# New to bettas, couple of questions



## Annik (Mar 22, 2012)

Hello,

I just purchased my first betta on Monday and I'm reading and hearing a bunch of different opinions on how to take care of him.

I tried feeding him pellets, the first 2 he spit them right back out and never even looked at the other ones so I gave him a few flakes from my other fresh water aquarium which he barely nibbled on. Today, I got him blood worms and he gobbled them up. Now I'm reading that blood worms should only be a once in a while treat and that he should eat a varied diet. What else can I give him? If he should only eat 3-4 pellets a day, how many worms a day should he eat then?

Second question, he is now temporarily in a 2 gallon bowl and I want to change his water tomorrow. The guy at the pet shop told me to only change 50% of his water once a week BUT he also told me that my betta would be perfectly happy in a tiny little cup because they live in puddles in the wild so I'm not sure I should trust him. 

What I was thinking was to change 100% of his water twice a week and rinse the pebbles and the bowl at the same time. Is that wrong?

I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot with my newbie questions but I've been a cat expert all my life and just got into fish 3 months ago. I find it very hard to find informations as everybody's opinion seems to differ 

Thank you very much!


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## BettaLove1 (Dec 6, 2011)

Hey there! 

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your new fish! You're right about that your fish should have a varied diet, and that bloodworms are more of a treat a few times a week. Pellets are a good staple food, however, make sure it's a high quality brand such as New Life Spectrum or something like that. I won't go into too much detail with the varied diet as there are more experienced members with better advice on the diets! 

I also agree with you in that you should change the water more than 50% once a week. Especially if that 2 gallon bowl does not have a filter. The 100% water changes twice a week would be okay and I don't see an issue with that. Just make sure that the water you're putting back in the tank to replace the old water is the same temperature and treated for chlorine. I would suggest rinsing the gravel with the tank water, or dechlorinated/treated water so that you don't kill any good bacteria that will build up. 

I'd suggest maybe investing in an API liquid water test kit, so you can test the ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and pH. It's worth it's weight in gold!! They're around $30 I believe, and you can usually find them at any local pet store. 

Hope that helps, and if any other members want to correct me on something feel free as I'm not super duper experienced with bettas yet either.

I'd also suggest that you get a little heater if you don't have one! Bettas like temperatures somewhere around 76-83*F (give or take a few degrees)
-Bettalove1


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

All your answers should be on this site. http://bettacare.webs.com/


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## LittleRedFishy (Mar 11, 2012)

Hai and welcome!

Don't believe them about being "happy" in a cup of water-- surviving isn't necessarily being happy. I have mine in a 5-gallon filtered tank and he's constantly flitting around and watches me work (as the aquarium is right next to my computer) and he's much more active than he was when I had him in one of those teeny bowls. What a lot of people don't seem to get is that yes, they can live in very shallow water, but in the wild they still have access to more water than just a cupful--and they can jump from paddy to paddy.

Depending where you are, you'll want a heater-- I know this winter my temps dipped a bit and the poor guy was very unhappy. I got stuck a bit on the filter, I have a hand-me-down setup from a friend so I jimmy rigged mine by sticking a clean sponge in between the filter and the outlet to cut down on the current, and placed my filter behind a plant so the current doesn't mess with the surface when he's trying to eat.

As far as water changes, I do mine 25% a week plus a drop or two of dechloronator, but I have mine filtered, so you will end up doing more with a bowl.

Diet-wise, I feed mine twice a day, once with flakes in the morning and a couple bloodworms at night, and possibly a small feeding of flakes later on if I notice him searching for food. He's pretty trained, as soon as I bring out the yellow flake container he zooms to the top of the tank.


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## Flare (Dec 17, 2010)

Welcome to the forum! And good job asking questions! Not just believing everything you are told in a petstore! 

100% changes 2x a week would be fine, just be careful it doesn't stress the betta out to much, some bettas get stressed out by water changes. My suggestion would be do a 50% water change once a week where you just take water out and put new water in, no removing of fish required. And then one 100% water change a week where you remove the fish, rinse the gravel and so on! 

If you have anymore questions at all please don't hesitate to ask!


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

It is also good to daily take a turkey baster full out and refill it with clean water.


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