Geez you guys are making this way too complicated for a betta fish. They need nothing fancy.

I worked at a pet store for 5 years. People who started messing with their water always came into problems.

Set your filter up. Change the water on a weekly basis and change the filter probably every 6 months. Bettas are NOT dirty. They are easy fish to take care of. They are what I call a "gate-way fish" to other fish tank set ups.

When and if you upgrade to a bigger tank with other fish, THEN start messing with the water. PH levels should be fussed over if you own discus or angelfish. BETTAS ARE HARDY FISH. A lot of people buy them to help establish good bacteria in a brand new tank.

PLUS, you should have your water tested first to see if you even NEED to start messing with water chemicals.

People kill their fish all the time because they think something is wrong with their water. Let the tank cycle. It takes about 4 weeks for it to cycle. You really need to do water changes right now and adding your dechlorinator. Almost every single brand of dechlorinator already has a stress coat in it. The more crap you add to your tank the more likely your fish will get stressed out and die. If you want the best dechlorinator out there, then get PRIME by Seachem. Its expensive, but it has a lot of good properties in it INCLUDING an ammonia reducer and live bacteria.

Get your water tested FIRST before you start buying PH kits and messing with chemicals. You'll be happier with a less high-maintenance tank. Once you adjust your PH, you have to stick with it and CONSTANTLY check the levels. You might as well be doing salt water if your going to be THIS finicky.

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Shaz... Float a fish for 30 mins?? Wow... We didn't even go that long at the pet stores! 15 mins top. Those air bags aren't garanteed a 5 hr life span, especially if they're not filled with pure oxygen

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5 hours?
I only live 5 minutes from the pet store. And all stores here fill the bags with oxygen anyway ;)
I open the bags and put top tops around a ring that clips onto the side of the tank. That way I can gradually add my tank water in over that period of half an hour.
Then again we were dealing with fish worth $300 each.


He's very pretty ohso :)

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Geez you guys are making this way too complicated for a betta fish. They need nothing fancy.

I worked at a pet store for 5 years. People who started messing with their water always came into problems.

.

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And that ladies and gentlemen is why you see so many dead fish in pet store tanks
Bettas are hardy fish but why not take precautions to make sure they stay healthy.

My fish was doing just fine on the dechlorinator, and I don't want to start messing with unnecessary things. I just want them to be alive.

My basic care

I feed the fish 3-4 pellets a day

When I change the water I make sure it's the same temperature as the previous water.

I don't use my filter, I just clean it out and start with mostly new water, I add some of the old stuff back in with dechlorinater.

I usually just keep a gallon with dechlorinater already preped for the next water refreshing so that it's already at room temperature and the dechlorinater has had time to do what it needs to.

If it gets too foggy, I just change it all out and clean the small mess from the bottom and put them back home.

My other fish were fine with this, they were very content with the new water I put in.
(until I made the water a bit too warm and my first fish died. The second fish was electrocuted because my brother turned out the power to my room and somehow the light bulb heater fried the little guy.)

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Originally Posted by shazamataz

He's very pretty ohso :)

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Don't you mean both of them? :)

Pet stores have dead fish in their tanks because of the transport and the constant net chasing them around.

Bettas survive and have adapted to the crapiest water in the wild... which is why they can breath from the surface. They do not need PH balancers. Not many fish do. They can adapt.

I currently have a 8 year old oscar and pleco that are surviving fine and I do nothing to the water. And he is in full color. Not many oscars are very pretty.

But... its not my fish. So screw with the water.. Now I'm annoyed :)

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Pet stores have dead fish in their tanks because of the transport and the constant net chasing them around.

Bettas survive and have adapted to the crapiest water in the wild... which is why they can breath from the surface. They do not need PH balancers. Not many fish do. They can adapt.

I currently have a 8 year old oscar and pleco that are surviving fine and I do nothing to the water. And he is in full color. Not many oscars are very pretty.

