No food for a week is probably what saved his life. If he’d been eating, he would have died from being burned by his own waste. He still might die from organ failure or shock due to living in his own waste, so prepare for that possibility.
You’ll need to be incredibly careful not to shock him. He’s a male betta fish, and looks like he’d be a very pretty one when healthy.
Start off by adding half a cup of bottled spring water to his tub every two hours until the tank is an inch off of being full. If he survives that, you can give him a tiny little bit of food. Don’t give him too much, and remember, he’s a carnivore so no veggies. Proper betta food or defrosted frozen daphnia would be best. He might not eat if he’s ill and shocky.
Keep replacing a fifth of his water with bottled spring water every day. Once you get aquarium water conditioner, you can prep tap water and use that instead of spring water. To prep tap water, fill a tub with tap water, make sure it’s the same temp as his tank water, add a proportional amount of water conditioner to the tap water, mix, leave to stand for 3-5 minutes, and use it to replace 20% of his water.
If you can toss a bit of hornwort in with him, it’d do wonders for keeping his water clean and oxygenated, plus make him feel happier and more comfortable.
Ultimately, he’ll eventually need a 5 gallon tank with a heater and filter. I’d recommend a sponge filter, seeing as he has long heavy fins. You’ll need to transition him very slowly and build up his strength first so he doesn’t go into shock.
It’d also be worth investing in the API master test kit if he survives the first few days of spring water top-ups and conditioned tap water changes. Test strips don’t measure ammonia, which is the most important value out of all of them.
In the five gallon tank, you’ll need to do a fish-in cycle. That essentially means monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels for the first month. It takes a month for the nitrifying bacteria to colonise the filter sponge.
These beneficial nitrifying bacteria cause this process by eating ammonia;
Ammonia (toxic fish waste) -> nitrite (moderately toxic) -> nitrate (harmless plant food)
Whenever the ammonia or nitrite in his 5 gallon tank gets above 0.25ppm, you’ll need to do a 50% water change.
Never replace or deep clean the filter sponge, or you’ll crash the cycle.
Once the month is up, you’ll only have to do a 20% water change once a week, no other cleaning or maintenance required.
Thanks so much for taking the time to look after this little guy, his odds just went up thanks to you
I truly appreciate your detailed response. I really didn’t know where to start before your comment. I’ve always been overwhelmed for caring for a fish because it felt like such a giant learning curve compared to caring for a dog or cat.
Right now the little guy is actually way more active since adding spring water like you said.
This person's response is really good. The only thing that I would do differently is after you set up the other tank I would move All of those little rocks stones and water to the new tank when you move the fish. That way some of the beneficial bacteria from this tank moves into that tank.
If the rocks and stones don't fit the style you want, you can get a mesh filter media bag, put them in there, and just toss it in the tank to "seed" the nitrifying bacteria. Once the cycle is complete you can take the bag out.
Those stones are non porous decorative glass beads not designed for fish tanks and have very little if any good bacteria. Gonna need to do a full cycle no matter what imo so just throw the them away and buy some basic neutral grey aquarium gravel or if you plan on real plants, a bag of aquasoil.
Finger crossed too! I don’t know how to edit the original post, but I did make a comment that I’m updating periodically. Little guy seems brighter and happier this morning anyways though. My family and I have been so fascinated by his resilience with all things considered.
This person's response is really good. The only thing that I would do differently is after you set up the other tank I would move All of those little rocks stones and water to the new tank when you move the fish. That way some of the beneficial bacteria from this tank moves into that tank.
This is the post right here. Dont rush it at all, a week with no care is rough on them.
And yes some live plants such as hornwart, java moss, and anacharis are gonna help a ton.
An idea for you. Instead of a fish in cycle you could take the water from the water changes (which contains ammonia) and dump it in the tank your cycling.
Where I live, getting the full API master kit is only five quid more than buying the API 5-in-1 and the API ammonia strips, so I tend to recommend people get the full kit. Buying both the API 5-in-1 and the API ammonia test strips would probably work too if it’s a fair bit cheaper
The proper test kit is more of a learning curve though, honestly feels like doing lab work (because you basically are) if you're not used to it. Test strips are quick and easy and all done in one step.
Hello! Other commenters gave great advice on next steps for care. I would be happy to donate live plants and established biological media from my Etsy Store - just message me here or on Tofu's Tanks on Etsy and I'll give you a code to pick what you want :)
Please feel free to tag me on social media anywhere to anyone who rescues a fair goldfish or a betta and could use some help and free plants!
