First Time Betta Owner Needing Some Help

HI everyone,

We purchased a tank and a beautiful "rocket pop" coloured Betta about a month ago for my daughter. He seemed pretty happy until about a week ago. I'll try and give as much detail as I can about our set up/advice I followed etc.

We have a 2 gallon Top Fin Fish Upon a Star Fish Tank which features a light, a filter, a fairly secure lid and an LED projector (my daughter is afraid of the dark so this tank was a 2 in one pet/night light). He has a nice bed of rocks, 2 plastic plants and a castle and enjoys resting and making use of all of them. The Betta seems to be in good health but this past week I am finding he is hiding from us/just not behaving like I expect him too. After reading some of the amazing advice on this forum I believe I've made some fairly fundamental mistakes in caring for him and am looking for some advice as to how I can get him back to a happy state.

The employee I spoke to at PetSmart told me to rinse the new tank, condition the water, be sure it's room temperature and then place the Betta and his cup of water into the tank. She told me to change the water once a month (I have been doing this every 2 weeks by changing 3/4 of the tank water, I rinse his rocks and features, I have not changed the filter), and to feed him one pellet every few days (I have been feeding him a few pellets once a day though I am not sure how much he is eating as he is hiding when we are around).

Here are the concerns I think I need to address and was hoping I could get some advice and opinions about our current set up:

Nitrogen Cycle - I now know about the nitrogen cycle and am thinking I this might be a part of his problem. I didn't cycle the tank before he was placed in there. I have changed his water twice since we got him, the first time because my husband over fed him and I needed to remove the old food (is there a good way to do this without removing the water?) and the second time because it had been a bit more than 2 weeks and I decided it was probably time to do it. Both times I changed the tank I kept 1/4 of the old tank water and replaced the rest with conditioned room temperature water, the filter cartridge hasn't been changed. What should I do to get thing back to balanced?

Food - I am also noticing he isn't very excited about his food. They sold me regular pellets and I have only witnessed him eat about 4 times so I think I need to try a different pellet or a different food. I do notice that some of the pellets in his tank disappear so I believe he's eating but not coming to me for food and not eating as much as I expect. Should I try a different food at this stage or wait and see is his improves as his tank becomes balanced?

Day/night cycle - Since this fish tank is also a night light we have kept him kind of on the opposite cycle from us. My daughters room is dark and quiet during the day with blackout blinds drawn and we turn his tank light on for her when she goes to bed at night. I notice he's sometimes swimming around when he should be resting and vice versa . Is this sort of schedule and issue for Betta's?

Other Pets/Kid - We have 2 cats and a dog. When we first brought our Betta home he was showing off for us and would come out from hiding when the cats were around and tease them. The cats just watch him from the floor (the tank is on a dresser) and haven't bothered the tank. My toddler doesn't touch the tank but she does jump around and do toddler things before bed time so I am wondering if he hides from us for this reason. I plan to spend a bit of time in her room alone today to see if he behaves differently if it's just me.

Heat - His tank isn't heated and I live in this middle of the Canadian Prairies. We have him closest to the hot air vent in my daughters room on an interior wall. I am thinking he probably needs a small tank heater for winter, though I am having a hard time deciphering if this is the issue. He actually seemed happier when his water was in a colder area of the room, though with the giant list of other possible problems this could just be coincidental.

At this moment I feel like I have done everything wrong and can't even begin to decide what I should try first. Up until about a week ago he would wake up when we turned his light on, head over to the wall where his filter is to check out his reflection for a good 3-5 minutes, then he would check out the top of the tank for food (though seems to only eat it if it falls in front of his face even when he swims past it). He has been laying in his castle similar to how a dog curls up to lay down and hiding behind his filter when he sees us. He is still resting in his plants and oddly enough when we close my daughters door for the night he usually sits in his castle and watches her/swims around (not hiding or curled up). Of course I'm not sure if he's doing this all night (I have a video baby monitor I might set up to see how he's doing tonight after bed time).

Thank you in advance for your help! I am heading out in a few hours for new food, some different tank conditioner and a heater. I'd love to go armed with some good advice though!

