New Baby Betta Advice Wanted

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Vice

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
28
Location
Melbourne. Australia.
Hi Guys

My name's Sara ... it was taken so I'm going by my alias Vice. I live in Melbourne, Australian and am the proud new owner of a Betta Splenden named Kurt. He is yellow and blue and very pretty. I'm fairly new at keeping fish and was just wondering if you folks could help me out with some advice.

1. I have a Dymax IQ3 Mini Acrylic Aquarium (8 litres / 2 U.S. Gallons) with a 25 watt temp. controlled water heater set to 26 deg. C. and while the set up looks great I'm having an issue with the filter. Even on the lowest setting it still blows the poor little guy over which does not make for a happy fish. Any suggestions on maybe a different pump or how to reduce the flow?

2. The second question is I wanted to get Kurt a live plant and some friends (of the non snack variety). I was thinking maybe 7 or so Ghost Shrimp and a Mystery Snail for friends. Is this a good idea and does anyone have any suggestions for plants that would improve the water quality and give him some good hidey holes?

Think that's about it for now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
 
Alot of bettas don't like a flow. However, they will adapt to it. One of mines used to just swim into the flow. But good luck with kurt
 
Thanks for the quick reply. I'll try turning it on for an hour or so at a time. He's such a sook though. He freaks out a bit and then hides under a rock and won't come out until I turn it off :(
 
You could get him some fishy friends if he was in a ten gallon. Then the flow wouldn't bother him as much. Betta's personalities really come out best in a ten gallon, and it gives him room to really stretch his fins. If a ten is unavailable, a 5 would put you at the bare minimum for bettas. ten gallons are really cheap to set up! I got mine for 10$! I do suggest that you cycle this 10, 5, or 2 gallon however, (see link in signature), and go out and buy the API freshwater master kit. Welcome to AA!
 
Thanks guys. He's a bit happier now. Still sulking but not hiding under any rocks. Thanks Lauren. I am soooo confused about ideal spaces for Bettas. Before Kurt I had one that a friend gave me (Paul). (I know I'm weird with the human pet names. My cat is Barry). Anyay Paul lived in a tiny fish bowl ... well not tiny tiny but it wouldn't have been much more than two litres. He had no filtration or heater and seemed really active and happy. We had him for about a year and apparantly he was around 8 months when we got him. He died recently of a mystery illness (no obvious fungal paracite type things or raised scales). I really wanted to upgrade to more ideal conditions if I got another one and did some reasearch online and went to a reputable aquarium as aposed to a pet shop. The tank we got was the one they recommended and cost $125 ... now I'm worried it's not big enough. The info I've seen online seems to recommend everything from a 1 gallon tank to a 20 gallon tank.
I'll have a look at the info you sent me on cycling.
 
Definitely have a look at the link. I'm sorry about your other betta. As for size requirements, 20 gallons is way too strict lol. One gallon is way too small though. My advice is that 5 gallons is the minimum, but 10 makes them SO much happier. I have a betta in my ten gallon, and he uses every inch of that tank lol.
 
Hey. Not having too many problems with water loss as yet but it's bloody freezing in Melbourne at the moment so possibly it's just not warm enough to evaporate anything :) I left the filter on overnight and he seems to be dealing with it better although I still don't think he's a big fan. He seems to alternate between playing with it and hiding from it. Bovboy do you use a water heater in your tank? I've got a 25 watt. one set on 26 deg. C. (it's temp controlled so switches off when it's hit temperature and then switches back on when it's too cold) but have heard horror stories about people accidently making fish soup. Also how often do you do a full water change?
 
I do have a heater again 25 watt wit alternate switchin set at 26 degrees aswell, I belieive just keep an eye on the temp with a thermometer and it should be fine. I change 25% once a fortnight: i should do it more but it doesn't really get dirty?!
 
Cheers. I used your plant trick and he seems to be dealing better with the flow from the pump. His new thing is sleeping up against the filter at night cos for some strange reasom he seems to like the suction. He's deff. an odd one. He's really shy for a fighter. My last one went nuts every time we went into the room (dancing around like an idiot and begging for food) but this one just peeks at us from behind his heater and then hides his head under a rock :) I think he's slowly getting more confident. He was doing a bit of exploring and playing with his plant this morning (when he didn't think I was watching). Has anyone else had shy fish when they first brought them home?
 
alot of fish are shy at first. plecos definently. bettas mine was at first looked really depressed but now he's great.
 
