How to take better care of my beta fish? ?

Question

Okay, so i've had a beta fish since october 5th, 2008. (day after my birthday :D ) He's still alive. But when i got him he had these gorgeous bright blue eyes and i've noticed they've been getting duller and duller. I feed him 5 pellets twice a day. And clean his tank (it fits more then 1 gallon of water) every month or so. Also, i have this castle thing, i bought it for him cause i thought he was bored. I have about two inches high of pebbles and stones.

How do i make his eyes back to the bright blue color?

How often should i be cleaning his tank? (I'm going to start keeping track)

Is there to many pebbles in his tank?

Also, how long should he live for?

I want to be the best fish mommy i can :D

Answer 1

The best thing you can do for your betta is to get him a bigger tank, a minimum of 2.5 gallon with a heater and a filter is the ONLY way your betta will thrive, anything smaller, your betta will only survive not thrive.

If you had your betta for about a year than he's probably about 2 years old (pet shops usually sell their bettas up to a year old because that's when they are in their prime). In a bowl that's a little bigger than a gallon, your will need to be doing complete water changes every week (not every month) to insure that the ammonia doesn't get to high (ammonia is deadly to fish). Five pellets a day is about right (take a good look at it's eye, that's how big a betta's stomach is). Bettas average lifespan is 3.5 years but with great care they can easily live 6 or 7 years (I have one that just passed away at 8 years and 4 months), in a bowl or gallon of water maybe 2 years. Bettas are tropical fish that like temperatures in the low 80's, with a heat lamp, it fluctuates too much, which in time will weakin it's immune system.

Good luck!

Answer 2

In my opinion, you're feeding him far too much. I feed my bettas a small pinch of "aqua culture betta micro-pellet food" every third day. Sometimes I feed them freeze dried blood worms. Gross I know, but they love it.

Fish start to lose their color and move less when they're sick or malnourished. It's a good thing you noticed.

There are also different kinds of foods that make fish brighter and more full of color. If you can you might want to call the pet store where you got him and ask what kinds of foods they use.

Answer 3

It hasn't been October 5th 2008 yet. My two beta's eyes have similarly turned duller after I had them for a while. I'm not sure what to do about it. I think you should reduce the amount of pellets you give him. Its best not to overfeed, and four or five pellets is enough for one day. You should clean the tank maybe every week to two weeks. Its not good to clean too much. Beta fish usually lived between a year and two, one of mine I've had since last December, the other since June. And you should get a bulb and turn the light on for some time everyday, especially if the fish is in a darker area.

Answer 4

I had a betta fish once I bought it in December 2002 and it died November 2004 so that's pretty good for a Betta I thought.

This is what I did--I did not have him in a tank just a small bowl (because I heard smaller areas are better for them however they do not like to have their habitat changed so I don't know if I suggest changing it)

I fed him once a day or every other day--they pellet variety--anyway it said something on the container about keep colors bright or something.

I cleaned his bowl and changed water once every 2 or 3 days depending on how the water looked--you should put him in a separate bowl with the old water while you are doing this---the new water should be left out at room temperature for a day or at least awhile--clean all of the rocks and the tank/bowl and anything in it with a mild soap rinse well--then put the new water in and add the fish.  

a dirty tank= bacteria= dead fish

overfeeding=infections=sick fish

edit--a pinch of pellets will do--enough to eat in 1 to 2 minutes

check on it and remove uneaten food after about 5 minutes--if you don't then the food will cause a dirty tank and bacteria to grow and get your fish sick