Please help my betta!!?

Jan 5, 2010
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vancouver bc
#1
He is putting his face down, in the bottom of his tank, and just laying like that, vertical in his tank. He's not eating and rarely comes up to the top. He's been like this for about 2 days. Anything I can do?
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
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Northern NJ
#6
bowls are far from ideal.
Bettas need to be at 80F with a filter and a cycled tank of at least 2.5 gallons. A little AGA 2.5 gallon tank is all it takes to make one relatively happy.
 

Aug 16, 2009
1,318
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SW Pennsylvania
#7
Bowls are torture chambers, not places to keep fish. I still have a hard time understanding why people don't consider bettas and goldfish as real fish and they keep them in deplorable conditions. Part of it deals with the myth that bettas live in puddles in the wild. They actually live in rice paddies which contain thousands of gallons of water. I didn't mean this as an insult. This is just my opinion and it makes me very sad to see fish kept in bowls.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
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Northern NJ
#8
I believe people buy these fish because they see them cramped in bowls at the store or in pictures, so they think it would be entertaining to have 3 tiny goldfish in a 1 gallon tank (I have already seen this).
A lot of people are also not in tune with thinking of fish (like goldfish and bettas) as animals, but rather as a dispensable decoration. They then wonder why Mr. Goldie/Betta is dead by the end of the week...
 

Doomhed

Large Fish
Feb 11, 2003
687
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Rhode Island
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#9
Bowls are torture chambers, not places to keep fish.
Drama queen much? There are many different ways to keep fish. Just because SOME people leave a betta in a bowl and don't ever take care of them doesn't mean that sushi necessarily do that.

I kept around 150 breeding quality (Read, VERY EXPENSIVE) bettas in 1/2 gallon critter carriers, water changed every other day. they all had stick-on thermometers and they maintained an average temperature of around 75 degrees. You would have called MY tanks "torture chambers", but my fish were fed live foods (blackworms, blood worms, baby ghost shrimp and softened baby snails) and had live plants (duckweed, but still).
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
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Northern NJ
#10
But the knowledge in use of the knowledge in Betta breeders and new Betta owners are vastly different...Doom you know what you can do without killing the fish or causing severe damage, a new owner may not know =/
 

Aug 16, 2009
1,318
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SW Pennsylvania
#11
I've heard of three goldfish being kept in a jam jar in Asian countries...very common there, I hear.

@Doomhed: I'm not a drama queen. Don't judge me if you don't know me. I'm allowed to be passionate about animal rights, aren't I?

@Newman: Exactly. I didn't mean for it to come out as "bettas in bowls can never survive." I just meant that usually people with little/no experience place bettas in containers that are too small, they never change the water, don't include a filter, and don't include a heater. Human ignorance toward animals is depressing.
 

Doomhed

Large Fish
Feb 11, 2003
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Rhode Island
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#12
@Doomhed: I'm not a drama queen. Don't judge me if you don't know me. I'm allowed to be passionate about animal rights, aren't I?
Most posts I see you make are sweeping generalizations and random protest style ranting. We get it. You want to feel like you are making a difference in the world. I only call it like I see it.

You need to learn to use less extreme terminology in your statements, instead of using flashy phrases like "torture chambers". I take extreme offense to people that have to jump and scream and protest about every little thing in this world and try to make every little thing a "protest movement". You will never find a million people to march on Washington DC over Goldfish bowls. You insult people who have had to protest for real issue and for their rights with your actions.

There is passionate, and there is attention seeking. I believe I have seen more of the latter than the former.
 

ValRasbora

Superstar Fish
May 2, 2009
1,202
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Atlantic Canada
#13
guys don't argue or be rude to other, it just gets tiresome :\
sushiroll was looking for HELP not for an argument!

@sushi
try more frequent water changes, if your tank\bowl is glass possibly try getting a mini-heater. I would do water changes 1 or 2 times weekly, and remeber, a thermometer is an essential with heaters, especially in small tanks that can easily overheat.

good luck, I hope your betta pulls through. Compared to what I've seen, it's a decent size.
 

Aug 16, 2009
1,318
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SW Pennsylvania
#14
I'm sorry for my statement. I didn't know I'd get beat up so much just for being passionate about animals.
Sorry, sushi! I hope your betta gets better, and listen to Val, she's the most level-headed. Mini heaters are the square ones that run about 12 dollars. You can buy them about anywhere and they are rather small.