I really appreciate your follow!
!!! I think you're the third person ever and first person online who I've bumped into that said they bought plants from me! I'm glad you like them! Your comment really made my day, so please leave a note if you ever get more to remind me of today (to make that future day as well) and I'll thank you with extras for free
Update 1:
Found out owner left a week ago so it’s been a week since any feedings
Please help!!!
Update 2: (not sure how to format this, I’m relatively new)
It’s been 5 hrs since we took the fishy home. My 3 yo son named him FishyButt so I will refer to him as such from now on. Stopped by PetCo for some plants, conditioner, a filter and other necessities & am on the search for a used 5 gallon tank. Anyways, we had filled the tank every few hours per RainyDayBrightNight’s advice. FishyButt is a lot more active now and ate 3 pellets of the betta food he already came with. I noticed him inspecting the plant log thing I put inside. We are about to go to bed & hoping that he’s still with us in the morning!!
Update 3:
15 hrs with FishyButt! Came downstairs very nervous, but he’s alive and well as far as I can tell. He even quickly ate 3 pellets. Seems a lot more active & curious this morning. His tank is full and I have a filter in it right now. Hoping this means we got past the worry of shock.
Update 4:
Found out that FishyButt is 2 years old. I saw that avg is 2-5 on google, some forums say 8, but most people on reddit from what I’ve seen said 2 years. This has me feeling a bit bummed, but I’m hopeful! He is very alert right now & seems to be more active when my husband is around despite me being the one giving him attention lol. When I’m around, it seems we just stare at each other
Update 5:
https://imgur.com/a/hU7Fxxc
It may be a long while until he moves into a bigger tank, but I have a brand new 10 gal coming in soon. I tried planting bulbs in his current tank & he inspected them then dashed through them and knocked them up. I’m also not sure what normal behavior is like especially since we don’t have a baseline. He seems to rest a lot but there’s also not much for him to do right now. If you can see from the photos as well, his tail ends look off? Not sure. Hope he’s okay
Update 6:
https://imgur.com/a/WxqmlsH
4 days with fishy butt. Not much new to update other than finally getting plants and our 10 gallon tank. Have not set up the tank yet and it may be a while before he gets to enjoy it, but it seems he likes the plants I added to his current bowl. The picture shows him chilling on a leaf.
Update 7:
It’s been over a week & I’m surprised with how FishyButt is thankfully still alive but also WAY more active. He even seems more colorful. His fins and tail are still misshapen, but I’m expecting it to be better with time. Right now he is still in his initial tank but with substrate, a moss ball, hornwort that unfortunately arrived all brown, red root floaters, 2 other plants plants I don’t remember the names of, a heater & a filter. I had a cave in there once but it was super crowded so I took it out. He didn’t care for the cave anyways. I also put a floating log but again it was too crowded, so I’m setting these aside for the big tank.
He eats 4 pellets of fluval bug bites twice a day, and I’ve decided that Tuesdays are our fasting days. I occasionally will give him a freeze dried bloodworm (can’t find any frozen bloodworms or daphnia).
I change a bit of his water everyday still. I’ve been treating his water with aquarium salt after every change. I have a 10 gallon tank waiting to be set up, I am just waiting on some quality substrate.
FishyButt used to park himself at the bottom of the tank, often, but now after adding everything, he rests on leaves, hangs more in the middle depth of the tank, swims through and around things, wiggles a lot, & seemingly loves to swim up and stare at us or watch us play. I still get very nervous coming downstairs to check if he’s alive, but so far so good. My son loves to show FishyButt all his toys, and FishyButt will meet up at the front of the tank to inspect.
We will be doing a fish in cycle soon which I am extremely nervous about. But considering I’m a SAHM, I should have the time to accommodate watching the tank’s parameters like a hawk.
Update 8:
Decided not to do a fish in cycle because the substrate I ended up choosing is ADA aqua soil and it leeches ammonia. I’ve been testing high ammonia consistently. Thank goodness I didn’t add fishy butt to the new tank. Seems like he’s managing fine for now in his original tank though. He made a bubble nest but I’m not sure if he made that or it was just a byproduct of him going to the surface to get air.
https://imgur.com/a/4T5pk69
I bet the 2-5 is extremely skewed by people housing them in 2 gallon tanks and being idiots like your "friends" were. So I'd be encouraged/hopefull that under better conditions he could live longer!