 

The cats and dogs shouldn't be an issue, my 3 dogs aren't allowed near my tanks mostly because my tanks are in an area of my house with carpet and they'd pee everywhere, but when they do go near the tanks, they couldn't care less. My cat will occasionally drink from tanks that aren't totally covered, but the fish shouldn't care as long as the cat isn't trying to catch him or whacking his tank. As for the toddler around the tank, it's possible that maybe jumping around and tapping the glass freaks him out, just try to make sure there's no one tapping on the tank or doing anything to make it shake around. I think your main problems are an uncycled tank, a tank without a heater, and possibly the tank size. Two gallons isn't horrible, but he'll do much better in a 5-10 gallon tank. Do you know your water parameters? When a tank is cycled, it has a bacteria colony that converts nitrite and ammonia to nitrate, ammonia and nitrite are toxic and nitrate is safe as long as it is removed through water changes, you're usually safe up to about 10-20, sometimes even 30-40, nitrite and ammonia should be 0. As for a heater, bettas are tropical fish, unless you live in a climate (or in my case) have a room that's somewhere around 80 degrees at all times and stable, you need a heater, if improper temps don't make them lethargic or even kill them, the constant temp swing will. I would recommend getting the top fin 5.5 gallon starter kit, it has the tank, a cheap little light/hood (it's good enough for a betta tank) and a filter, I'd ditch the filter and use whatever the 2 gallon came with if it's any good, I'd also purchase a heater, you'll need anything from 5-50 watts depending on what temperature your house is, I think most people go with 50 watts for a 5 gallon, you'll also need a reliable thermometer to go with the heater, I'd recommend a digital one. Just remember, never throw out your filter inserts, those hold all the bacteria and should only be replaced when they begin falling apart, and if the tank turns out to not be cycled, you'll need to do daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 as possible. Also for a good quality water conditioner, prime is nice to have around, and for food I use omega one and my 6 bettas all enjoy it, and although it's near impossible to starve a fish, petsmart seems to be trying, I'd feed about 3-5 pellets daily, 1 pellet like twice a week is nowhere near enough.

 

HI NC, welcome to Fishlore! I only have a sec to comment, but first - get a small heater. His water should be 78-80 degrees consistently. If he's too cold, he'll be sluggish. Also, while your tank is cycling (this will take a while) buy some Prime water conditioner to help make his water safer for him. Change 25% of his water daily, and replace with temperature matched & conditioned water.
Bettas can be fussy about food, so try a few things until you find one he likes.
I'm sure another member will post some other helpful points.

 

Thank you for your replies! I will pick up a heater and Prime conditioner and start from there. I'll get a small package of a different food to try as well.

 

one quick tip on the food - read the ingredients list - it shouldn't have flour or soy and junk like that in it. Just stuff that would be in his natural diet (shrimp or fish protein generally should be the first ingredient.) Feeding him the fishy equivalent of Twinkies isn't going to help him

Also, there's some good threads on this forum on what higher quality Betta foods people here are using.

 

^ Also avoid fish meal, my bettas have always done great with omega one and bloodworms, but NLS is another good brand, I use some of their saltwater food too, although petsmart doesn't carry it, but they do carry omega one and a few different frozen food options to supplement with. I forgot to mention, I have much respect for the people who actually reach out to see what's wrong with their fish, so many people view bettas as cheap disposable pets that you're lucky to have for a year, but in reality they have so much personality and can thrive for many years when well cared for, let's hope this little guy improves, so you can truly enjoy having him around!

 

Ok, so feed him more than once every few days, get a heater because slow water = sluggish fish. Also, do water changes every 2 weeks, and only do a 1/2 change, and only clean decor (not gravel) if it is really gross. Every time you move his things, he feels he has to re-claim his area, and you may be stressing him out.

Yesterday, I took out all decor and gravel from my tank and cleaned it due to brown algae, and this stressed my betta heavily, he hid for hours. This is the first I've ever done this and it affected him badly, imagine what it's doing to him when you do it every week. It's not a good idea to disrupt the tank set-up consistently.

 

You also may want to invest in a siphon, if you haven't already. It makes water changes infinitely easier, and also vacuums the larger debris out of the gravel (doesn't hurt the cycle though). If he's being lethargic and hiding, the best solution seems to be perfecting the husbandry, unless other issues make themselves present. The heater is definitely a good idea. As for cycle, the beneficial bacteria tends to create cultures in the gravel, and filter cartridge, so make sure you don't wash those out too much. If the filter cartridge ever needs to be changed, make sure you can seed some of the bacteria from it into the new one, so that the growth keeps up with the tank. If you're concerned about his resting and swimming cycle, check lighting. A lot of pets kept in tanks or enclosures depend on surrounding light to differentiate day from night, so if its too bright during the nighttime, and too dark during the day, you may want to fix the lighting.

good luck with the betta :>

 

Thank you for all the advice! I purchased a heater, food and Prime so I hope he will improve. I've caught him out swimming since the heater was placed in there but he's still hiding from us. I also gave him 2 blood worms and they had disappeared by the time I washed my hands and came back. It seems like he's already happier.

Thank you again!