Juvenile Betta care

[batmansocks117]

Yesterday I had to go to Petco to get my dog some food and other things, and as always stopped by the fish section to look. My boyfriend pointed out one of the cups marked baby betta and said that it looked like the fish had died. I picked it up and this little guy was in. He looked at me, I looked at him, and now he resides in a 5 gallon tank that's heated and filtered and has been cycled.

Now I'm having issues finding care for this little guy. There is so much conflicting info I'm super confused. I have Hikari Gold pellets that I crushed up today and I also crushed up a freeze dried bloodworm for him and he seemed to eat that just fine. Do I feed him/her once a day every day?

Also the red by his gills, is that coloring or is something wrong with his gills? Can anyone tell if he's male or female (I didn't notice a white spot on his underside, but it's hard to tell with his coloring)? Also I read somewhere that it's good to do water changes every day since its such a young fish, should I do that or stick to every few days?

Thanks for any advice/help anyone can offer me.. It's greatly appreciated! I want to make sure this little guy (or girl) gets to live a long happy life.. =)

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Im pretty sure its a female, which is why it has the smaller fins. The red gills are probably just from being stuck in a tiny cup for so long and low quality water. You can feed as little as every three days, but if you want to feed daily she really only needs one or two mouthfuls. I would changes half the water every week.