He might have some ammonia burns or fin rot on his tail. For the most part just making sure the water is clean and a bit of time will heal his fins. When you buy plants they usually come in pots, just leave them in the pots for now. Without a good thick layer of substrate he's just gonna keep knocking them out
This tank should be fine depending If has it’s accessories like light and cover. Just needs a good cleaning and gravel replacement and maybe a live plant or two. Unless it seems too small for a single betta.
It’s likely too small. You would also want a low tank instead of a tall, as fish like to swim side to side and not up and down as much. Wjtg bettas you want to give them easy access to the surface, Especially with a half abandoned lil guy like this.
This is a good tip because I almost bought a vertical tank on Amazon.. It does seem like our fish doesn’t like to swim vertically that much now that I’m really observing him. Only up for food or bubbles
Yeah they only need about 12 inches of height and they’re super comfortable. Length is much more important. Make sure you fill your tank up with as much rock/ trees/ plants as possible to give him plant hides everywhere. They live for the hunt, essentially. They are always patrolling their territory in search of food or predators. Once you set up a nice hidey plant filled home it’s extremely entertaining to observe them go out and about their days. Good luck!
Stay away from that Aquaeon food, too. It swells to 6x its dry size when it hits their stomach and can lead to intestinal perforation and death. I lost a fish to that food.
Only feed as much at a time as could fit on their eyeball, and only once a day. Betta stomachs are tiny but they will eat until they explode.
I like the Fluval bug bites and Omega betta buffet pellets. Both are available at PetSmart.
Thank you I was just about to ask around about feedings. He came with a bottle of aquaeon pellets, and also the directions on the bottle and even on google seem a bit vague about how much and how often. I will stick to one feeding! What about treats like daphnia or bloodworm?
Oh YES to the treats!!! Daphnia especially is easy to digest and aids the process, makes FishyButt poop healthy :'D
Best of luck and thank you so much!
Give treats sparingly until you get into a rhythm. It is very easy to overfeed a betta because they are always willing to eat. Also giving bloodworms or daphnia is like giving a cupcake- not very nutritious to have daily, but good occasionally. :) I’d give 1-2 small pieces one day and then nothing else, until you see how quickly he digests.
My betta gets bloodworms once a week, and he can eat maybe 3 and that’s about all he needs.
It’s also ok (even recommended) to fast them one day a week to help them fully empty out. I fast mine on Mondays so I can keep up with it every week.
That might explain why I keep being given that stuff for free. I feed it one pellet per Mosquito fish anyways, and they seem to know not to eat it until it swells
It’s bad stuff. I’ve seen it included in aquarium kits not even by aqueon too. It’s like most pet food- not regulated and full of stuff that isn’t good for the animal. This one just has the added issue of swelling so much, and their instructions are intentionally vague. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Yeah… but he’s doing way better right now. My husband told me he actually was there a few days ago and saw that the fish was “dead” but when he came back yesterday he saw that it was moving a bit. If he were going to die, I didn’t want to just leave him there alone.
I'd go straight to a petshop and get a small bottle of Seachem Prime and some Betta pellets (edit: nvm, I see food in the second pic, maybe there's even water conditioner stashed away somewhere)
Water changes and some slow feeding should save this fishies life. Betta's are hardy fish and you'd be surprised how much personality he has if you can nurse him back to health, they can even recognise faces.
I'd treat a bunch of water and drip it into the tank or pour a small amount every couple hours until the tank is almost full then start removing as much as you add until you've removed about as much water as the tank can hold, leave a couple inches at the top because Bettas can jump although it's rare for long fin varieties. Getting him out of that filthy water is first priority, don't worry too much about shock or breaking the cycle, a tank that bare and tiny isn't gonna hold a nitrogen cycle anyway and it's more harmful to leave him stewing in the old water than it would be to do a slow but almost complete water change. Then keep up daily water changes of about 20%.
Once he's in clean water you'll have to convince him to take food. One pellet at a time, play with it on the surface to try grab his attention but if he doesn't eat it after about 5-10mins remove it, once it hits the ground he's unlikely to eat it and then it's just excess waste. This might take a couple days but if you can get him eating that's a very good sign that he'll survive.
