i have them in a 5 gallon tank. 1 male 1 female. i know, no males togather. i dont use a filter system. but i change water often. i let water sit for 24 hours before i put my fish in. because i leave the water up for 24 hours before i add fish do i have to add anything else? i had my male for 2 years and he is very healthy. this is how i have done this for 2 yearsWhat chemicals do i need to keep my betas healthy?you shouldn't keep a male with a female either.
i have found in general less chemicals are better. fresh water changes are better than chemicals. so in my opinion you are doing fine.
i add 1 tablespoon of dissolved aquarium salt to 5 gallons once a month. this will remove bacteria build ups in the gravel.
not much else will live in 5 gallons -- mollies get to be 4%26quot; -- way too big for 5 gallons. i have kept guppies with bettas and its not the problem everyone says it would be -- you really need about 10 gallons to keep any other fish with bettas though.What chemicals do i need to keep my betas healthy?there is this salt stuff that u need to put in it. once u buy it u will realize the salt thingys are very large. well all u have to do is put three salt pellets into the water. it keeps the fishy healthy, and i heard it keeps them from bieng so stressed out. haha, i was so evil to my beta, see, i didnt want to feed and clean it anymore so i stopped because i just wanted my fish to hurry up and die so i dont have to take care of it. it turned out i got in trouble, and so my mother gave it to her boss. lol. anyways, i feel really bad about it now. :( okay, and u cant put anymore fish in there, they will tear eachother apart. although i think u can put algea eaters in there. ??? look it up on google. good luck! :)What chemicals do i need to keep my betas healthy?Two things I noticed here. I think you're very lucky to have them in a small tank like that for such a long time. It's not just male and male Bettas that shouldn't be housed togeather, but with a male Betta, he should not be in a small tank like that with ANY Betta, so you've been pretty lucky so far.
Not having a filter, but chaning the water daily is good, but not really the best thing for them. You don't need any chemicals, I'll tell you that now. You need the stuff to dechlorinate your water, and occaisonally add a little salt for them, but thats about it. You probably sould get a small filter system, many small tanks made by Eclipse have them. Keep doing what you are doing, and count your blessings he hasn't killed the female by now. If anyone comes along saying you should add this or that for ammonia or nitrites, I'd really scrutinize that. These chemicals are not worth what you pay for and have very limited uses in practical aquarium keeping.
JVWhat chemicals do i need to keep my betas healthy?Please, remove your female betta from the tank. You shouldn't be keeping a male betta with any kind of betta. I know many say that male bettas can be kept with female ones, but the truth is that they cannot, and a male should only be with a female if spawning, in which case they should only be together for a minimal amount of time. The set-up may work at first...a month, two months, whatever but one day, instinct is going to kick in and they will start ripping each other apart before you even see it coming. Please don't do this.
In terms of chemicals, the basic stuff you need is:
1. Water conditioner. This is widely available in fish stores for a pretty affordable price. By letting the water sit out for 24 hours, you are removing the chlorine in the water, but the trace metals and chloramine in the water are not removed and are harmful to your fish. Get some water conditioner (I use AquaSafe by TetraAqua) and add the recommended dosage during every water change.
2. Aquarium salt. Make sure it's made for aquariums, not table salt. Add half a teaspoonful per gallon (so two and a half teaspoons) every water change. It helps to kill bacteria in the water.
That's pretty much it. Generally, the less chemicals there are in your water, the better, but this is the bare minimum that you need. (You need not add the salt with every change if you don't want to; I just find it works well as a preventative. But the water conditioner is a must.)
