hello friends, new fish owner here.

[MastaChefSteve]

I messed up in a bad way. Here is my story, (any links and advice is appreciated.)

I recently bought a Betta and one of the hanging wall half bowls. I got frustraited because it was so small i couldnt decorate it, and i figured my fish must be frustraited too!

One day after work i set out to the only fish store in my small town. Its called "Fish Fettish" so i figured the owner would know what he was talking about. I told him i wanted a larger tank for my betta, something i could decorate. I decided to get a 5 gallon tank. He told me i needed a filter, a heater, some liquid called Betta complete water conditioner, and whatever i wanted to decorate it with.

I was only planning on having my betta in it but him being the crafty business man he is suggested i get a friend for my betta. I asked if other fish got along with Bettas and he said of course.

This is where things get bad.. (forgive me for trusting this man) He showed me Bala sharks. There was a betta in a tank with 3 bala sharks. They looked amazing and very fun so i bought one. (At the time i didnt know they only did well in groups and i didnt know they could grow to be up to a foot long.) He said something about cycling the tank and asked me to bring in water every week for 4 to 6 weeks. I asked if i needed to do that before putting in the fish and he said no the fish are needed for the cycling process. (sounds kind of cruel but I decided i should trust him.

I have had this tank for about 4 days, i Put 3 live plants in it and a plastic dragon decoration. The bala shark acted very odd for the whole time he lived rip poor bala i feel horrible and am very sorry. I am not sure what did him in, I know it wasnt the betta.

So my questions are,
Did i need to cycle before adding these poor fish?
Should i take the Betta out and readd water and cycle it?
I keep it between 75-80 Degrees, is this ok?
Should i take the filter out now that it is only the betta?
Is it ok to have air pump decorations with my betta?
Is there anything else i can add to this small tank without overpopulating it? (Currently 3 plants and 1 betta in it)
Should i consider myself a complete jerk and never own another animal again?

Any answers or links are very much appreciated. I have been reading a lot but its hard to find answers for specific questions. Thanks a lot.

 

[geekgirl]

I think other than the Bala Shark, everything else is fine. You do not need the heater really unless you actually keep the house very cold. Technically, you don't need the filter either. But keep it so you will have better quality water. Everything should be good now just keep the betta on his own for a while. There are not many things that go well with Bettas since they think most anything is a threat(another male). And definetely DO NOT add a female Betta, unless your going for 2 hurt/dead fish. Do about a 25% water change on the weekends. Only feed him sparingly, be sure he eats everything you give him. I feed mine a few(2-4 once a day) Betta Gold Pellets and he's happy! Bettas love planted tanks! And i hear from ppl that they Really Love Bloodworms. Good Luck!
I am a newbie too!

 

[ishar]

Did i need to cycle before adding these poor fish?
>Well ideally yes, you should have. However I did a fish-in cycle and I haven't lost a fish yet. You just have to make very sure you keep up with water changes and gravel cleaning.

Should i take the Betta out and read water and cycle it?
>No... Just change out about 25% of your water say on Wednesdays and then 50% on the weekend (or something similar). Doing a fish-in cycle shouldn't kill your betta if you stay on top of water changes and if you clean the gravel using a siphon tube- a necessity in fish keeping. However, it is likely someone will tell you to do as you mentioned, but IMO I don't think it is necessary.

I keep it between 75-80 Degrees, is this ok?
>I have a betta in my tank and I keep it at nearly 80- yes, 75 to 80 would be very good.

Should i take the filter out now that it is only the betta?
>What type of filter is it? A box hanging on the side? A sponge filter or and under gravel filter?
>No- a filter will help you so much and your betta will love you much more if you keep it. All tanks *should* have a filter. Otherwise the water gets stagnant and very little aeration. Also, during your cycle process, I suggest not to change your filter cartridges as they are key in helping to grow the cycling bacteria.

Is it ok to have air pump decorations with my betta?
>I am unsure on this point, but I would assume that it is not a bad thing. Whether he will actually like it or not I do not know, but I think it should be ok.