Thanks :) I was just doing some reading online and it seems to be fairly normal for them to be a bit timid at the start. My last little guy was given to me complete with tank so he'd already had time to get used to his environment. It's really funny though cos in the store the newbie (Kurt) was in a tiny little jar and flaring like crazy. My jar! Now that he's in a lovely big tank with plants and 'toys' he just hides behind his water heater and only comes near me when I have food. I'm sure he'll come round. It'll probably help if I stop hovering by the tank checking on him every two minutes like a neurotic new mother :) Also he doesn't seem to be much of a fan of my psychadelic pink, purple and blue PJs. Prefers me just in black. Maybe we accidently picked an emo :)
 
How is Kurt doing now? And now worries about him sleeping next to filter. I find my
Little guy and my snails doing that nearly every day...and have yet to have a problem
 
Kurt has been re-named Piglet as he eats and looks a little bit like like one with his little upturned nose. He certainly got over his shyness quickly and is now plenty feisty and friendly.

I'm having issues at the moment with fin and tail rot ... I think he may have come to me complete with a slight fungal infection but I'm treating it with Multi Cure, aquarium salt and 1/5 of the normal dose of MelaFix and I'm pretty sure he's on the mend. I'm also doing 50% water changes every 3 days and have cranked up his heater to 28 degrees C (it's sitting on around 26). When he starts showing some decent re-growth I'll take him off the Multi Cure and keep using the salt and MelaFix for a couple of weeks.

It hasn't affected his personality any. He's still dancing around chasing bubbles, eating like a little piggy and yes ... sleeping up against the filter. What snails do you have? I was considering buying one when he's all better ... or maybe a couple of ghost shrimp.
 
Just 2 mystery snails. If you are looking for some for Piglet, wait until he is healed and you have removed the salt from the aquarium. I would look at nerite snails (FAR less messy than apple/mystery) or Amano shrimp.
 
Kurt has been re-named Piglet as he eats and looks a little bit like like one with his little upturned nose. He certainly got over his shyness quickly and is now plenty feisty and friendly.

I'm having issues at the moment with fin and tail rot ... I think he may have come to me complete with a slight fungal infection but I'm treating it with Multi Cure, aquarium salt and 1/5 of the normal dose of MelaFix and I'm pretty sure he's on the mend. I'm also doing 50% water changes every 3 days and have cranked up his heater to 28 degrees C (it's sitting on around 26). When he starts showing some decent re-growth I'll take him off the Multi Cure and keep using the salt and MelaFix for a couple of weeks.

It hasn't affected his personality any. He's still dancing around chasing bubbles, eating like a little piggy and yes ... sleeping up against the filter. What snails do you have? I was considering buying one when he's all better ... or maybe a couple of ghost shrimp.

I'm certainly no expert, but I've heard that you're not supposed to use Melafix with bettas as it can coat their labyrinth organ and make it hard (impossible?) for them to breathe. At the very least, you should check into the accuracy of this - for Piglet's sake!
 
I personally use BettsMax as it's specifically formulated for bettas, or rather Anabatids. I have never heard of melaflix being detrimental when being dosed properly for a betta (1/5th strength)
 
JackSpades: I'm certainly no expert, but I've heard that you're not supposed to use Melafix with bettas as it can coat their labyrinth organ and make it hard (impossible?) for them to breathe. At the very least, you should check into the accuracy of this - for Piglet's sake!

I read the same thing AFTER I'd already dumped the full dose in the tank:eek: Then I freaked out and had to do a really quick water change :) I did some more reading and people seem really divided on the whole issue but I figured that it was better to be safe than sorry and took him down to a 1/5 of the dose (the same concentrate as BettaFix). No problems so far.

Also while I have you guys there one of the other members suggested that after 11 days aquarium salt starts to damage little fishy organs. I'd never heard that before and I don't want to over-medicate. I also don't want to not medicate for long enough and create med resistant fungus / bacteria. What do you guys think? I've had him on the Multi Cure for six days and his fins aren't getting any worse ... not much re-growth but I'm guessing that takes time. I was planning on taking him off the Multi Cure after 9 days but keeping him on salt and MelaFix for a bit longer to help his fins re-grow. What do you guys think?:thanks:
 
Well, I'm not sure about salt having an upper bound on its permitted time, but it won't hurt the way you're saying. Salt isn't a medicine, so you won't create resistant strains of anything.

The way salt helps is by creating osmotic pressure in bacteria so that they dry out (their internal water tries to balance the external salt concentration). The fish aren't harmed because they're more complex creatures than bacteria and have kidneys (or, at least, some analogous organ).
 
Cheers for the advise. He's not showing any signs of stress at the moment so I figure I'll keep going as planned. The big thing I'm trying to avoid is killing off most but not all of the bacteria with the Multi Cure and then ending up in the same position in two weeks time. That's why I thought it might be a good idea to keep up the salt and MelaFix for an extra week just to make sure.
 
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