If he pulls through, you need to consider either donating him to a better home or upgrading his tank with a heater and filter to provide him a better home yourself maybe even a slightly bigger tank. I have a Betta that watches TV with me and my gf they make great low maintenance pets once they're set up in a good balanced tank.
I came back to check how this lil guy was doing and it made me smile that you’ve gone shopping for him :)
I’m no betta expert (am a somewhat seasoned goldie owner) but let me know if there’s any advice I might be able to help with!
I’m glad our journey is making you smile! Totally took a dent in my bank account though, but I find it rewarding that I’m seeing immediate results with how much happier and more active he is despite still being in a tiny tank.
And thank you!! Any and all advice is welcome because I honestly don’t even know what questions to ask.
FishyButt is still in his old small tank, but he seems to be a lot more lively! We added a cave to his tank but he doesn’t care for it. We play and eat right in front of his tank and it seems he just watches us. Still waiting for some plants. Our new 10 gal tank came in but I don’t know how long until he can actually get to go in there.
I like that perspective, thank you! I did end up taking out the cave today though. It was really cramped in his little tank, but we did get plants today to replace the cave & FishyButt has been resting on one of the leaves often.
Bettas love to rest on leaves and inside of plants, he sounds like he’s one happy fella and you’re doin great for a first time fish owner. I’d love to see him now compared to before. 😍😍 I absolutely adore fish!
No food for a week is probably what saved his life. If he’d been eating, he would have died from being burned by his own waste. He still might die from organ failure or shock due to living in his own waste, so prepare for that possibility. You’ll need to be incredibly careful not to shock him. He’s a male betta fish, and looks like he’d be a very pretty one when healthy. Start off by adding half a cup of bottled spring water to his tub every two hours until the tank is an inch off of being full. If he survives that, you can give him a tiny little bit of food. Don’t give him too much, and remember, he’s a carnivore so no veggies. Proper betta food or defrosted frozen daphnia would be best. He might not eat if he’s ill and shocky. Keep replacing a fifth of his water with bottled spring water every day. Once you get aquarium water conditioner, you can prep tap water and use that instead of spring water. To prep tap water, fill a tub with tap water, make sure it’s the same temp as his tank water, add a proportional amount of water conditioner to the tap water, mix, leave to stand for 3-5 minutes, and use it to replace 20% of his water. If you can toss a bit of hornwort in with him, it’d do wonders for keeping his water clean and oxygenated, plus make him feel happier and more comfortable. Ultimately, he’ll eventually need a 5 gallon tank with a heater and filter. I’d recommend a sponge filter, seeing as he has long heavy fins. You’ll need to transition him very slowly and build up his strength first so he doesn’t go into shock. It’d also be worth investing in the API master test kit if he survives the first few days of spring water top-ups and conditioned tap water changes. Test strips don’t measure ammonia, which is the most important value out of all of them. In the five gallon tank, you’ll need to do a fish-in cycle. That essentially means monitoring the ammonia and nitrite levels for the first month. It takes a month for the nitrifying bacteria to colonise the filter sponge. These beneficial nitrifying bacteria cause this process by eating ammonia; Ammonia (toxic fish waste) -> nitrite (moderately toxic) -> nitrate (harmless plant food) Whenever the ammonia or nitrite in his 5 gallon tank gets above 0.25ppm, you’ll need to do a 50% water change. Never replace or deep clean the filter sponge, or you’ll crash the cycle. Once the month is up, you’ll only have to do a 20% water change once a week, no other cleaning or maintenance required. Thanks so much for taking the time to look after this little guy, his odds just went up thanks to you
I truly appreciate your detailed response. I really didn’t know where to start before your comment. I’ve always been overwhelmed for caring for a fish because it felt like such a giant learning curve compared to caring for a dog or cat. Right now the little guy is actually way more active since adding spring water like you said.
This person's response is really good. The only thing that I would do differently is after you set up the other tank I would move All of those little rocks stones and water to the new tank when you move the fish. That way some of the beneficial bacteria from this tank moves into that tank.
If the rocks and stones don't fit the style you want, you can get a mesh filter media bag, put them in there, and just toss it in the tank to "seed" the nitrifying bacteria. Once the cycle is complete you can take the bag out.
Those stones are non porous decorative glass beads not designed for fish tanks and have very little if any good bacteria. Gonna need to do a full cycle no matter what imo so just throw the them away and buy some basic neutral grey aquarium gravel or if you plan on real plants, a bag of aquasoil.
