I bought a new betta at Walmart. I have a question

[geckoqueen]

I bought a new Betta at Walmart, yesterday. I used Prime to condition the water and it also takes ammonia out. I checked with a test strip and there is no ammonia in the water. My Betta is swimming on the bottom of his bowl and he didn't eat his fish pellets, which I had to remove from his bowl. He doesn't have ich. I looked.

I just put Betta in bowl for now, until I know he is healthy to go into my 5 gallon tank. However, the water in my 5 gallon tank is Cloudy and has bubbles on the sides of the glass. I never had a fish in the 5 gallon tank, so it can't be ammonia and I checked and no Ammonia in the tank. I used Prime to condition the water and to take ammonia out, also on that tank.

I'm also having a problem trying to get the hose to work, it will start sucking out water. As soon as I stop shaking the hose up and down for it to work, the water stops coming out the other end. How do i keep the hose working?

 

[leolover23]

I don't know much about keeping fish, so I apologize for not being able to answer most of your questions. But one thing I must ask is: Did you allow the water that the fish is in the oxygenate? I've heard of many people who haven't and their fish ended up dying within a day or two. I hope everything goes well and your fish has a happy healthy life

 

[Pokersnake]

You don't have to worry about oxygen in the water with Bettas and Gouramis. They are called anibantids, which means labyrinth lung. They can breathe surface oxygen.

Those air bubbles on the side of your tank is normal for a newly set up tank. The oxygen is clinging to the sides of the glass. It happens often with new tank decorations as well.

The best betta food out on the market is Hikari pellets. They float, they are completely balanced diet for your betta, they last forever, and they come in a tiny cardboard package that folds to stand upward. Feed him/her according to the package rules. I feed 4 pellets once a day.

Are you planning on putting any other fish in that 5 gallon? The betta will chase and try to kill most any other fish you put in there. I would suggest keeping him/her alone. I keep mine in 1 gallon tanks/keepers and they love it. I put some bamboo growing out of the lids of their tanks so that the nitrogen cycle remains in balance. The bamboo uses the fish's waste and keeps the water from needing to be changes too often. You can use any kind of plant, really.

Those siphon vacuums are a pain in the butt. What you have to do is let gravity work for you. Have the end of the hose in a bucket at a lower height than the bottom of the tank. Start the siphon by filling the tube and quickly pumping and get that water flowing. Once it comes out the end of the hose at a fast speed, you can just let gravity do the work for you.

Hope this helps! PM me any time with questions.

 

[M_surinamensis]

You don't have to worry about oxygen in the water with Bettas and Gouramis. They are called anibantids, which means labyrinth lung. They can breathe surface oxygen.

To a point.

The inclusion of gouramis in your statement- in fact, the blanket inclusion of bettas is inappropriate. There are quite a few species of both, some more common in the pet trade than others, and they do not all have well developed labyrinth organs. Many of them require moving water.

The best betta food out on the market is Hikari pellets.

That is debatable. Hikari manufactures adequate pelleted food. Better than many other pellets. That does not translate into "the best" anything though.

they last forever

Odd that Hikari goes and puts that expiration date on there then, isn't it?

Feed him/her according to the package rules.

Don't do that.

I feed 4 pellets once a day.

For a single Betta splendens? That is overfeeding.

The betta will chase and try to kill most any other fish you put in there.

Wrong. So very very wrong.

PM me any time with questions.

I hope nobody takes him up on this. I'd much rather he keep his posts nice and public where someone else can come along and correct the glaring errors. If he answers in private that fact checking process won't happen and someone might actually believe he's credible and accurate.

 

[penk]

Bettas wont attack other fish unless they attack him first. If you have 2 male bettas in one tank It will be aggressive with each other.
You can have bettas with other fish. make sure you dont have them with aggressive fish or any fin nippers.
About feeding, most of the fish wont eat food as soon as they put in to a new tank. It will take one or two days, then they will get used to their new home.

For cloudy water, did you add any gravel in it? if so make sure you washed it well.

 

[Yoh4n]

I do not think feeding 4 pellets is actually overfeeding and also I would not put other fish in the tank with the betta either. They are usually territorial but most of it depends on the fish itself, also there are a lot of fish that will nip at the bettas fins, and putting other fish with the betta may stress it out, they can also jump up out of the tank so you should get a lid or lower the water. Bettas from that store and a lot of petstores are usually unhealthy because they leave the bettas in small cups and usually do not clean it. I would recommend joining a betta forum if you want more information. ALso sorry for the very very late reply and also hows the fish?

 

[TokayKeeper]

As with Yoh4n...adding to an old post...

the clouding, if a freshly setup take is part of the nitrogen cycle, or "cycling" the tank. You should see a spike in ammonia and nitrite and then zero or low readings indicating the tank has fully cycled. Prime should help jump start the process, BUT you need ammonia (either in the form of ammonum [NH4+] or ammonia [NH3]) to start the process. Bacteria break down the ammonium/ammonia into nitrite (NO2-), which is still toxic. Additional bacteria break the nitrite down into nitrate (NO3-). To start this process you need to seed the tank, which is can be done multiple ways.

I'd recommend googling how to cycle an aquarium, or better yet read the insane amount of info available over at monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[gerrmanman]

also a side note i highly recommend Amquil instead of prime...coral life/seachem products leave much to be desired. prime also can cloud water if used to much.

 

[Psychotic4mb3r]

I highly reccomend a lid for whatever you have him in.. I use to have several bettas and when I first got them, I lost a few females as well as males because of them jumping out of there tanks with n lids (dont worry they all where in there own little tank lol) I never had anything like air pumps, filters, or anything and just used the pellets an changed out the water when needed and they lived forever . I now have guppies, but after reading this id love another betta haha . I think I might look into some breeders though instead this time

 

[DoubleZ]

My betta is a 10gallon with a filter and heater. There's a few pygmy corydoras in there too and he pretty much ignores them. I feed Hikari for the betta and sinking bottom feeder food for the corys. It's been working for me.