Betta Fish Care

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Thanks for your reply Magpie. Your reply is very helpful and no offensive comments.. no worries.

I live in an apartment and it is very warm during the winter. The tank water temp was at 82F yesterday without using a heater.

What type of filter can I get for my 1.8G tank? It is only 6" height. I know betta fish don't like current. Not sure the filter will generate too much current in the tank.

I've also read online articles that suggested betta fish don't eat flake. I am assuming you have to break the flake into really tinny pieces small enough for betta fish to eat.

I used to feed earthworm and beefheart flakes to my discus. They came in as large sheets like a piece of paper.

What type of pellets and flake that you are feeding your betta?

My experience with betta has been new betta fish come in fat and beautiful. Then things started to change to the negative side once they have been in my tank for a while. I suspect that food I have been feeding them are not nutritious as well as the water quality.

I saw those betta pics posted on Aquabid.com The fish look so active, fat and healthy. I envy those breeders skill caring the betta and be able to produce gem betta fish.
 
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I think it will be cycled only if there is filter set up on the tank. And I have a small piece drift wood in the tank. That may hold some nitrification bacteria.
 
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With no filtration, you should be doing 80%+ wc every other day to compensate for lack of bio-filtration. You can stretch it out to a week if you stick a large plant into the tank....such as pothos.

Here's a simple filter you can make for those shallow tanks:
1. Get a plastic container and drill lots of holes along the bottom...just enough that it fills most of the container but not overflow over the top.
2. Fill with ceramic media and top off with filter floss.
3. Buy a miniature water pump ($10 on EBay)
4. Place container over tank and water pump on tank bottom.
5. Connect a hose to the pump and place other end of hose over the filter floss.

So, pump pushes tank water up hose and empty over filter floss. Filter floss traps solid as it moves down container, and moves through container back into tank.Ultimately ceramic media will colonize bb.
 
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Hi, with regards to feeding bettas, I feed mine 1mm NLS thera+a pellets and he eats them no problems. He gets bloodworms and brine shrimp as treats (I've never seen him eat brine shrimp though) although they're more for his tank mates than for him he still eats a few bloodworms when they get put in the tank.

My betta Miles is in a 4' 250ltr tank with around 7x filter turnover. He uses every inch of this tank to swim around and has no problem doing so, he doesn't "just sit in a corner and make a bubble nest" (this seems to be what people think will happen if you put a betta in a "larger" tank). I understand that you can't put your bettas in larger tanks but maybe consider filters for their tanks? You've been in the hobby a long time, what makes you think that your bettas aren't producing ammonia between weekly water changes? If you're feeding them and they're pooping then there's waste being created somewhere, what's happening to that waste if there's no bio filter? I assume absolutely nothing leading to water quality issues.. Just a thought. :)

I was going to share some pics of Miles in his tank but my phones being stupid and won't let me, I'll maybe try again later if I remember.

Good luck with them.

Edit: I feel I should mention that Miles is a short finned betta and that may be why he isn't bothered by the current. Although my old betta was a crown tail and had just as much if not more turnover on his tank so idk. Just thought it was worth pointing out. :)
 
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32Bit_Fish said:
What type of filter can I get for my 1.8G tank? It is only 6" height. I know betta fish don't like current. Not sure the filter will generate too much current in the tank.
Click to expand...
Best filter IMO for a small tank like that would be a tetra whisper 3i filter, if height is an issue you can stick it out of the top quite a bit. I ran a few on my old 5 gallon betta/endler's guppy tank several years ago and it worked fine, they have a very gentle current. I believe they still cost less than 15 bucks, and you can stuff your own media in them quite easily if you don't want to use the pre-made cartridges (they last a long time tho). Be aware the air pump they come with works good but is super loud, so pick up a better one haha.

As far as heating see if you can find a place that has a more stable temp. You said the temp drops to 72, that is a problem, maybe that's a contributing factor for the fin rot if he is stressed from the temperature drops. Like others said you can find a small heater made just for that that is made to keep the temperature stable if there isn't a place without drafts. Good thing it's small enough to move him to a better spot though if you can't get a heater! If you can though I'd get something like a 5-20 gallon for him, that way it's less maintinance and you can do a lot more aquascaping and add a few tank mates too. :D
 
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GamerChick5567 said:
Best filter IMO for a small tank like that would be a tetra whisper 3i filter, if height is an issue you can stick it out of the top quite a bit. I ran a few on my old 5 gallon betta/endler's guppy tank several years ago and it worked fine, they have a very gentle current. I believe they still cost less than 15 bucks, and you can stuff your own media in them quite easily if you don't want to use the pre-made cartridges (they last a long time tho). Be aware the air pump they come with works good but is super loud, so pick up a better one haha.

As far as heating see if you can find a place that has a more stable temp. You said the temp drops to 72, that is a problem, maybe that's a contributing factor for the fin rot if he is stressed from the temperature drops. Like others said you can find a small heater made just for that that is made to keep the temperature stable if there isn't a place without drafts. Good thing it's small enough to move him to a better spot though if you can't get a heater! If you can though I'd get something like a 5-20 gallon for him, that way it's less maintinance and you can do a lot more aquascaping and add a few tank mates too. :D
Click to expand...

I also run a 3i on a 5 gallon betta tank. Works great for that purpose.
 
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Not sure I have much to add other than what people on here have already said.

I do think a little heater to keep it always bove 76 would be good, and for filtration you could also do a sponge filter....
 
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