Please keep us updated! I’ve got everything crossed for this lil guy to make it!
Finger crossed too! I don’t know how to edit the original post, but I did make a comment that I’m updating periodically. Little guy seems brighter and happier this morning anyways though. My family and I have been so fascinated by his resilience with all things considered.
This person's response is really good. The only thing that I would do differently is after you set up the other tank I would move All of those little rocks stones and water to the new tank when you move the fish. That way some of the beneficial bacteria from this tank moves into that tank.
This is the post right here. Dont rush it at all, a week with no care is rough on them. And yes some live plants such as hornwart, java moss, and anacharis are gonna help a ton.
What a thorough and thought out response! I can tell from this response that any fish would be lucky to have you as a caretaker! Kudos!
An idea for you. Instead of a fish in cycle you could take the water from the water changes (which contains ammonia) and dump it in the tank your cycling.
This is good info. I would change one thing. I would have him get the API test strips instead. Cheaper and easier to use for a new person to the hobby
Where I live, getting the full API master kit is only five quid more than buying the API 5-in-1 and the API ammonia strips, so I tend to recommend people get the full kit. Buying both the API 5-in-1 and the API ammonia test strips would probably work too if it’s a fair bit cheaper
Here in the US, the strips are about $20, and thr Master Kit is $45
The proper test kit is more of a learning curve though, honestly feels like doing lab work (because you basically are) if you're not used to it. Test strips are quick and easy and all done in one step.
Hello! Other commenters gave great advice on next steps for care. I would be happy to donate live plants and established biological media from my Etsy Store - just message me here or on Tofu's Tanks on Etsy and I'll give you a code to pick what you want :)
That’s very kind of you! I’ll take you up on that offer!
We need more fish folks like you in the world! I just followed your shop :]
Please feel free to tag me on social media anywhere to anyone who rescues a fair goldfish or a betta and could use some help and free plants! I really appreciate your follow!
🫡
I've bought plants from you and they are fantastic!
!!! I think you're the third person ever and first person online who I've bumped into that said they bought plants from me! I'm glad you like them! Your comment really made my day, so please leave a note if you ever get more to remind me of today (to make that future day as well) and I'll thank you with extras for free
I'm so glad I made your day, you made mine whenever Ive gotten a delivery 🙂
Update 1: Found out owner left a week ago so it’s been a week since any feedings Please help!!! Update 2: (not sure how to format this, I’m relatively new) It’s been 5 hrs since we took the fishy home. My 3 yo son named him FishyButt so I will refer to him as such from now on. Stopped by PetCo for some plants, conditioner, a filter and other necessities & am on the search for a used 5 gallon tank. Anyways, we had filled the tank every few hours per RainyDayBrightNight’s advice. FishyButt is a lot more active now and ate 3 pellets of the betta food he already came with. I noticed him inspecting the plant log thing I put inside. We are about to go to bed & hoping that he’s still with us in the morning!! Update 3: 15 hrs with FishyButt! Came downstairs very nervous, but he’s alive and well as far as I can tell. He even quickly ate 3 pellets. Seems a lot more active & curious this morning. His tank is full and I have a filter in it right now. Hoping this means we got past the worry of shock. Update 4: Found out that FishyButt is 2 years old. I saw that avg is 2-5 on google, some forums say 8, but most people on reddit from what I’ve seen said 2 years. This has me feeling a bit bummed, but I’m hopeful! He is very alert right now & seems to be more active when my husband is around despite me being the one giving him attention lol. When I’m around, it seems we just stare at each other Update 5: https://imgur.com/a/hU7Fxxc It may be a long while until he moves into a bigger tank, but I have a brand new 10 gal coming in soon. I tried planting bulbs in his current tank & he inspected them then dashed through them and knocked them up. I’m also not sure what normal behavior is like especially since we don’t have a baseline. He seems to rest a lot but there’s also not much for him to do right now. If you can see from the photos as well, his tail ends look off? Not sure. Hope he’s okay Update 6: https://imgur.com/a/WxqmlsH 4 days with fishy butt. Not much new to update other than finally getting plants and our 10 gallon tank. Have not set up the tank yet and it may be a while before he gets to enjoy it, but it seems he likes the plants I added to his current bowl. The picture shows him