Adopted a very important betta

shaunakadub

shaunakadub

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Feb 2, 2006
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Hey guys/gals.

Last week, a very close man (I considered him my grandfather, but legally was not) passed away. When we were going through his possesions, his little Betta came up in the convo, to which I quickly replied I would take him.

So I scooped him up, and away we went. As soon as I got home, I placed him in a 3-4 gallon vase with fresh water treated with prime.

I do not have a filter in this tank, because I figured I would rather do water changes then put a filter in it. So i'll be doing those every 2-3 days until things settle down.

Now I have 2 questions:
1.) I am worried about the cycle in the vase. It really has nothing to establish by besides the betta himself, and a fishless cycle is out of the question because getting the bettas was unexpected. Is there any possible way I can establish a cycle in the Betta vase from using something from my 6month established 10gallon tank? I know using the water from the 10gallon will not work. Maybe somehow shaking the filter into the water of the Betta vase or something?

2.) Feeding. I know they are carnivores, and I read that they loved mosquito larvae. Is there any way to catch these outside (standing bucket of water maybe?) or should I just buy some betta food?

Sorry for the long post, but this Betta means a lot to me now that his owner has passed away.

Any help/tips/ect. would be greatly appreciated!
 
If you're not going to run a filter, there's nothing to cycle. You'll have to do water changes pretty much every day to maintain water quality.
 
Yes they are carnivores and it might not even eat flakes (mine doesn't recognise it as food even after trying over and over many times).

If he's really special for you i'd get him a small filter - either a whisper 5 (or whatever their smallest is called) or an Azoo Palm filter. There are probably a few other candidates. I think you can pick them up for around $10 (less online).

When it comes to food variety is the key to good health. Some betta pellets are ok (i use hikari) if you combine them with some other things like frozen/ freeze dried bloodworms, daphnia and frozen brine shrimp or frozen glassworms (aka mosquito larvae).

The better and more varied the food the healthier and prettier your betta.
 
With no filter, you do need to change the water daily. He also needs a heater to keep the temperature stable.

Have you thought of buying a 5 gallon tank for the betta? A sponge filter is really cheap and a small 25w heater would work well in there.

I feed my betta live/frozen/fd bloodworms, brineshrimp, daphnia, and special Earthworm (with Naturose) flakes. Everyone in that tank gets a pea at least once a week. He's in a 36g tank and he tries to hog all the food. The pea is not only good for everyone, but makes sure that Mark (betta) doesn't get constipated.

Roan
 
Hmm. Odd stuff.

The reason I wasn't going to buy a filter is because he's never had a filter before, and had his water changed once a week in a tank around the size of the vase I have him in now. Oh well, daily water changes it is.

Anyone have any ideas about the mosquito larvae? Is it possible to catch them outside if I let some water sit out there for a while? Or should I just go buy some at the store?
 
sploke said:
If you're not going to run a filter, there's nothing to cycle. You'll have to do water changes pretty much every day to maintain water quality.
Click to expand...

A tank with no filter can certainly cycle and establish a good colony of the appropriate bacteria to help things a little. You'll still have to do water changes quite often, but it WILL CYCLE.
 
shaunakadub said:
Hmm. Odd stuff.

The reason I wasn't going to buy a filter is because he's never had a filter before, and had his water changed once a week in a tank around the size of the vase I have him in now. Oh well, daily water changes it is.

Anyone have any ideas about the mosquito larvae? Is it possible to catch them outside if I let some water sit out there for a while? Or should I just go buy some at the store?
Click to expand...

If your really set on feeding him mosquito larva just place a a can of water somewhere (away from the house) and within weeks there will be tons of larva in there. flake food will be fine for him though what did the owner before feed him?
 
Bleh. I really don't know what he fed the Betta before he passed.

I've tried 1 crisp flake, he bit it, then it sank to the bottom untouched. After that, I tried breaking a shrimp pellet into much smaller pieces, he chased them until they hit the bottom, then didn't touch them.

I know I shouldn't leave food in there to rot, but I'm going to leave that 1 flake and the little piece of shrimp pellet in there over night to see if he picks them up.

Also going to try to catch a few larva outside like 04cobra said to see if he'll chow on those.

What about bugs in general? If I find a little spider around the house, what would happen if I offered him that?
 
Try the betta pellets. Mine won't touch flakes but loves the pellets. Frozen bloodworms are mosquito larvae. I feed frozen bloodworms to my tropical fish/newts every few days. Don't bother with the freeze dried bloodworms, most self respecting bettas will not touch them.

I have kept bettas in the past in a two gallon bowl. I threw a red melon sword in with mine and monitored water quality. I was careful not to overfeed and changed water every 3-4 days without an ammonia spike. Leaving food at the bottom is a sure fire way to mess up your water quality. The reason I like the pellets so much is that I have very little waste. I also used a stick on type heater (I didn't stick it on) under the bowl. I eventually upgraded to a 5.5 G for the betta (the hobby is addicting).

What some people have suggested for bowls/vases is to have two containers for the betta. Prepare both, put the betta in one. When it's time for a water change, just put the betta in the fresh bowl of water. Then fill up the second bowl and put it away for a couple of days until the water needs changing.

Jackie
 
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