Betta Care

1.  5 American gallons, which is 20 litres. I usually keep mine in 25 litre tanks, which seems to be quite a
common size.

2. It does need to be cycled and heated. Bettas like it warm, so no less than 25^oC. They can be kept in unfiltered tanks, but having a filter makes it much easier.

3. If the tank is filtered, 25 to 30% once a week, though by the time I've cleaned the whole tank, I find half the water has gone.
If the tank is not filtered, 50% every day and 100% once a week. This is why I said that filtered tanks are easier.

4. They need specific betta pellets as their staple diet - Hikari is the make easiest to find. Live food, (or frozen live food) once or twice a week - I've found my bettas have all liked bloodworm and brine shrimp. If you have just the one fish, frozen live food is easier as you'll waste a lot buying bags of actually alive, live food. With the frozen cubes, you just cut off as much as the betta can eat and defrost it.
Be careful about overfeeding a betta. They will beg for food whenever they see you. Don't give in. They are very prone to bloat if overfed and will stuff themselves to the point of bursting if they have too much food. Brine shrimp does help clear them out, as does a cooked, deshelled, chopped up pea.
Fasting a betta for one day a week is also good for them. Fish do not eat every day in the wild.

5. Some of the bettas in shops are in very poor condition. If they are in small cups or tiny little tanks, look for a betta that is alert. If you hold your finger up to him and move it round, he should follow it. His pectoral fins (the ones by the gills) should be moving all the time.
Check his fins for ragged edges. Avoid fish that are covered in white spots, have a sunken or swollen abdomen, or have fins that are obviously disintegrating. Don't buy a fish with white/cloudy eyes. And don't buy a fish that just lies there on the bottom of the cup.
If the betta is in a tank with other fish, check all the above but also make sure he has not been attacked by the other fish as damage can be hard to heal. If he is cowering in a corner, he could just be trying to keep out of the way of the other fish, or he could be sick.

6. Decor in a betta's tank needs to be smooth or those long fins can get torn. The simplest way is to take an old pair of tights with you and run them over the potential purchase - if they snag, it's too rough. Though your user name sounds like you are male, so perhaps take a female companion to do this 
Batteas do like large leaved plants to rest on just under the surface. These can be real or silk, but not plastic as they tend to have sharp edges. A cave of some sort - coconut shells are good for this. You can buy them from a lot of fish shops and some have java fern attached to them.
Bettas do tend to get bored if their tank is too bare - lots of plants (real/silk) and things to swim through are good decor.

As for what to put on the bottom - if you want real plants, I'm not much good with them. others will be able to advise on what to use. If you don't want real plants, or just something like java fern which grows tied onto decor, then gravel, sand, whatever takes your fancy on the botom

Aha! You have another tank!

In that case, you can cycle a betta's tank very quickly by stealing some filter media from your main tank. If it was me, I'd just add about 2ppm ammonia after stealing the media to check that you have transferred enough bacteria , then 1ppm every couple of days till you find the betta you want. The filter will be ready when that 2ppm dose of ammonia gives readings of zero ammonia and nitrite after 24 hours.

Unless you add ammonia, the tests will tell you nothing unfortunately. Adding a dose of ammonia will show whether there are enough bacteria to cope with the ammonia made by the betta once you get one. If you don't add ammonia there is no way you can know if you have transfered enough bacteria.
I would try to source some ammonia asap, Homebase's cleaning section is one place that sells it.

If you don't want to do this, get a betta now and test the water for ammonia and nitrite at least twice a day for a week. If both stay at zero, good. If you see a reading other than zero for either or both, do a water change to get them to zero, and carry on the testing till they have both stayed at zero for a week.


Adding too much quick start is not likely to cause a problem as it is not likely to work. It contains the wrong species of nitrite eating bacteria as use of the correct one has been copyrighted by another company.


The tank should be OK. A lot of people say the minimum is 2.5 US galls, and yours is bigger than that. The only real downside is that if you have water quality problems, things will happen fast in a small volume, so make sure you do regular water changes. And this is another reason to check the filter can cope with a betta by adding ammonia before you get one - if there aren't enough bacteria ammonia will build up quickly once you have a fish, and if the quick start helps with the ammonia, then you'll get nitrite building up. Hopefully you will have transferred enough sponge for there to be enough of both bacteria.

It sounds like you have chosen a nice inquisitive betta. Some of them will interact very much with their owners.

Since you have it, use the quick start. But when you do a water change, only add the amount the bottle states for the volume of new water going in.

C'mon, you know the rules. Piccies, please.... and what have you called him?

I had to attach a hyperlink to my Instagram because I don't have an SD card for my Chromebook unfortunately. I named him Zeus  http://instagram.com/p/nsV7xUBvuy/

Question: I have a Claro 200 internal filter that came with the tank. I have attached the spray bar in hope the flow in the tank will be minimal and even reduced the flow but there seems to be a slight flow around the tank. The Betta seems to swim around happily from what I can see but is it something to be worried about. Here's the link to the filter so you know what I'm talking about http://www.diversa.info.pl/en/prod_483_claro_200_internal_filter.html

That's a handsome Betta you have there, Stefan.

Thank you, Colin. I'm sure once I get plants and get him on a good varied diet he'll perk up more. Watched many of his videos, he comes up with some brilliant ideas and something like that would be perfect in my Betta tank. Thanks for directing me to that video, I will give it a try one day.

I think the problem is solved now, I faced the spray bar against the back glass panel of the tank so it comes down the glass and into the water breaking up the current. In doing this it's now silent and the Betta a.k.a Zeus isn't getting thrown about no more, sorted!

Zeus is very handsome! Bah you're making me want one now!

Thank you, Jesnon!  He was too good to leave in the shop so I snapped him up quick. There was a more mature Betta, same type but the head was white, really nice but he didn't look in good condition unfortunately!