Brand New Owner

[JohnnyD]

Hi All.

Ok, as of the past Wednesday, I have been a new owner of a male betta named General Speedy Claxton II.

I purchased him at a local Petsmart along with a 1 Gallon tank which included gravel, plastic plant water treater, and food (flakes). So, once home, I preceeded to set up the tank. Filled it leaving some space at the top (very top of the plant is sticking out), so the General had plenty of breathing room. I used the water treater and let the water sit for 24 hrs. Last night I checked to make sure the temp was right by using the finger method (my apartment temp is about 75-77 degrees F). Seemed good, and I released The General into his new apartment. The General seemed to take the transition very well, and he was pretty active (even watching some tv it seemed). His dorsal fins were going and seemed pretty happy. Maybe shock? I fed him some flakes this morning and he spit them out , which I hear is normal when a betta is acclimating himself.

Ok, with that background, I have a couple of questions. Obviously, the key to keeping The General happy is clean warm water.

With just a 1 gallon tank (no filer or heater), should I be doing a 100% water change once a week? Or a 50% change twice a week?

I have been doing my research, and it seems like there are various opinions on this.

My next questions is food.

Should I stick with the flakes, or switch it up with pellets? Or both?

Again, there are different opinions on this.

Thanks for any help!
JohnnyD

 

[liz2]

welcome and where is a photo of the fish!!! we love picies. i keep my fish in that size tank, now whereas a total water change is best sometimes I just dont have time and do a half. They are not very keen on flakes and trouble is then they much the water up. Can you get hold of betta pellets or something else? Keep us informed..

 

[dusky]

One of mine refuses point blank to eat flakes but he loves the pellets so i'd change if I was you and some live food to, bloodworms etc. Lots of luck with him

 

[Monty2451]

For the water changes either is good. I have 1 gallon tanks for all my bettas as well. I usually do 2 50% water changes a week, but if I get busy or just plain lazy, lol, I do the 1 100% water change. Because it's just him in there, it's fine.

Now for the food almost everyone on here, and pretty much everywhere else I've seen, uses Hikari Bio Gold pellets for their bettas. Not only do these seem to be well balanced nutritionally, bringing out the bettas colors very well, but they float so that; 1) The betta eats them more readily, and 2) you can watch the betta eat them so there's no excess food polluting the tank, which is a big problem with flake food as bettas don't generally eat food unless it's floating. Also, you can pick up some frozen or freeze dried treats like blood worms, brine shrimp, glass worms, black worms, or daphnia and feed it to him once or twice a week in place of regular food. The frozen is better than the freeze dried as freeze dried food can sometimes lead to constipation. And be sure to only feed him these treats once or twice a week as the extra protein in them can also lead to constipation.

Other than this it sounds like you're doing great. The only other thing I would recomend would be to salt the water with freshwater aquarium salt or kosher/rock salt from the grocery store. 1/2 teaspoon per gallon is good for them. Be sure not to use regular table salt though as it contains iodine and can kill him.

Post some pics of the little guy so we can see what he looks like. Welcome to the forum!

 

[JohnnyD]

Thank you all for you help. It's appreciated. It's kind of funny, I am already attached to him. He seemed to have a great personality right off the bat. I am hoping to get a picture of The General up soon.

 

[Monty2451]

Most new owners and non-owners are really surprised how much personality bettas really do have. They're great little fish.

 

[JohnnyD]

Hi Everyone.

So The General seems pretty happy to this day. I did notice this morning that it looks like the very tip of his back bottom fin turned a little black (fin rot?) . Maybe this is due to water quality? I was thinking of changing his water tomorrow. So I went to the pet store, and bought a brine fish net, a PH tester, and some treats.

Any insight into the blackness would be appreciated. He doesn't seem lethargic or bummed out. Also, I know they are very smart fish. Is it an issue with them if you move them from room to room everyonce in a while. I tend to keep him in the living room during the day if I am there, and at night he bunks in my room (he seems to like the lighting of my alarm clock.

Thanks again everyone!