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Hi,

A quick question, have you placed the bowl in a quieter location just to see your Bettas reaction? If he is the same you might just have an active fish and that's not bad. Be sure there is nothing for him to bump into and tear his fins.

Good luck

Dear Moderators,

It seems like this thread includes some interesting comments and questions that are lost in the sheer volume of pages. Is it time to do some house cleaning and lock this thread and have folks start new threads for questions?

Just a thought...
Cheryl

Am a bit new to fish and need some help-Kinda long but bear with me please.. giving some history in case it means something.

I have 2 Male Betta fish- One I have had over a year and was housed in one of those 1 gallon plexi hexagon aquariums for the desktop with a pair of fancy guppies.. It has a light on a covered top and a small air filter/bubbler <- (forgive any mis-named items as I am still new to this)- I would put the light on at night and turn it off when I went to bed around 2am.

A few months ago I got another male Betta and had him alone in a 1 gallon fish bowl. Everyone was fine and healthy.

Until we had a power outage from a bad ice storm at the end of Nov. It got really cold in the house and I lost my guppies by morning. I thought both of the Bettas were dead too- my white one (FishyFish) was barely moving at the bottom of the bowl and turning upside down - the purple one was already still and on his side at the bottom of the tank. It dawned on me that my landlord has wood stove heat in his house so I got FishyFish wrapped in a towel (the bowl not just him) to take him to the landlord's where there was heat. I started to leave when I decided to check on Herman- my purple boy- decided to poke him and low and behold he was barely alive! Put him in a clean half gallon jar with his own water from his little tank - wrapped him also and we took a walk to the Landlord's house-bowls close to my body and wrapped in the cold 3 degree weather- got them there and both of them belly up.. no power no water no stove- But landlord had propane stove and bottle water.. I heated up about a cup of water for each bowl and slowly added it.. to my surprise both fishies started swimming around..
They stayed there until about Dec 10th, when I brought them both home.. both doing well.

Cleaned out Herman's tank (no soap-no bleach just water) changed the bottom gravel (I had not been able to clean it and use up water needed for other things during the outage (9 days)
So I washed everything in hot water- new rinsed gravel, cleaned the air filter stone and added fresh bottled spring water- half of the tank and the other half was the water he had been in all the time in the jar.

I got another one of those gallon aquariums for FishyFish since it has a light and bubble air stone instead of his fishbowl. Cleaned it all out with plain water, added rinsed gravel, bottled spring water - let it run for 3 days then added FishyFish and his old water to make it 50/50- his water and the water that had run for 3 days. Both tanks have a plastic aquarium plant (they both used to have one of those bulbs that grow into a plant before the storm) anyway.. this was a week before Christmas. Since then, Herman seems a bit lonely without his guppy buddies.. he is not as active as he used to be... and FishyFish spends most of his time at the bottom of the tank- kinda of head down tail up in one spot.. he will move a bit but not like he used to.. I'm worried he is sick. They both eat Tetra Blood worms freeze dried a couple times a day, just 5 or 6 of them (they always have eaten this) But the food is a new container- my old one ran out - same brand same thing.. same amount ..

I added a bit of salt yesterday and it didn't seem to help. I got some API stress coat and added 1ml to each gallon tank (it says 10mls per 10 gallons) - Seemed to help for a few minutes.. but .. now FishyFish is down at the bottom again. Because of his white color and my bad eyesight I cannot tell if there are crystal like things on his gills or not. The light in the top of the tank makes everything look yellowish and I don't have but a really bright flashlight and don't want to hurt them with the light-trying to look at them closer.

Now I bought Bowl Buddies and Parasite Clear tonight just in case. I have not added them yet - wanted to ask before I did.

With this being New Years Weekend I am hoping for help right away but not expecting it. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Any help would greatly be appreciated.
My avatar is FishyFish.. taken months ago- I can try to take another photo if it would help.

OK Here is what he is doing all the time now- this taken tonight 12-31-06


What do you think ?? and thank you to anyone who can help..

What is the temperature of your tanks? It should be at least higher than 75F. I would use Marycn2 for freshwater fish before using Parasite Clear. When dosing, you need to cut the medicine tabs into small pieces or dissove the whole tablet in a cup of water then pour a little bit of that into the tank since each tab is made for 10 gallons. These methods have worked for me in the past. Also don't overdose on the aquarium salt either.

Anyway do you have a water test kit? If you don't you might want to get one. Walmart has those 5in1 test strips for around $11. Those are the ones I use because they're cheap and convenient. You lose a little accuracy then the vial kits but as long as it's withing range it's fine. BTW what kind of bottle water are you using? Is it distilled water or filtered mineral water?

Hello, thank you for being here! I have recently inherited (in July) a male betta fish. He lives on an end table in a 1 gallon bowl with gravel. His food is dried worms. Over the past couple of months he has become increasingly more lethargic. I change his water weekly and feed him every other day. He does not always eat what I feed him. I suspect he may be cold as our room temperature is about 65. I moved him under a lamp that we do not turn off. I have read here that his bowl is too small for a heater. Also he is never in the dark is that okay?

He should be in an aquarium so he can have a heater - 65 is too cold and he will probably develop ich and then you go from trying to prevent disease (which is a lot easier and less stressful) to trying to treat the disease and that can be a sticky subject! He also needs variety in his diet to get all the nutrients he needs for good health. Fish respond to changes in temperature and light; it would be o.k. for him to be in the dark at night, but since you are heating his water with only a lamp and your room temperature is about 65, it seems like you can't turn off the light in your current situation - that's another reason you need an aquarium for him - with an aquarium you can keep the water heated with the aquarium heater and at the same time you can turn the light in the aquarium hood on and off as needed!

Do you have an aquarium thermometer on or in the bowl? What is his water temperature now that you have the lamp over his bowl all the time?

Hi! I just got 4 new female bettas, and I am a first time betta owner...I was wondering if anyone had any tips or hints for me on how to keep them happy and healthy?? And I was also wondering if they are able to be put in the same tank as other kinds of fish, or will they pick on them? what about a crab?

Also, I am having trouble naming two of them...they are both a really light, pinkish purple color. Any suggestions?

Hi! Congratulations! Please keep each betta girl in her own separate tank at first, at least. The betta girls should not be together - even female bettas can get aggressive with each other. It's good for them to be able to see each other from the safety of their own tank. Of course, it is possible to put one of them in a community tank with what we call "peaceful" fish - which has to do with their nature but also with their finnage. You don't want to put them in a tank with any long-finned fish because they could nip at their fins. It's more likely that your betta fish will pick on each other and on the other fish than the other way around. Either way - not a healthy situation for them. Betta fish can co-exist peacefully with a tiny frog which lives underwater who you can buy at your local pet store!

How about Pinky or Sunrise or Sunset or Baby Girl or Barbie?

If you do not have any hidey hole for him, then yes the light will stress him out. Bettas are low-level light fish and bright lights for long periods of time will stress them out.

But yes, 65� is waaaay too cold, and most likely why he is so lethargic, so if the lamp is your only means of heating his bowl for the time being, then make sure he has a place to hide from it when he wants.

I agree with Mary though, you should upgrade him to something bigger that you can put a heater in. 2.5 gallons is a nice size for one betta (and especially if you don't have a lot of room for a large tank, as I don't!) and you can put a 25-watt heater in it with an adjustable thermostat. I have one of my bettas in a 2.5 Minibow (you can find these at Walmart for around 30 bucks) with 25-watt heater and it works great. We keep our house below 70� in the winter so I couldn't do without it.