Friend's betta

Lexi_D

Lexi_D

is *Magic*
Nov 25, 2007
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watershedrussiantortoise.blogspot.com
Hey guys, my friend has a betta, and she says it's really lethargic. She does water changes on it's bowl (yeah, don't yell at her like you did to me about this, there's nothing we can do and it's a gallon so it's fine) 2 or more times a week. They used to take everything out of the bowl and scrub it down, and I explained to her why not to do that and told her to get a siphon or turkey baster to perform the changes with. Could that have had anything to do with the lethargy, and if not, than what is causing it? She said he eats fine, he's just really inactive.


EDIT: He's not old, either, so that wouldn't be part of it.
 
Is this a new behavior? Some are just really lazy.
 
On a 1 gallon bowl, she really needs to do daily water changes of about half the water. One gallon quickly gets fouled, especially if there is no filter and it's hard to find filters for such small containers. It's possible that doing 100% water changes and scrubbing everything may have been keeping the bowl in a constant cycle, which would mean that the ammonia and nitrites would be present (both should be 0). I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that it may cause lethargy. It's awesome that you helped her realize that scrubbing it spotless can cause problems.

My best guess is that he's too cold. Mine did that when the temp was below 76, and he perked up nicely once it got to be 78-80 degrees. In a bowl of 1 gallon, this is critical since it doesn't have enough water to keep it fairly constant. The 1 gallon of water will easily fluctuate temps and do it quickly, which can cause stress and lethargy and even death.

I know it can sometimes seem like people are jumping all over you when you are starting out, but that's because there are so many LFS who don't have the right information and are selling fish just to make a profit. We try to help everyone get started the right way for the good of the fish as well as your bank account (fishy mistakes can cost lots of money), and it can be overwhelming when you are starting out. I know from first hand experience. I did everything wrong, from the 1 gallon betta bowl to not cycling to changing 100% of water, to no heater, and the list goes on.
 
bazil323 said:
On a 1 gallon bowl, she really needs to do daily water changes of about half the water. One gallon quickly gets fouled, especially if there is no filter and it's hard to find filters for such small containers. It's possible that doing 100% water changes and scrubbing everything may have been keeping the bowl in a constant cycle, which would mean that the ammonia and nitrites would be present (both should be 0). I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that it may cause lethargy. It's awesome that you helped her realize that scrubbing it spotless can cause problems.

My best guess is that he's too cold. Mine did that when the temp was below 76, and he perked up nicely once it got to be 78-80 degrees. In a bowl of 1 gallon, this is critical since it doesn't have enough water to keep it fairly constant. The 1 gallon of water will easily fluctuate temps and do it quickly, which can cause stress and lethargy and even death.

I know it can sometimes seem like people are jumping all over you when you are starting out, but that's because there are so many LFS who don't have the right information and are selling fish just to make a profit. We try to help everyone get started the right way for the good of the fish as well as your bank account (fishy mistakes can cost lots of money), and it can be overwhelming when you are starting out. I know from first hand experience. I did everything wrong, from the 1 gallon betta bowl to not cycling to changing 100% of water, to no heater, and the list goes on.
Click to expand...

I felt like I got the same jumping on but it really does help. I had a horrendously overstocked goldfish tank and they were all lethargic, showed no normal behaviour and were just generally a bit sad to look at. As soon as I gave them more room and changed my methods a bit more towards the right ways, they perked up immediately. You don't have to try persuade her to go all out at once - maybe just suggest a little thing at a time.

Maybe you can help her look for a large ornamental bowl that has a volume of more than 1G so she won't mind switching? 2.5G is really the smallest that I would personally feel comfortably with, and you can easily get vases etc that contain that and more which add some character to the pet. I gave a friend an 8G vase for her birthday which she put a betta in and it looked great from all perspectives - he was happier, she felt better about him as a result, and it was a great talking point that got everyone else interested in her hobby, which makes you even more interested and so on.
 
I showed her most of the responses about what's causing the lethargy and she's showing them to her parents. Now we're getting somewhere! haha, anyway, I was thinking of maybe setting up my 6 gallon for my betta and a few adfs or inverts, and then I could give her my 2.5g or my 1g minibow. Another friend of mine may have another 1-1.5 gallon tank that she'd be willing to give up (both the minibow and this one would have lights, idk about the filter for the other tank but i can look up the kit). She measured and I calculated the volume of the bowl and it comes out to about 0.7 gallons. I have to admit I'm less willing to give up the 2.5 gallon in case I wanted another betta (here we go again! LOL), but I have to check about the other tank first. She also thanks everyone for their help, too! Is there a cheap nano-filter out there and/or tiny heater that would work on any of these tanks? Also, any other advice/tips/anything that you'd like to tell her? ;)
 
They do make mini heaters for tanks 1 gal - 5 gal. I have seen them. You may look online for one. If I come across a website I will post it here for you. You can also put an airstone in there for the water movement and to add some oxygen.
 
on the subject of airstones: you can buy a tiny, meant to be disposeable filter cartridge, that fits on the end of an airline. It's got carbon on one side and filter media on the other. They are about 6 dollars or so, and I've seen them just about everywhere (Petsmart, Walmart, etc). It'd do alright for a quick setup on a small tank. As for heat, get a desk lamp with and incandescent bulb and an on-the-glass thermometer. Watch it closely, and adjust distance as needed. It's alright to let the tank cool down a little at night. Stick a hardy live plant in there, like a green wendtii, and it'll make the fish a lot happier, and ad visual intest to the tank and help keep the water cleaner. They'll be out maybe $20, and the fishie will be infinetly happier.
 
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