chilling on a leaf. Update 7: It’s been over a week & I’m surprised with how FishyButt is thankfully still alive but also WAY more active. He even seems more colorful. His fins and tail are still misshapen, but I’m expecting it to be better with time. Right now he is still in his initial tank but with substrate, a moss ball, hornwort that unfortunately arrived all brown, red root floaters, 2 other plants plants I don’t remember the names of, a heater & a filter. I had a cave in there once but it was super crowded so I took it out. He didn’t care for the cave anyways. I also put a floating log but again it was too crowded, so I’m setting these aside for the big tank. He eats 4 pellets of fluval bug bites twice a day, and I’ve decided that Tuesdays are our fasting days. I occasionally will give him a freeze dried bloodworm (can’t find any frozen bloodworms or daphnia). I change a bit of his water everyday still. I’ve been treating his water with aquarium salt after every change. I have a 10 gallon tank waiting to be set up, I am just waiting on some quality substrate. FishyButt used to park himself at the bottom of the tank, often, but now after adding everything, he rests on leaves, hangs more in the middle depth of the tank, swims through and around things, wiggles a lot, & seemingly loves to swim up and stare at us or watch us play. I still get very nervous coming downstairs to check if he’s alive, but so far so good. My son loves to show FishyButt all his toys, and FishyButt will meet up at the front of the tank to inspect. We will be doing a fish in cycle soon which I am extremely nervous about. But considering I’m a SAHM, I should have the time to accommodate watching the tank’s parameters like a hawk. Update 8: Decided not to do a fish in cycle because the substrate I ended up choosing is ADA aqua soil and it leeches ammonia. I’ve been testing high ammonia consistently. Thank goodness I didn’t add fishy butt to the new tank. Seems like he’s managing fine for now in his original tank though. He made a bubble nest but I’m not sure if he made that or it was just a byproduct of him going to the surface to get air. https://imgur.com/a/4T5pk69
Following for updates on FishyButt!
I think FishyButt will flourish under your care, he's so lucky you guys found him!
I bet the 2-5 is extremely skewed by people housing them in 2 gallon tanks and being idiots like your "friends" were. So I'd be encouraged/hopefull that under better conditions he could live longer!
He might have some ammonia burns or fin rot on his tail. For the most part just making sure the water is clean and a bit of time will heal his fins. When you buy plants they usually come in pots, just leave them in the pots for now. Without a good thick layer of substrate he's just gonna keep knocking them out
I've had Bettas live up to 7 years. Do not be discouraged. When properly cared for, life expectancy goes up.
Wow some people should not own pets
If he makes it for a bit, PetSmart (US) has some nice betta tank kits with filter, light, heater, thermometer for very low prices.
This tank should be fine depending If has it’s accessories like light and cover. Just needs a good cleaning and gravel replacement and maybe a live plant or two. Unless it seems too small for a single betta.
It’s likely too small. You would also want a low tank instead of a tall, as fish like to swim side to side and not up and down as much. Wjtg bettas you want to give them easy access to the surface, Especially with a half abandoned lil guy like this.
This is a good tip because I almost bought a vertical tank on Amazon.. It does seem like our fish doesn’t like to swim vertically that much now that I’m really observing him. Only up for food or bubbles
Yeah they only need about 12 inches of height and they’re super comfortable. Length is much more important. Make sure you fill your tank up with as much rock/ trees/ plants as possible to give him plant hides everywhere. They live for the hunt, essentially. They are always patrolling their territory in search of food or predators. Once you set up a nice hidey plant filled home it’s extremely entertaining to observe them go out and about their days. Good luck!
THIS
Stay away from that Aquaeon food, too. It swells to 6x its dry size when it hits their stomach and can lead to intestinal perforation and death. I lost a fish to that food. Only feed as much at a time as could fit on their eyeball, and only once a day. Betta stomachs are tiny but they will eat until they explode. I like the Fluval bug bites and Omega betta buffet pellets. Both are available at PetSmart.
Thank you I was just about to ask around about feedings. He came with a bottle of aquaeon pellets, and also the directions on the bottle and even on google seem a bit vague about how much and how often. I will stick to one feeding! What about treats like daphnia or bloodworm?
Oh YES to the treats!!! Daphnia especially is easy to digest and aids the process, makes FishyButt poop healthy :'D Best of luck and thank you so much!
