Hi there!

I just got two Betta fish, and im trying to make sure they dont die... I've had them for 3 days now and they seem okay. I read that since right now i have them in bowls that i should change them every three days.. is this good??

Also feeding: One (Perri) eats more than i think he should like 8 pellets. and the other (Carmine) doesnt eat much at all. They have very differnt personalities i can tell already. So should i be worried about these eating habits??

Love any input!!

Thanks

Cyrulean--hello and welcome! Please read some of the past posts, as the people there also had almost the exact same questions on bettas. Also, I have an introductory article on bettas in my main site area:

http://www.bellaonline.com/site/fish

You will notice there that I never recommend bowls; this is housing you can 'get by with' if you don't want to invest in a small tank system, but it will always be a compromise and more risky than a setup with a small filter and heater (these are tropical fish, after all). In a fix, you can get buy with a bowl, but definitely not the tiny cup-volume type bowls that they are kept in at the pet store... this is really only for temporary housing. I ultimately recommend small tanks of 5-10 gallons per single betta, but if you must go with a bowl, at least one of 0.5-1 gallon in volume, no less.

Also, you will notice my repeated advice NOT to EVER change 100% of the water, this runs a very high risk of producing shock. Water changes are regular maintenance and percentage changes.. if you want to do them once every 3 days, that is a great schedule, but you should only be doing about 25-30% of the water at any one time.

8 pellets is DEFINITELY too much, especially for a bowl. You are actually making him suffer, because the overfeeding will promote more ammonia production in this tiny closed container that can't handle this load. If you must keep him in a bowl, feed no more than 1-2 pellets a day. If the bowl is only half a gallon in volume, even less than that... you can be fine with 1-2 pellets every other day, in fact. Imbalance in water chemistry is a big issue for smaller containers, and the only real compromise that will help is to feed less. Please read over some of the articles in the main section.

Thank you very much for your help,

they're doing really good Carmine's appetite is great now as soon as i drop a flake in he eats it right up.

And for some reason they really like Miles Davis and Norah Jones' music. Go figure I have Jazzy fish.

Have a great Week
thanks again!

Sure thing, Cyrulean, very glad to hear they're doing great! Watch the feeding though; in bowls, overfeeding is a far greater problem than not getting enough food.