But... its not my fish. So go ahead and screw with the water.. Now i'm annoyed :)

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I said I usually don't screw with the water.
I just add the dechlorinater and make sure it's room temp, and make sure that when I change it I leave some.
I don't want my fish to die. .
Were you talking to me or Shaz?

Shaz

Then again we were dealing with fish worth $300 each.

I'm guessing you deal with salt water. They are completely different from a fresh water betta fish. You do not do the same things. They are similar, but not the same. Completely different protocols and yes, salties need their water to be fussed with.

No, fresh water fish... not salt.

Discus, we used to breed them.

We recently had an idiot cousin come to visit and poured an entire container of fish food in our goldfish tank, it made the water acidic and killed them.

Same with when we started the tank up, it was too alkaline, if we put fish in that water it would have killed them.

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Originally Posted by ohsohappy

Don't you mean both of them? :)

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Yes both! Oops! :D

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Shaz

Then again we were dealing with fish worth $300 each.

I'm guessing you deal with salt water. They are completely different from a fresh water betta fish. You do not do the same things. They are similar, but not the same. Completely different protocols and yes, salties need their water to be fussed with.

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Ohh okie doke.

Yeah I don't want to mess with it too much.
I just want to make sure that there's not a lot of stuff in there that will make them sick and that they can adapt well. Also that they're fed properly.
I got them both just today and they're swimming around energetically, loving the space.
They each ate their one pellet. I didn't want to overdo it since they just got to the tank, but they seemed to settle in pretty nicely.

I couldnt' choose between the two of them, so I bought an extra tank and rocks to go with the other one. :rolleyes:

Well... then once again. Discus are completely different from a betta fish. Bettas do not require the same kind of attention I guess.

I had a friend who had discus. She finally got rid of them because their care was too demanding.

And Ohsohappy. It sounds like your fish died from a human reason, not because the water is wrong. Like I said before, I think twice now, Get the water tested first before you start adding things to it.

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Well ... then once again. Discus are completely different from a betta fish. Bettas do not require the same kind of attention I guess.

I had a friend who had discus. She finally got rid of them because their care was too demanding.

And Ohsohappy. It sounds like your fish died from a human reason, not because the water is wrong. Like I said before, I think twice now, Get the water tested first before you start adding things to it.

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A human reason?
Like I fed it wrong or something?
The first time I made the water too warm, I'd had it for months, but I changed the temperature too rapidly when I switched the water and he started gulping on it's side at the top of the water and then it just sunk and died. I watched it happen and I tried to help it but I couldn't
The second fish was fine until my brother turned out the circuit to my room, then the poor little guy got electrocuted.

I think love a bull means there wasn't anything wrong with the actual water it was just something that happened when a) the temp changed and b) your brother electrocuted it.

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Originally Posted by shazamataz

I think luv a bull means there wasn't anything wrong with the actual water it was just something that happened when a) the temp changed and b) your brother electrocuted it.

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That's what I thought. I just wan't sure.

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Originally Posted by Luv_a_bull098

Well ... then once again. Discus are completely different from a betta fish. Bettas do not require the same kind of attention I guess.

I had a friend who had discus. She finally got rid of them because their care was too demanding.

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They aren't very demanding, we just had to keep an eye on the ph levels and do regular water changes, not hard at all.

Discus are pretty hardy fish as well, but that doesn't mean we didn't want everything to be perfect to keep them in top health and breeding regularly.

Just an FYI, I'm not breeding them, just enjoying their beauty. :)

This is the fishie that got electrocuted.
If it doesn't take you directly to page 93, that's where the picture is at.

At least I'm pretty sure it got electrocuted, I'm just not sure how it happened.

He was swimming around happy and blowing bubble nests before it happened.

If it looks like something else, let me know, butI can't think of anything else it could be because of the simple fact that he did not have that mark or anything until after he shut off the power to my room.

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/active...408721-93.html

Oh yeah I know that ohso, just making a point that our fish were breeding because we looked after them and kept everything in optimum condition.
Discus are notoriously hard to breed ;)

I personally use the stress zymes and ph kits and all that jazz, love a bull obviously does not, just 2 different opinions.

Check out the link really quick please?