panorama is pretty good, I have three of them. You've got to bung up the filter a bit though, a bit of filter floss jammed in the intake works very well, you don't need too much. Remember that it weighs about 25kg once decorated and full, but I've never had problems keeping them on chipboard desks.
 
I picked up the panorama, looks far more aesthetic anyway! definitely worth the price.

I made a new thread regarding filtration. At the moment I'm not using (just due to the lack of an outlet in my room).
 
I have yet another question. I'm reading the instructions that came with the Panoramic tank and it says to achieve maximum efficiency, the filter media should be replaced every month. Surely this strictly refers to the sponge and carbon. If I were replacing the bio-rings and balls every month I'd never finish my cycle. Yeah? It isn't clear.

Thanks
 
Standard-issue rubbish advice. Note also that in the included booklet 'beginner's guide to goldfish' there is no mention of the fact that goldfish are large, messy and require vastly more space than their tiny little tanks provide, OR of cycling. I'm seriously considering putting flyers on cycling in all the boxes at the local Big W, official-looking enough that people don't realise they aren't meant to be there.

You should change the carbon monthly if you choose to use it (but it's not really necessary). The sponge should be replaced whenever it starts to look very dirty, but it can often be cleaned by rinsing it in tank water (squeeze it out thoroughly). When there is brown gunk coming out of it when you rinse it, it's time to chuck it and get a new one. I use the teddy bear stuffing you can buy from Crazy's for four bucks. I bought 500g of it - about enough for a big pillow - and I haven't run out after more than a year and that's with ten filtered aquariums.

I replaced the bio-balls with bio-rings on all my panoramas before I even started a cycle. Bio-balls just clog up space tbh, the bio rings are way better for proper biological filtration. You never need to replace bio rings. They should seriously last decades.

The filtration on the panorama is excellent, I vote that you would have no difficulty at some point in the future adding four or five otos or dwarf corydoras to that tank. It's around 10x/hour which is exceptional filtration. If you stopper it up for the betta you should still be okay. Just note that you can't put plants directly underneath the outlet. They die. The current is too much for most plants.
 
thanks laura.

I ended up doing the whole shebang and set up the filter, light and heater in the tank. It'll let me sleep at night.
 
LOL - it is SUCH a nice change having people start out and being genuinely concerned for the fish's welfare from the outset instead of 'well who really cares... they're just fish... i guess i'll get around to it.'

How is it all running, is he okay with the current?
 

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