Is there anything else i can add to this small tank without overpopulating it? (Currently 3 plants and 1 betta in it)
>Are these real or plastic/silk plants?
>I would think that a 5G could handle a small bottom feeder like a cory catfish or a shrimp, but I do not really know. If you do add any fish it would have to be one or two small ones, and that, IMO, would look worse than just one betta. I think a small bottom feeder would help a lot. An interesting shrimp will keep the bottom looking good while the betta takes care of the water and top part.

Should i consider myself a complete jerk and never own another animal again?
>No no no. While you made a mistake in not researching your stuff first, you did the right thing by coming here and trying to correct what you can, while you can. I believe your betta will be fine as long as you stay on top of water changes for the first while and keep feeding him.

I am a fairly new fishkeeper myself, so please wait for someone with more experience to either support or contradict me.

By the way, Welcome to the Tank

 

[silver dollars]

Cycling water in a tank is one of the key things you need to do before adding fish. This helps make the water safe for the fish and plants because in the cycle, the ammonia, nitrAte, and nitrIte levels get filtered out so the water is healthy. But since you have already added the fish into the tank during the cycle, just remove 25% of the water at the beginning of the week, and then 25% again on the weekend.

No no you are not a jerk. Alot of the fish owners that i know got into the hobby because of a mistake they made. You can only grow stronger in the hobby by learning from previous mistakes and asking all the questions you have about fish. And you did the right thing coming here to MFT, and now that you know about what you did and what to do to prevent that from happening you can use this knowledge and help someone else who may have a mistake that they want to fix cause of a LFS seller. So no worries!*thumbsups

 

[FroggyFox]

Ah don't get too down on yourself...just let it be a lesson to do some research before adding any fish to your tank and not listen to pet store employees The man at the store was not *completely* off his rocker...just kinda haha I can't believe he said a bala would be ok for a 5, but there are some critters you can put in your tank that will most likely be ok with your betta (like an adf or an apple snail). Most of us have fallen to the trusting of the pet store employee at least once or twice.

Anyway, My betta has a 5g tank to himself, it has a 25w heater in it and a little whisper filter (hang on the back)...and is darn happy The water generally stays around the 78 mark.

Your bala probably died of ammonia poisoning, common in small tanks that haven't been cycled. If I were you I'd invest in some test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate...and take a look at the stickies at the top of the beginners forum to read about cycling. Your betta will most likely be ok if you do some extra water changes...maybe 25% every few days.

Edit: oh and yes welcome to mft!

 

[MastaChefSteve]

Thank you everyone for the advice I went back to the fish store and told the guy what happend and he said it died because i added live plants and they cause the ammonia levels to rise rapidly. Could that be what happend?

I think i am going to like this forum! Thanks again for all of your help everyone and thanks for welcoming me

 

[FroggyFox]

Sorry...obviously he just isn't completely in "the know" If anything adding live plants will bring some of the bacteria in that your tank needs and healthy growing plants will actually ABSORB ammonia. Even though, he is right that the ammonia is most likely what killed the bala...but it was ammonia from the bala and the betta...not from the plants. lol

 

[MissFishy]

Hmm, as was said above, sounds like this guy is kind of full of it. To say that live plants would harm the tank and cause the ammonia to rise kind of tips me off that he has no idea what he's talking about, let alone that he recommended a bala shark for a 5 gallon fish tank! Anyhow, there is still time to salvage your tank and your bettas life!

Take the time to read through the stickies at the top of this forum, or check out the link in my signature for some more basic tank set up info. That tank will be up and running perfectly in no time! Welcome!

 

[di0nysus]

so would you say 25% WC every few days maybe one on monday and one on friday then after amonia, nitrites and nitrates hit 0 then i would just do a 25% change once a week?

 

[MissFishy]

You need to do as many water changes as necessary to keep your ammonia and nitrites at 0. After the tank has cycled, you can start doing regular water changes once a week.