Tank mate for Beta fish and other questions?

Question

Ok we have always had a beta fish. Our current fish is a couple years old, healthy and happy. He is kept solo in a 3 gal tank with heat and filtration. Fed both beta flake (which he prefers) and beta pellets. Feeding is maybe kinda inconsistent. I shoot for once a day, usually 2-3 pellets (or a few flake) But admittedly I forget on some days. He typically eats up what I give him, but if it sinks to the bottom (moreso a prob with pellets) he obviously does not go down and get them.

1st question. He is in an established tank. I do weekly water changes. I do not change filter with water changes but merely rinse in his siphoned water and replace to filter. I siphon about a gal to gal and a half weekly and replace with RO water that has been treated. I believe, I am getting a bacterial bloom a couple days later. His cave and fake plant will get a cloudy with almost a slimy appearance. This does go away a few days later on its own. Any advice how to keep this from happening? It does not seem harmful to him as he eats and swims about happily. I use stress coat and stresszyme at water changes along with a pinch of aquarium salt.

2nd question. Can I introduce a bottom feeder of some sort into his tank? Which bottom feeder would be a good option considering it is just a 3 gal? I have tried crabs in the past and they were a pain in the butt...not to mention I can't seem to keep them alive for long LOL. I have had plecos in the past in my cichlid tank and understand this size tank is not appropriate for them. Many of the other bottom feeders I am familiar with tend to be fin nippers...am I missing something that may work?

Answer 1

Do you change the filter weekly as i cant make that bit out ?

Also are you using just pure RO water in his tank nothing Else?pure RO water should not be used on its own as all the minerals have been taken out ,its ok to use RO water with tap water or something that will add a buffer to it but not on its own.

If you are rinsing the filter weekly your tank is always going through a mini cycle in that case.





No fish in 3 gallons no shrimps either just the Betta the tank is not big enough.



Edit..The only fish for the 3 gallons is your Betta Fish a 5 gallon tank would of been Better no tank mates as for the other answers please don't answer unless You know what your talking about .



Edit,...the problem is your changing your filter to much i have canister filters but only change the sponges when they are falling apart so every 9 months or so.

You are destroying the beneficial bacteria every time you change the cartridge so your tank si always cycling that is what you are seeing a Bacterial bloom.

Don't change the cartridge unless its falling apart.







fish should never be kept in pure RO water with a 0 ppm of total dissolved solids (TDS) since such extremely pure water is not what they are used to from the wild. You can purchase chemicals from your local fish store and use them to add all the necessary ingredients that will make the RO water suitable for fish, but this can be quite expensive, especially over time. A cheaper way of turning pure RO water into usable RO water is simply to add some of your normal tap water or the very hard “waste water” that will be produced by the RO unit. Use your test kit to find out the ideal blend.

Answer 2

A Mystrey Snail or 3-4 Ghost Shrimps would be perfect bottom feeders for that tank.

Answer 3

I have a beta fish with 2 guppies and 2 mollies - they are all doing fine -

Answer 4

I tried ghost shrimp with my bettas, but they just eat the shrimp. I had a couple of coolie loaches and they did pretty well with the bettas.

Answer 5

Ghost shrimps or snail.