piace lilly beta bowl

Question...beta bowls, the kind with a peace lilly plant inside, How do you properly maintain them? I've had beta's before and several community tanks, but never this type. Wiggles isn't looking so hot! Please help before it's too late!

 

I have found that really isn't the best set-up for bettas. I had several that did fine like that, but then I began keeping them in small 2 gallon aquariums and they have done the best by far this way.

 

peace lilly beta bowl

I did replace the small acrylic bowl with a larger glass one. How often are water changes necessary with this set up? I am feeding (even though people said not to) about 5 bio-gold pellets per day. Am I defeating the purpose by doing so?

 

the betta cannot survive on just the roots, despite popular belief. with those bowls i changed the water about once a week, i always had a big algae problem with them. feed the recommended amount of food, i found that my bettas would often not eat the roots. The roots should also be kept trimmed relatively short so that the betta isn't cramped, though really I wouldn't keep my betta with a peace lily at all.

 

Bettas really need at least 2 gallons. And if it's an unfiltered/uncycled tank, you'd need to be doing 100% water changes every other day. Really, a MUCH better home would be a 5 gallon tank with a small filter. It will live a much longer, happier life.

-Chelle