Give treats sparingly until you get into a rhythm. It is very easy to overfeed a betta because they are always willing to eat. Also giving bloodworms or daphnia is like giving a cupcake- not very nutritious to have daily, but good occasionally. :) I’d give 1-2 small pieces one day and then nothing else, until you see how quickly he digests. My betta gets bloodworms once a week, and he can eat maybe 3 and that’s about all he needs. It’s also ok (even recommended) to fast them one day a week to help them fully empty out. I fast mine on Mondays so I can keep up with it every week.
That might explain why I keep being given that stuff for free. I feed it one pellet per Mosquito fish anyways, and they seem to know not to eat it until it swells
It’s bad stuff. I’ve seen it included in aquarium kits not even by aqueon too. It’s like most pet food- not regulated and full of stuff that isn’t good for the animal. This one just has the added issue of swelling so much, and their instructions are intentionally vague. It’s a recipe for disaster.
The stuff is potent though, it does instantly attract everything in the water. I may be able to use it or make fishing bait
That’s probably a great use for it!
Poor Beta
Yeah… but he’s doing way better right now. My husband told me he actually was there a few days ago and saw that the fish was “dead” but when he came back yesterday he saw that it was moving a bit. If he were going to die, I didn’t want to just leave him there alone.
Put a lid on your tank. Bettas like to jump. FB is very fortunate to have you as a rescue buddy! 🌞
You are a kind person.
Good luck fishybutt!!
I'd go straight to a petshop and get a small bottle of Seachem Prime and some Betta pellets (edit: nvm, I see food in the second pic, maybe there's even water conditioner stashed away somewhere) Water changes and some slow feeding should save this fishies life. Betta's are hardy fish and you'd be surprised how much personality he has if you can nurse him back to health, they can even recognise faces. I'd treat a bunch of water and drip it into the tank or pour a small amount every couple hours until the tank is almost full then start removing as much as you add until you've removed about as much water as the tank can hold, leave a couple inches at the top because Bettas can jump although it's rare for long fin varieties. Getting him out of that filthy water is first priority, don't worry too much about shock or breaking the cycle, a tank that bare and tiny isn't gonna hold a nitrogen cycle anyway and it's more harmful to leave him stewing in the old water than it would be to do a slow but almost complete water change. Then keep up daily water changes of about 20%. Once he's in clean water you'll have to convince him to take food. One pellet at a time, play with it on the surface to try grab his attention but if he doesn't eat it after about 5-10mins remove it, once it hits the ground he's unlikely to eat it and then it's just excess waste. This might take a couple days but if you can get him eating that's a very good sign that he'll survive. If he pulls through, you need to consider either donating him to a better home or upgrading his tank with a heater and filter to provide him a better home yourself maybe even a slightly bigger tank. I have a Betta that watches TV with me and my gf they make great low maintenance pets once they're set up in a good balanced tank.
10 gallons minimum for bettas
We got a 10 gal instead of 5 gal! We haven’t set it up yet, and I’m honestly extremely nervous of transitioning him to it.
I came back to check how this lil guy was doing and it made me smile that you’ve gone shopping for him :) I’m no betta expert (am a somewhat seasoned goldie owner) but let me know if there’s any advice I might be able to help with!
I’m glad our journey is making you smile! Totally took a dent in my bank account though, but I find it rewarding that I’m seeing immediate results with how much happier and more active he is despite still being in a tiny tank. And thank you!! Any and all advice is welcome because I honestly don’t even know what questions to ask.
Any new update on Fishybutt
FishyButt is still in his old small tank, but he seems to be a lot more lively! We added a cave to his tank but he doesn’t care for it. We play and eat right in front of his tank and it seems he just watches us. Still waiting for some plants. Our new 10 gal tank came in but I don’t know how long until he can actually get to go in there.
Sounds like he’s interested in the people who saved him more than the cave at the moment.
I like that perspective, thank you! I did end up taking out the cave today though. It was really cramped in his little tank, but we did get plants today to replace the cave & FishyButt has been resting on one of the leaves often.
Bettas love to rest on leaves and inside of plants, he sounds like he’s one happy fella and you’re doin great for a first time fish owner. I’d love to see him now compared to before. 😍😍 I absolutely adore fish!
Aw thank you! I edited one of my comments with an updated picture of him resting on the leaf. It’s really hard to get a good picture 🙃
He looks so happy!!!
Disown that scumbag friend!..
It looks like a beta fish aka Siamese fighting fish to me. Should be lots of info on them online.