water changing process for bowls

[JacopoFishy]

my sweet betta Frank is currently residing in a spherical one gallon bowl, under a light most of the day (as a pathetic attempt by his broke mummy for some heat) He's the sweetest little betta ever, always swimming around by the front of the bowl, loves watching people as they watch him I feed him freeze dried blood worms once a day, since he's a picky eater and I don't have time to feed him in smaller portions twice a day

...anyway, I know I need to do water changes two or three times a week, absolutely no less than once a week. thing is, I forget the proper water changing process for bowl fishies. I remember I read somewhere online about gradually changing it or something, but apparently I didn't bookmark the site, and now I'm clueless. so, anybody wanna remind the silly betta mummy how to go about the basics?

also, I have only been Frank's mummy for a couple of weeks. when I bought him, I did notice some scar-like marks on his "face", on both sides. They were semi-whitish at the time, I believe. Now they're somewhat green. I've been trying to keep an eye on them, but find it hard to figure out what exactly they are, and how I should go about treating them. any thoughts? thanx.

 

[jkun17]

I usually do two to three 50% water changes per week, alternating week to week. I've got a lot of bowls so I put them on different shelves and schedule the shelves so I know which ones I have to change. It's a lot of maintenance, taking care of 17 bettas, but I love me hobby what more can I say

 

[cation]

With one gallons, I usually change 100% once a week. Then you can completely clean out the bowl.

I would like to point out that freeze dried foods are not ideal for a betta, especially long-term. They tend to rip the little one's up on the inside, from what I understand. I would recommend a quality betta pellet (ie betta bio-gold by Hikari) and occasional frozen treats. Bettas enjoy frozen daphnia, frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, and probably many other foods.

 

[cutechic]

I make or buy my own mini siphons. You can make them using a hard plastic tube (like a small clear pvc pipe) and some airline tubing. You'll need to seal the connection between the pvc and the airline tubing with aquarium sealant. It may be worth it just to buy a small siphon- Big Al's has great minis.

Using the siphon, I change 60% of the water twice a week. Some of our other members like to use a turkey baster to remove waste/ excess food in between water changes.

 

[MAM]

for my smaller betta containers, i do a 100% change once a week. i also don't use substrate in the smaller tanks, so i can see the crude ont he bottom. i use the turkey baster method to remove leftovers. i just put the betta in a temporary container, empty out the bowl, rinse it, add the water and conditioner, let it sit a bit so the temp is around room temp (don't want to shock the fishies), then put the little guy back in.

 

[f250fisherman]

At a gal or less, I believe it should be done twice a week, at 100%. If you read the posts, there is a lot of sick bettas. Clean water helps prevent this. Yes, part of the time, a Betta can do ok on once a week, but every week it is swimming in a readable amount of ammonia. Over time, it will affect the betta. If you feed more than once a day, in 4 days there is a readable amount of ammonia. If you are changing the water anyways, why not do whats the best for the fish, and change it all. The only time you want to keep part of the water is if it is a cycled tank.

 

[cation]

She did say she was only feeding once a day, though...But you're right. I consider once a week a minimum. I've only got one in a gallon and he gets water changes about every 3 days - I have to change the jarred juvies daily anyway so he jumps on their bandwagon a couple of times a week.

Actually, fisher's got a good point. When I had more fish in gallons, they got sicker more often, and I was only changing 1x a week.

 

[turbotiber]

I change 100% once a week and do 2-3 partial water changes a week (about 50-70%) and take out poop and food with a straw (can't find basters) when I can see it. Oh yeah and add a little salt to each after each 100% wc.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

I cycled my 1 gal by soaking the filter media in an established tank for a week, and then took gravel and water from the same tank. I left the filter in the1 gal for 3 weeks to make sure it was fully established. Then I took the filter out, and kept a close eye on ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. It's been a month and I have had no spikes of anything, so I only do once weekly 50-70% changes with a gravel vac, but still test the water every 3 days for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates just to be on the safe side.