My mom let my sister get a betta. Nothing wrong with that. But she was going to make her keep it in a 2 gallon bowl, no filter no heater. Fake colorful pokey plants that are just waiting to tear his fins. Because “it’s a fish”. My sister was only 8. Over the course of two years my sister has lost two bettas and is on her third. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with my sister. She does daily 25% water changes with a cup. We had my aunt take care of the pets while we were on vacation last month, and my aunt let my 6, 8, and 12 year old cousins feed the betta. They were being very careful and giving him a small amount out of a bottle of food you have to shake into the bowl. Well the lid popped off and a ton of food dumped into the bowl. They went and got their mom and let her know what happened, so my aunt did a 100% water change two days in a row but she said she couldn’t get all the food out of the sand and didn’t know what to do. My mom told her it was fine. It’s been a month and with several 100% water changes and daily 25% water changes the water is horribly cloudy and it won’t go away. I have been helping my sister and reminding her to get him fresh water each day, but she says she doesn’t want the fish anymore. She doesn’t like doing daily water changes and my mom won’t let her get a real setup. My sister feels bad for the fish and thinks I can take better care of it. I told my sister I would take the betta, but now I am in a situation where I don’t know what to do with it either. I don’t have a tank for it, but I know it isn’t happy in a bowl. I have a 20 gallon long tank with a BN Pleco and 13 Pygmy and dwarf cories. My plan was to get marbled hatchets fish and green neons. Would it be better to ditch this plan and let the betta live in the tank? I know it isn’t a good idea to have a betta with other fish because of their potentially aggressive behavior, but in this situation which is the better plan moving forward? A betta in a 2 gallon bowl or a betta with some cories, shrimp, and a pleco with a backup plan just in case?
@Byron I want you to know I am not disregarding anything we have talked about as far as stocking for this tank. I am just seeing if there is a better wrong in this situation. I have taken what you have said to heart (about not having the bettas with other fish and not even risking it going wrong) but was not sure if you thought this was an exception. I am torn between knowingly
potentially risking harm to the cories and pleco vs knowingly subjecting the betta to inadequate and downright inappropriate living conditions.
@PheonixKingZ
In my opinion this is exactly why parents should be a part of the care of an animal. Even if they just make sure the kid is doing their best and taking care of the pet. In my opinion my sister is not to blame for this so I don’t need anyone telling me she shouldn’t have a pet. I also want to be clear that my cousins have betta of their own who they take decent care of. It was a complete accident on their part and they did the right thing in the situation by letting their mom know what happened.