Betta Tank with 2 Females

[skysmom]

Hi all,

I am new to the Betta world, we set up 10 gallon tank last Sunday with a filter and heater for our 3 Female Bettas as our house is generally cold and we couldn't keep their water consistently warm. The new tank is at a constant 78-80 degrees F and the water is testing OK for everything, except the PH is somewhat high as our tap water always is. I am doing a 50% water change with Spring water tonite to try and correct the PH without adding chemicals.

Anyway one of the female Betta's that we purchased from Petco was sick when we bought her as she wouldn't eat from the first day we got her. She seemed lethargic and had red at the gills, and a torn back tail. I treated her in the original tank with Maracyn 2 for a day, but as the water wasn't staying at a warm enough temp I switched her over to the tank with the other two and gave her a treatment in the tank, shutting off the filter.

We came home in the afternoon, we'd had her for 2 1/2 days at this point and she seemed exhausted clinging to the bottom of the tank and gulping the water. She died a few hours later.

Both of the other fish seem OK, except that the smallest of the 3 is now spending more time at the bottom of the tank or clinging to plants. We added quite a few aquatic plant to cut down on the water flow for the Bettas.

I started to treat her by putting her back in her original bowl from the pet store and floating it in the bigger tank but if you could have seen her reaction you wouldn't believe it! Her fins just clamped down and she literally drooped with the sadness of it! I put her back in the bigger tank and am going to do a 50% water change with spring water.

Are there any other ideas of what might be going on? I know the tank hasn't been through the nitrogen cycle, but I have been assured the Bettas should do fine even in the break-in period.

Other than acting tired, she does have slightly larger eyes than my other Betta, but they've stayed the same since getting her and don't seem like popeye...her fins look good, better than when we first got her, they are fanned out, her color is somewhat dulled, but no white or yellow patches or stringy stuff. Again she didn't eat some blood worms that I put in earlier this afternoon, so I'm worried it's starting again.

Any ideas?

[BettaLu&Meg]

First of, hi, i'm Bettalu,(Luis) the forums breeder and i welcome you to our family!

Now for your thread... With the water and water changes you never want to do a 100% water change, this is becuase you will get rid of all beneficial bacteria doing this. 40-50% a week is fine, while replacing it with CONDITIONED WATER. You can buy conditioner from your local pet store! THIS IS NEEDED to get rid of chlorine, chloromines and harmful metals that are very dangerous over time for bettas/fish. Now for your feeding you want to feed them a VARIETY OF FOOD. feeding only one thing whether its pellets or flakes will get them sick. They will get swim bladder condition from overfeeding and lack of variety.

They also might be depressed but check out FishMomma for further info she is the health expert and has a little more knowledge than i would be able to give , also with ph levels being high, this is dangerous for them and they can DIE from it. so immediate attention should be brought to bring that down. Check out this link my my other links for further help [Registered users only can see links. ]


For feeding as i posted in several threads and posts, Vareity is the only way to feed your betta to make sure he's healthy and immune system is strong. Feeding your betta the same food over and over will make him sick. Sicknesses such as swimm bladder disorder and constipation. These are sicknesses not deadly if not ignored but very uncomfortable for them and horrible to see them lifeless!
Hikari is a brand breeders like myself and fish keepers like Fishmomma swear by! heres the link to help you see what they look like Hikari info : Tropical fish INDEX
Now Pellets and Betta Flakes should be there normal everyday diet! Feeding should be 2x a day also. Bloodworms and freezedried shrimp/or frozen are only treats and not there set diets food!! so don't over feed with this because they produce more problems in your bettas belly as would candy to a baby!
Now for the pellets, you should feed them 3-4 pellets each feeding, Also should be presoaked for about 3-5 minute before giving this to them. I KNOW IT DOESN'T SAY THAT IN THE DIRECTIONS but take it from me, and us (on this forum) presoaking it makes it easier for them to chew and easier to digest than the pellets hard. It also rehydrates.
Now for the flakes you want to serve a pinch full each feeding

Ok now this is very important..........ANY LEFT OVER FOODS AFTER 5 MIN REMOVE!!!
In this time after 5 minutes of feeding they already eating what there goin to eat so it should be taken out, if failure to remove excess food presists then expect poor water quality, Overfeeding(which can contribute to swim bladder disorders and other illnesses) and bacteria blooms. <~~ these are a no-no for your bettas lives-sake

Now for your weekly water changes, Even tho they can live in harsh conditions like i stated, filters should be purchased and 2 gallon per bettas should be available, when its possible. Purchasing a filter also makes weekly water changes a little bit easier, and if your like me and other hear with more than 4 tanks any help is good.

