Betta question

[Kwhite]

Hi all. I was in Walmart tonight and walked thru the pet department and noticed they had quite a few Bettas. The poor things were all in cups that had about an inch to an inch and a half of water, very little room for these poor things to move. So, I bought one.

My 29 gal tank is still not set back up, my heavy work schedule hasn't allowed my husband time to finish the new stand for it, so my Chinese algae eater, pleco, and black skirt tetra are still in my 10 gallon. I was thinking I'm already overstocked there so was afraid to put Albert Einstein (kids named him in the ride home) in there. We had a little plastic tank, maybe 2.5 gallons or something, that was given to us but we have not used. I set it up, added some conditioner, and put Al in. (His 1 inch of water was also nasty, didn't want to wait)

He has been swimming around checking things out, seems pretty happy, gosh how could he not be thrilled to be out of that miserable cup?--but my question is this:
This tank has no kind of filter at all. No heater either. Should I get these things or can a Betta survive and be happy without?

Will he be happy living alone? Can a 2.5 gallon handle any more?

Should I have just went ahead and added him to my already established 10 gal where he would have company , a filter, heater, and cycled water?

 

[BettaGal]

Definitely need a heater and a filter is strongly recommended. It would keep all the parameters where they need to be. He doesn't need company. Bettas are solitary fish. They don't need company to be happy.

 

[MurderComplication]

I would just keep him in the 2.5 until you can transfer the others into their bigger tank, then use that 10 for him. Even though Betta's are solitary, I keep mine in a 20G long with shrimp and snails.

 

[shellieca]

Its so hard not to purchase a Betta like that. The 2.5g is fine, it does need a heater the water temp should be 78-80F, the filter isn't a necessity if you do proper water changes. I have 2 Bettas in individual 2.5g tanks, I do 2 50% water changes & a 100% every 2-3 wks. I don't run filters on either because cycling that small volume of water is extremely difficult. I agree that once you move your other fish, hopefully soon, to the larger tank the Betta will LOVE the 10g. I have 3 10g tanks each with a male Betta, 1 mystery snail & 2 of the tanks have a few nerite snails as well. When you do move him make sure the filter isn't too strong & if he's long finned you'll want to make sure his fins can't get sucked into the filter intake. Bettas are fun fish, you'll enjoy him.

 

[librarygirl]

Definitely needs a heater; bettas need warm water. I'd get a filter too and pull a small bit of your media from your larger tank (assuming it's cycled) tinto the new filter to cycle the betta tank. Test the water daily in case there are any toxin spikes. I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice Congrats on the new fish

 

[Kwhite]

Thanks everyone. Will have to try to get to petsmart for a heater soon. Walmarts selection was inadequate and petsmart is in the next town over. So far Albert Einstein is doing great. He seems very happy. Wish I coulda saved more

 

[Kwhite]

I think we almost had a tragedy. Our new friend had been doing great. Them our heat went out sometime during the night, this morning he was laying at the bottom of the tank barely moving. The only sign of life was his little mouth opening and closing. I felt his water and it was frigid. I almost put him in my 10 gal to warm him up, but he has a little white spot on him and I was afraid of possibly contaminating my 10 gal with ich or something else. Then I remembered I have the heater for the 25 gallon, so I put that in the little Betta tank and now he is swimming around and looking much better. Hopefully that big heater won't boil the little guy before I can get to petsmart and get a heater appropriate for the size of his tank. And, hopefully he hasn't got ich.

 

[BettaGal]

If you have a thermometer put that in there with him. It'll be a better indicator of his temp.

 

[Kwhite]

I stopped on my way to work and picked up a thermometer and an appropriate size heater. Hopefully he's gonna be ok. Found him face down in the fake plant shortly before I left for work, not moving, but a little bit later he was swimming again. Guess we will just wait and see.

 

[Kwhite]

When I got home from work this morning he was dead . He seemed ok until I added the filter, not sure if that had anything to do with it, but then he got cold and maybe I didn't get him warmed up quickly enough? I dunno. He seemed good after I added the heater tho. Water warmed up quickly and he seemed happy again. *sigh*. I dunno. I was trying to save him from poor conditions and he died anyway. .

 

[marsh]

Here you moved me to do a search for info,


Look what I found, please sign!

http://www.change.org/petitions/pet...conditions-for-betta-fish-prior-to-being-sold

 

[Crowsmuse]

Thank you!!! So much for posting this.
I almost got thrown out of my Walmart.. poor fish...
they were stacked on top of one another liked canned food...,
covering air holes. dozens were dead and molded up...
I screamed and cried...bawling in Walmart... I'm so glad I'm not alone, I am all for signing that!!

 

[marsh]

No problem! Rescue animals should generate funds to help stop abuse, not cement the institutionalized abuse in the process of helping individual fish and sending millions more to the same fate!!