frequency of water changes for betta fish bowls

dereks

dereks

AC Members
Mar 7, 2006
453
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I had to pull my betta fish out of my aquarium about a week ago, he got nippy with my guppies.

I stuck him in a 1/2 - 1 gallon bowl. I've been changing about 50% of the water everyday. Will this be stressful on him, or will it maintain ok water quality? Should I change it to 50% every other day?

He seems happy, active but not skittish.

Thanks!
 
So it's not good to use a bowl permanently, even if I do daily's? Not that I plan on it, just curious.
 
We've kept bettas in 1 gal bowels doing 75% water changes every 2 weeks. But we feed our betta one pellet at a time to prevent any from rotting in crevices in the substrate. With the water change I vacuum the substrate very thoroughly. Bettas I believe don't need pristine conditions.
 
Well, that 1 gallon bowl at least is twice the size of the half gallon bowl. At some point the water volume is so low that any little thing that goes wrong can kill the fish. Plus, who wants to live in a half gallon bowl?
 
Forgot to mention that I do a water change more frequently if the water becomes cloudy or smells a bit, but is rate for us. Usually by end of second week water is still crystal clear. No filter either.
 
I also stuck a plant on top of the bowl. Not a fully submerged aquatic plant, the kind where just the roots drop into the bowl. Not sure if this helps soak up toxins or creates them by rotting.
 
Likely helps more than hurts, but as mentioned with such little water volume you have no wiggle room at all should things go wrong. And just because bettas are said to survive in horrible conditions does not mean we shouldn't give them the conditions to thrive. JMO.
 
Why not just get a divider for your aquarium so that your betta can still live in good conditions without tearing up your guppies?
 
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