Is my betta OK in a bowl?

[Oscar Betta]

My betta is just in a regular bowl like you see in the cartoons. He completly happy and normal it seems like. I change his water and clean his bowl every week, and feed him his flakes every morning. I got him a few weeks ago. Just wondering if he will live long in a bowl, and be fine.

[FishMomma]

Since I have kept Bettas for a long time and enjoy doing it, I must tell you that while a bowl is better than the cup he was living in at the pet shop, Bettas should be in at least 2 gallons to live healthy lives. The recommendation is 2-10 gallons per Betta. Some of my Bettas are in 10 gallons and some are in 2.5 gallons but all of them are happy and healthy.

There are several problems with Bettas and bowl living. First, it is very hard to maintain good water quality in a bowl. With a bowl, no filter can be placed on the curved side so you have water that is only increasing the amount of ammonia and nitrIte levels. While a filter doesn't replace required weekly water changes, it does assist you in keeping harmful chemical levels low or at 0. Secondly, it is a very small space for a Betta. Most bowls are 1/2 or 1 gallon which just isn't enough space for your little guy to swim around in happily. Bettas also like their water to be around 78-82 degrees F and again, because of the bowl's shape a heater cannot be safely placed in it. (Also, most heaters are large enough it would make the water too warm.) If you get a heater, it should be 5 watts for every gallon, so if you have a 10 gallon tank then you need a 50 watt heater. Should you decide to stay with your bowl there are a couple of things that you can do to make it healthier for your Betta. First, add some Java Moss! Java Moss acts almost like a naturaly filter in that it helps keep ammonia and nitrIte levels low since it lives off of the fish's pee and poo. It also provides a nice hiding place for Mr. Betta. Most local pet shops don't stock this so if you want some, you can purchase it from an online store called Aquarium Garden. Secondly, for your water changes, do a 75%-80% water change 1 or 2 times a week to keep ammonia and nitrIte levels from becoming unhealthy and dangerous. DO NOT do a 100% water change! This takes any beneficial bacteria that is in the water and dumps it down the drain not to mention that it stresses out your little guy!

I would also suggest that you use pellets for food instead of flakes. Hikari Betta Bio-Gold is one of the best pellet foods out there and is also used by a lot of breeders. Bettas' tummies are about the size of their eyeballs so be careful to not over feed them. A healthy Betta should eat 5-7 pellets a day in either one or two feedings. Soak the pellets in a small amount of water before feeding them to your fish and be sure to remove any leftovers. For a TREAT, you can feed him freeze dried blood worms. Feed him 2-4 at a time a couple times a week but not more. A COOKED, COOLED, AND PEALED pea or two once a week will also help him not get constipated.

In a healthy environment, some Bettas will live as long as 7 years just to give you some idea. Hope this helps answer your questions! Let me know if you have any others!!

[BettaLu&Meg]

Personally i would keep him in at least a 2 gallon, tank/bowl, it gives him enough room to swim around for excerise, and it requires less maintenance than a small bowl would. filter and heater would be good for his health also and promote a more natural and cleaner enviroment.

[Oscar Betta]

Ok thanks guys. He is about in a 1 gallon bowl. He has some artifisial rocks and a no fishing sign

[FishMomma]

When you are able see if you can upgrade to at least a 2 gallon tank. You'll be surprised how much more active your fish becomes once he is given more space!

Good luck!

[Oscar Betta]

Ok. How active should he be? He likes to swim around a lot, sometimes he will just sit there for a few minutes

[BettaLu&Meg]

Thats fine usually the sign of sickness is constant stayin at the bottom of the bowl or tank. u see this alot in smaller bowls for the fact of no room to explore or excercise. like fishmomma stated, you will see a big difference in his actions and attitude once in a bigger bowl. if he's highly active now he will be more active in a more roomy tank. making him a happier and healther betta! also to help with activities and excersise, place a mirror on the other side of the tank for a few min to let him show off and flare up. this is techneique all betta owners do for the smaller tanks to give the betta the natural showing off dominance and showing off there finage like they would in the wild! And it depends on you as a owner on how long he will live. ur the only one that can cure him if he's sick, help him when he's hurt and such, its like having your own child.........in a tank!lol. U might want to also if u go bigger(which i recommend) is to also purchase a filter and heater. Usually the $$$ situation is tight for us all these days, but i purchased my tank set up for $30 dollors, and it came with a 10gallon tank, fish net, gravel, food, cover with lights, out of tank filter(which is good but not to good for the betta being that there natural habbitate is current free or very little currents). i got this a Petco and if your intrested i can help see if i can look up something like that u can order online. Keeping your betta happy and healthy with a nice tank to dominate for himself would be a great improvment on his life and it will make yours happier knowing u gave him bigger home to roam in. This is just a suggestion, i don't want u to think its the only way to keep them going because it isn't!

[BettaLu&Meg]

believe it or not, i forgot to mention that some breeders in thailand actually keep them in vases smaller than a gallon, supposedly they do this to make them into fighters. giving less space to work on moving around in small places. while putting other vases with bettas neXt to them to induce the fighting. this is a typical thing they do to breed and make there bettas actual fighterS and put them in competitions. I personally DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS AND I ALSO THINK ITS KINDA CRUEL!

[Oscar Betta]

Ok thanks. I do chase him around everyweek when i try to get him out with the net so that i can clean his cage I also make him flare up and stuff by sometimes putting my sisters betta next to him, and i also sometimes put my finger up to him and he flares up too

[FishMomma]

I've trained one of mine to flare whenever he sees any object at a particular spot on the side of his tank. That's the only place he'll flare at anything. People think it's great fun to see him do this when they vist. One note of caution: Don't make them flare on purpose more than 1-2 minutes once or twice a week. This will only cause them extra stress!