That's odd...betta are usually pretty easy to keep.
I see you have other fish so you must know about how to get the water set up...do you have high levels of chlorine in your water? And did you cycle the water at all?
If you want to try again, what I would suggest is perhaps using some of the water from your established fish tank (plus some fresh if you want) and see if that helps. There might just not be enough bacteria in the bowl for them if you cleaned everything really well.
We have well water, so there's no additives or anything in it. The same water went into both bowls (as well as the tank with the community fish) and both bowls were set up with their water/furniture for the same amount of time before we put the fish in, too. x.x I really honestly don't know what went wrong with the one and the other is still just fine. *sadness*
Temperatures changes often do bettas in...don't know what to tell you since I'm sure you did all the right things to the bowl and water before putting the guys in. Ph checks, water conditioning(even with good well water it doesn't hurt to use a good one like TetraAqua AquaSafe with bioextract), not having the bowl in front of heat sources(or direct sunlight) or drafts, acclimating him to the water. Perhaps there was something wrong with both of them before you or the pet store got them, or the petstore is doing it wrong.
I can make a small suggestion that will be great for any/all your fish, get Java Moss its a live aquarium plant that does great in low light and it provides a service for your fish beside being pretty and green, it helps clean up nitrites.
Is that stuff good for any fish? I have tiger barbs, ghost catfish, and a huge pleco and have considered it, but wasn't sure if it would work out well.
I did some checking to make sure, it seems that tiger barbs and ghost catfish do really well with live plants so it should work out great for them. ^^
Plecos are usually the harder to keep in a live plant aquarium simply because many species of them love to eat and uproot the plants, but it isn't impossible. The Java Fern and Moss are pretty fish resistant since they're tough and not as tasty. I'm not sure how huge or which species yours is, but at the worst he'll have a buffet salad.
Another thing in their favor is that they like to be attached to rocks/driftwood or anything you might want to tie them to. The Moss can attach itself right to the gravel as well. They're easy keepers if you want to give them a try. ^^
*nodnod* I know, and I have all the appropriate checks for everything under the sun. Our water is pretty good, though, and the other fish is/are still doing just fine. Lilu's betta is even now swimming laps around his bowl, happy as you please. *so confused!*
Oh! Cool~ I'll hafta keep that in mind for when I set up my big tank. :D *so putting live plants in this one*
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I see you have other fish so you must know about how to get the water set up...do you have high levels of chlorine in your water? And did you cycle the water at all?
If you want to try again, what I would suggest is perhaps using some of the water from your established fish tank (plus some fresh if you want) and see if that helps. There might just not be enough bacteria in the bowl for them if you cleaned everything really well.
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He really was a beautiful fish. ;.;
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I can make a small suggestion that will be great for any/all your fish, get Java Moss its a live aquarium plant that does great in low light and it provides a service for your fish beside being pretty and green, it helps clean up nitrites.
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Plecos are usually the harder to keep in a live plant aquarium simply because many species of them love to eat and uproot the plants, but it isn't impossible. The Java Fern and Moss are pretty fish resistant since they're tough and not as tasty. I'm not sure how huge or which species yours is, but at the worst he'll have a buffet salad.
Another thing in their favor is that they like to be attached to rocks/driftwood or anything you might want to tie them to. The Moss can attach itself right to the gravel as well. They're easy keepers if you want to give them a try. ^^
Reply
Oh! Cool~ I'll hafta keep that in mind for when I set up my big tank. :D *so putting live plants in this one*
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