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stevey_32 asked in PetsFish · 1 decade ago

listless betta fish ?

my betta wont eat and isnt swimming much. he just lies around. if he wont do well in a 1 gallon bowl, then why do the pet stores sell you bowls to put them in?

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Your betta being in a 1 gallon bowl is not the cause of the fish not eating. You need to check his environment and find out why he is not eating such as poor water quality and food it does not like. Stop offering him food for a few days and then re-introduce food and see if that stimulates him to eat. As far as him not swimming much....a 1 gallon is not really big enough for him to be eager to swim around. If you want him to swim around...get him a bigger tank.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    uh 1 gallon reli isnt much to be honest. what you should have is a small tank with a heater to keep the water at around 25 dg C and you NEED a filter, or you will have to clean the water out every day. HOWEVER, be sure not to take out all of the water otherwise you kill all the good bacteria and the fsh will probably die. doa 20% water cahnge and dechlorinate the water. and by the way, betta fish or male/female fighter fish dont eat much. i mean look at the size of its mouth! try putting a plant in there too. fish need the cover for when they are threatened. it sounds to me as though the fish is scared and unwilling to expose itself.after a few days, it will become braver and come out mor often. and only feed it a very small amount once a day. NOT twice otherwise it doesnt get eaten, rots, and pollutes the tank, raises ammonia levels, causes the fish to become diseased and the fish dies.:(

    it took me several years to figure out a lot of things cos the stupid pet shops want u to come backk for products, new fish. if your serious about keeping fish for years , then start witha large tank. they are easier to mantain. and get a catfish to clean the glass from the inside and the gravel too.

    Source(s): past experience
  • 1 decade ago

    Get it an actual tank with a filter. It doesn't have to be gigantic (you could probably get one of those 2-gallon tanks they sell for tetra aquariums), but it's better than just the bowl.

    Simply put, bowls are bad for fish long-term. Pet stores sell you bowls to put them in because amateur aquarium-keepers don't know better, and that means they can make money on you without having to spend the extra money to stock lots of actual tanks.

    Also, make sure the temperature of the water is right, check the ammonia, check the pH, check the hardness of your water. I'm guessing your betta is listless because the bowl is slowly killing it, but it could be that there's something off with your water. This is yet another reason tanks are better, because it's easier to equip them with thermometers and things like that.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    You should take your Betta out of the bowl. They sell them to you because they don't know anything about fish. Betta's need a minimum of 5 gallon tanks to live in with proper filtration and a heater to thrive. The tank must be cycled. In order to do this, visit the link below.

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  • 1 decade ago

    Bettas need warm water. Stores sell them in bowls because it was a quick sell though of years a go. Most people don't really want to fool around with tanks, filters and heaters..etc. So they lure you in with here is a fish that breaths the air! All you need is a little bowl! Its alla bunch of bull!

    Bettas are fish that need temperatures around 78-80 degrees F. at least to stay healthy and happy. Think about how miserable you feel when your too cold. You don't move around much then, do you?

    People need to research before getting any living, breathing creature. Please don't go to a pet store and point!

    Here are a few sites to help you keep yours happy.

    http://members.tripod.com/watershed3/bettas.html

    http://www.ibcbettas.org/faq.htm

    http://bettatalk.com/

    Please go to these sites and read them. Your betta will thank you.

  • 1 decade ago

    Entertainment finds the image of the large fish in the small bowl charming. Plus, people don't really educate themselves before buying fish. They think, "Oh, they're in water, they'll be fine!" They don't seem to consider that fish need space, and certain temperatures, and that certain things have to be done in the fish tank that happen already in nature that we don't know about. Until we do our research.

    You can easily get a comfortable living area for your betta, 3-5 gallons, for under $50. Heater, filter, light, the whole nine yards. I'd look into that. :)

    Source(s): Two years personal experience
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    get something around 5-10 gallons. the pet store people are dumb and really don't know anything. don't get a strong filter because bettas are not really strong swimmers. belive me , i had my betta in a 1 gallon bowl and he didn't do anything and now he is in a big aquarium and never stops swimming. if he is new then that explains why he isn't eating much. try freeze dried bloodworms. they are much more tasty than the pellet food, and the pet store people feed their bettas that so he is used to it

  • 1 decade ago

    They sell you bowl to make a quick buck. They also sell them because they are stuck in the beliefs that they come from puddles in the wild. Here is where bettas come from and do you think its a puddle? http://i.pbase.com/o6/22/727322/1/70521065.luLQ6Xa...

    While it is true that bettas can live in small confined spaces it doesn't mean they should. Bettas are extremely happy and active in large tanks and they just love them! But when stuck in a teeny tiny bowl they get bored and sick which is probably what is happening to your betta right now.

  • 5 years ago

    What length tank does he stay in? Does he have a heater? Bettas are a tropical fish and thrive ultimate in temperatures between seventy 8 and 80 two tiers fahrenheit. i could attempt a water heater, i comprehend that Hydor makes a small aquarium water heater. additionally this is fairly helpful to attempt including a small quantity of aquarium salt on your water, some million/4 teaspoon for each gallon of water. i comprehend that they seem to be a freshwater fish, yet one in all those small quantity won't harm him. The water that they needless to say stay in has a soft point of salinity. including salt many times perks them up. wish this helps.

  • 1 decade ago

    it is ok to keep bettas in in bowl as long as they can move. try changing out all of the water and get same books about bettas. if a betta is not eating and is not simming much it might be sick.

    Source(s): owner of three bettas(two male and a female)
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