Starting a Betta Tank

[canuck]

Just a question about setting up a new betta tank (probably 2.5 gal). I read through the pinned post above and it sounds like the water in their cup needs to be gradually changed to fresh water before putting them in the tank, but I didn't see anything about setting up the tank.

What I'm wondering is whether a betta and the tank can be bought at the same time or does the tank need to be cycled first? It seems to me if they're living in a cup at the store, anything would be an improvement, but I don't want to start off the wrong way.

Thanks for any advice...

 

[AlexsDaddy]

You can buy the betta and the tank in the same day, but your water changes will be more frequent with an uncycled tank. Once every 3 or 4 days for uncycled compared to once every week to week and a half for cycled.
This is what I do......

Cycled tank:
1. Buy tank, tank heater, thermometer, etc......
2. Cycle tank
3. Test nitrAte level, if more then 20 ppms (in a newly cycled tank, NitrAte level will be extremly high), change water till nitrate level is around 10 ppms.
4. Buy betta
5. Acclimate betta to water temp by floating bag/cup in tank
6. Acclimate betta to water by changing water in bag/cup in small incraments every 15 minutes untill you are sure all store water is gone from bag/cup
7. Put betta in tank
8. Test water every couple days for nitrate and ammonia content. When levels get at or above 20 ppms of NitrAte, do a 50% water change with treated water at the same temp (or close to) as the tank water

Uncycled tank:
1. Buy tank, heater, thermometer, etc......
2. Fill tank and turn on filter and heater
3. Let tank run for a day to let the temp get up and all supersaturated oxygen work it's way out
4. Buy betta
5. Acclimate betta to water temp
6. Acclimate betta to water
7. Put betta in tank
8. Test water every other day for ammonia content
9. At first trace of ammonia content do a 50% water change with a gravel vac

Good luck! Hope this helps!

 

[canuck]

That does help - thanks for your advice!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Ok... how would I go about adding a betta to a tank in the middle of cycling? I think the nitrite is spiking, not sure because the colours for .5 and 5 are similar Should I do a 100% water change before putting him in?

 

[ral]

AlexDaddy:

I was wondering wouldn't doing regular small 10-15% water changes be better than doing a 50% water change. I read that large water changes can stress and kill bacteria. Actually, if you gravel vac for waste and uneaten food refualrly, you would have to top off anyway so doing small "regular" changes would be necessary.

I was also thinking that a large water change would result in a large change in the nitorgetn cycle, and the amount of bacteria in the tank would depend upon the size of their food supply. Was thinking a large water change might kill of some of the beneficial bacteria.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

Sorry I'm late. I've been away for a little while.

Ral, good question. I didn't have any problems with spikes after I did the large water change to get the nitrate level down though. I usually wait a couple days after the cycle is done to keep an eye on it just to make sure though. Probably wouldn't be a good idea to do more then one big water changes within a day or 2 of each other though. The benificial bacterias food supply is amonia, so after it's completly cycled, if you don't get fish in there right away you would have to keep a source of ammonia in there to keep the bacteria from dying off.

Oohfishy, By now your tank should be cycled or close to it if you were spiking nitrites when you replyed. If you decided to do a 100% water change, you are going to have to start the process all over again, and with the betta if you went and got it. The betta should survive the cycling (my first couple did before I knew about cycling) but to be safe when ammonia levels get high, you might want to concider doing small daily water changes. It'll slow the cycle down, but will be more benificial to the bettas health and life span.

 

[Discomafia]

A betta doesn't need a cycled tank. I keep mine in a 1.5 gal kritter keeper and I change 100% of the water every 3-4 days. If the tank isn't cycled, and if you don't change 100% of the water, the ammonia in the water won't be removed but instead just get diluted, and we all know that bettas require clean water... HTH