With filtered water only 40-50% water change should be done and replaced with CONDITIONED water! no filters a 70-80% water change IS NECCESARY!! doing this will ensure your bettas health
Heaters should be set for 74-82degreesF and a thermometer will help say what the temp is!
Also live plants are good for oxidation in your tanks water, removes some nitrates and other harmful substances in the water.
Also live scavengers, like snails that keep ammonia and algae levels down help also!

[Oscar Betta]

well she may just be getting use to her new settings, but if she continues to go to the bottom and stuff, she may just not like her setting and all stuff in the bowl. I am not that good at tank things so probably just ignore my late comment about not liking her setting lol. For the bloodworms, my betta didnt eat his flakes the first day, dont worry about it because she may be just sorta getting use to everything, but if she continues to not eat try a different food.

[bettalvr]

Hi Skysmom, and WELCOME!

First, your water. Have you checked your water hardness? There is general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH). I recommend checking them separately and not using a test for total hardness. General hardness is a measure of calcium (Ca++) and magnesium (Ma++) ions in the water and usually do not have a direct effect on pH, although hard water is usually more alkaline. Carbonate hardness is a measure of bicarbonate (HCO3-) and carbonate (CO3--) ions and does have a direct effect on the pH. KH acts as a buffering agent to help stabilize pH. In the area where I live, I have to constantly battle this dilemma. Anytime the city changes the chemicals in the water it can (doesn't always) cause changes in the way we have to treat our tanks. I try very hard not to use all these 'extras' but a softening pillow is a necessity here to maintain proper levels. If you continuously have pH fluctuations, you may want to check other water parameters including ammonia. When you say the "water tests okay for everything else" to what are you referring? What are you testing? What is your pH? Remember, you want to change the pH slowly, over a periods of several days. A big change stresses the fish and I have seen fish die from too drastic pH changes.

Also remember that your tank is new. You really haven't cycled your tank so you may see fluctuations in your water parameters. Not just pH but ammonia as well. Unfortunately many people still believe that bettas can live in dirty, nasty water with no oxygen and that is just soooo not true! Water quality is imperative to healthy bettas.

Watch your fish closely and give them a few days to adjust to their new home. (if you've every moved, you know how stressful it can be - same concept)

I truly hope all goes well with your new setup and that your fish adjust quickly. Keep us updated and let us know how things are going. And way to go for being on top of the ailments and water quality! You're already two steps ahead!!

[skysmom]

Hi all,

Thanks for the posts. The water quality test I am using is a Mardel Test Strip. It tests for Nitrate, Nitrite, Hardness, Alkalinity (buffering capacity) and pH. My Alkalinity and pH are generally higher than they should be but everything else is good. Again, spring water is better than our tap water so I am doing a 30-40% water change with that in the morning.

Thankfully, the red fish (garfielde) (the smallest one) is doing fine now. It seems that she just doesn't like blood worms, which the blue fish (sky) loves. Garfielde is very young, probably too young to have been sold at the pet store, and she likes the betta pellets, only if I chop them up a bit first so that she can easily chew them.

The weird thing is that as soon as she ate something she perked right back up. Even her color gets brighter after she eats!

I am wondering if you all have an opinion about feeding my betta's twice a day, only as much as they can eat in 5 minutes each time, but with the filtration they have to work harder and swim ALOT more than they would in a small bowl, especially since it's just two in a 10 gallon tank.

What do you guys think? Also Sun, the fish I only had for about 3 days never ate for us and I think that may have been why she died, although I'm really not sure...

Thanks for the posts!

Sincerely,

Sabrina, Skysmom

[FishMomma]

Glad to hear things are going better for your new little girls! For feeding, I would use the Hikari Betta Bio-Gold which is the best Betta food around. Even though the directions don't tell you this, soak the pellets in a small amount of water for about 5 minutes before feeding them. This will help prevent problems like constipation and allow them to chew the pellets easier. You won't have to chop them up if you do this. As for feeding them twice a day, that is fine but remember that Bettas are a little different than other types of fish. Bettas will eat until they cannot eat anymore. In the wild this is fine since sometimes they won't get to eat for up to a month. However, in captivity (in our pretty little tanks), they get fed everyday, so they shouldn't get to eat as much as they want for 5 minutes. Instead, Bettas should be fed a TOTAL of about 5-7 pellets PER DAY in either one or two feedings. Feeding them twice a day is fine. Usually Bettas are done eating in about 3 minutes. Remember that their tummies are about the size of their eyeball, too. For TREATS, freeze dried blood worms or frozen (but thawed out in a small amount of water first) brine shrimp are excellent. Feed them about 3-5 of these at a time two or three times a week.

Hope this helps! Follow the other posts' advice! All of these fellows know their stuff and tell you what is right for Betta's health! Let us know if you have any other questions and we'll be happy to help!