Planning an impulse buy

[Darkslide]

Saw a beautiful white betta at petsmart today and I am sitting here 5 am wanting it badly even though I dont have a tank ready and cycled for it. Thinking about getting a 5 gallon kit for it and use something to help it cycle a bit as well as some water conditioner. I took a pic of it, I think they got it recently cause it was swimming quite actively for a betta in a cup. Anyway I feel like its a bad idea but crap I dont want anybody else to grab him.

 

[Reygan2]

Been there, done that. Don't beat yourself up. Get him and enjoy! With weekly water changes your tank will be fine. It will take a while to cycle with a betta, but you shouldn't have any harmful spikes. I've put betta's in uncycled tanks plenty of times. Keep up with maintenance and he'll be fine
BTW...he's gorgeous!

 

[Darkslide]

Ok got the fish and everything he needs, i also got seachem stability and prime plus some freeze dried blood worms by omega and some tropical flakes.

 

[nirbhao]

Very pretty betta. I don't blame you.

 

[Darkslide]

Tank is all set, betta is in and very active. Fed some freeze dried bloodworms. Also got 5 ghost shrimp and 2 zebra nerite snails.

 

[Darkslide]

Ok so I checked the parameters of the water. Ph is 7.6 (will try high range ph) ammonia is 0.25 nitrate 0 nitrite 0. I guess the ammonia is there because of the seachem stability.

 

[Reygan2]

I’m not familiar with the Stability product you’re using, but I’m sure it shouldn’t cause an ammonia reading. Have you checked your tap water?
My betta’s have always done really well on New Life Spectrum betta pellets. Just 2 or 3 each day, supplemented with frozen foods rather than freeze dried a couple of
times per week.
Cute tank! Those snails won’t have much to feed on, you’ll need algae wafers or some source of food for them until your tank is more established.

 

[Darkslide]

Yeah I picked up some today however they haven't come out of their shell yet so not sure if they are dead or need more time. I will test my tap water here in a sec to check the ammonia, I will look into those pellets they are probably better than the flakes I purchased. I purchased a digital thermometer tank is reading at 77.5 F without a heater, according to aqadvisor i fall in the middle of the temp range 75 - 80 F

 

[Reygan2]

I was under the impression that you were only going to add the betta to your tank. In most pet shops ghost shrimp are feeders, and they are prone to carry disease, similar to feeder goldfish. Your temp is fine. The snails are hit and miss. They need pretty specific parameters to thrive.

 

[Darkslide]

0.50ppm from the tap, at first yes betta only but the tank looked empty so thought shrimp and snails could fill it out more. I know I cant add a school of fish (would love some purple harlequin rasboras though) since 5.5 gallons isnt big and my tank is slightly overstock atm 103%

 

[Darkslide]

Im getting concerned about my betta he keeps hanging in the same spot and is not exploring or swimming around. Also tank is looking cloudy today I'm guessing its from me over feeding or a bacteria bloom.

 

[smallfry53]

Seems like it's time for a large pwc and some water testing.

 

[Reygan2]

Seems like it's time for a large pwc and some water testing.

Agreed. ASAP!

The shrimp and snails shouldn’t add too much to the bioload, so my guess would have to be overfeeding. I literally feed my betta’s one pellet at a time and make sure they catch each one. It’s been my experience that gravel isn’t a good idea in a small tank. Too much junk gets trapped, and things go south really quickly. Sand is a good substrate.

 

[Darkslide]

I did a 1.5g pwc earlier today, heated the water to 80 degrees and added seachem stability before adding to the tank. Snails didnt come out their shells so I took them out and got a refund for them. I will change to sand in the future. Tomorrow I will do a larger pwc if needed.

 

[Reygan2]

You should do at least a 50% water change. Be sure you are treating the water with a good dechlorinator before you add it. Stability does not remove harmful chlorine.

 

[Darkslide]

Sorry I meant prime. I put in 2 drops because its concentrated.

 

[Reygan2]

Ok good.
Why 80 degrees? That’s a bit warm. You acclimated slowly, right? Forgive all the questions, just trying to figure out why the little guy isn’t happy.

 

[Darkslide]

Yeah I acclimated him for an hour, 80 degrees because temps were dropping below 75 (aqadvisor says 75 - 86 F for a betta) and I wanted to bring it up, however I found a multi outlet cable to connect the filter, lights and heater so temps will be stable now. I think the current from the filter is too strong I just now lowered it and will see if he starts swimming again.

 

[Reygan2]

Good call. They definitely don’t like strong currents.

 

[Darkslide]

Yeah Im doing all sorts of research to see what others have done in this situation. One said it took their betta a week or 2 to adjust to a new tank.