Our fish died :(

[raysnkaysmom]

My DD got a beta fish for her 9th birthday. Exactly 2 weeks later, its dead

She was pretty sad the first couple days, she's better now. Don't know what happened (maybe I shouldn't have used rocks as the bottom?) but what fish will last longer? Goldfish?

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

My brother actually had a beta last 2 years. Which I find amazing.

What I also find amazing is, we bought a 25 cent feeder goldfish, the kind of fish you feed to other fish. We bought it about 5-6 months ago, and it is still living. It also grew alot, so it looks like a normal goldfish.

 

[Nomi]

Well, it's hard to say what happened. However, bettas are prone to a lot of misinformation (being a popular pet tend to do that). They do need at least 2 gallons of space, and they do need a heated environment as they are a tropical fish, along with the usual %100 water change once a week. They don't live in puddles really, their natural environments being large ponds, rice patties and very slow moving streams.

And while they are very hardy, they are prone to fatty liver diseases (fatal for them) from overfeeding and the same labyrinth organ that allows them to be one of the only fish to live without a filter also causes them to be even more sensitive to chlorine and chloramines.

Very sorry about your fish, as it is very easy to get attached to the little guys. A goldfish does have a longer lifespan than a bettas (10-20 years as opposed to 3-5 for the betta), but need 10-20 gallons per fish and very heavy filtration.

 

[PebblesMK]

My daughter had a goldfish that she got when she was 3, it died when she was 6 because she had won 3 other fish and put them in with Crystal. I then bought her a beta named Matt. Matt met his maker last month (my daughter is almost 9). Apparently my daughter's friend thought that fish were good at holding their breath and they were playing with him out of water. I had to kindly explain that we wouldn't play with the dog under water, so we don't play with fish out of water (or at all). There was 5 hours of crying that night and a few days of sadness and she is finally over it as she has a one of those growing sponge things that is a lobster. It is the size of the tank and still growing.
I guess my whole point is that possibly, your daughters fish convinced her friends that it was capable of holding it's breath and came out to play for a while. Either way, I'm sorry that you are fish-less.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Well, it's hard to say what happened. However, bettas are prone to a lot of misinformation (being a popular pet tend to do that). They do need at least 2 gallons of space, and they do need a heated environment as they are a tropical fish, along with the usual %100 water change once a week. They don't live in puddles really, their natural environments being large ponds, rice patties and very slow moving streams.

And while they are very hardy, they are prone to fatty liver diseases (fatal for them) from overfeeding and the same labyrinth organ that allows them to be one of the only fish to live without a filter also causes them to be even more sensitive to chlorine and chloramines.

Very sorry about your fish, as it is very easy to get attached to the little guys. A goldfish does have a longer lifespan than a bettas (10-20 years as opposed to 3-5 for the betta), but need 10-20 gallons per fish and very heavy filtration.

I always see those betas in the tiniest little bowls and the pet stores always say 'thats all the space they need'... I think that is so cruel
Not that we had a huge tank or anything, but definitely bigger than the bowl it was in at the pet store. I had changed it 3 times in the 2 weeks...as the water was pretty nasty quickly. At first I thought it was getting stuck in the rocks, but it just seemed to have turned white and died :*(

Here is my daughter the day she got her fish...

 

[raysnkaysmom]

My daughter had a goldfish that she got when she was 3, it died when she was 6 because she had won 3 other fish and put them in with Crystal. I then bought her a beta named Matt. Matt met his maker last month (my daughter is almost 9). Apparently my daughter's friend thought that fish were good at holding their breath and they were playing with him out of water. I had to kindly explain that we wouldn't play with the dog under water, so we don't play with fish out of water (or at all). There was 5 hours of crying that night and a few days of sadness and she is finally over it as she has a one of those growing sponge things that is a lobster. It is the size of the tank and still growing.
I guess my whole point is that possibly, your daughters fish convinced her friends that it was capable of holding it's breath and came out to play for a while. Either way, I'm sorry that you are fish-less.

It died while she was at school.... and I know *I* didn't take it out!! LOL

 

[honugirl]

I'd give another betta a go. I've had one for over a year now. He's a world traveler! Well, OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but he has been on the train. I couldn't get him to his regular fishie sitter over Christmas due to snow so he came with me on the train down to my parents house. He's now living a fine existence in the greenhouse attached to their bedroom, enjoying all the tropical plants until I get back down there again in a month and a half. He loves his blood worms. That's probably his favorite thing to eat. I feed him a couple pellets in the morning and blood worms at night. Good luck!

 

[CJ's Mommy]

Did the fish die right after a water change? I ask because that's how I killed DS's beta fish. I felt terrible! The water was a little too warm. Anyway, we've moved on to hermit crabs now and I find them MUCH easier. There's not as much cleaning involved, since they are just in sand, no water. Maybe check them out. They are really cute!

 

[robinb]

Did you condition the water? My DD bought a betta (named Bruce) back in February and he is still alive and swimming. We have two tanks, a smaller 1/2 gallon tank and a bigger 2 gallon tank. I use the smaller tank when I change the water in the bigger tank. I condition the water in the smaller tank and then let it sit for a day to come up to room temperature, then I move Bruce into the small tank and dump and refill the larger tank and condition it. I'll move Bruce into it the next day after it sits and comes to the right temperature. That way his water is always conditioned and the same temperature. We don't heat it, but it stays room temp ... he does slow down a bit in the winter when his water is not as warm.

I would say that your tank in the picture is still too small. If you get another betta that could be his changing tank.

 

[turkeymama]

Sorry to hear about your beta. Incidentally, our beta, Steve, was dead for exactly 2 weeks before either of my kids noticed. Go figure.

Mine did the same thing, turned white and died. I did notice his top fin kinda' curled over and looked matted right before he started turning white. I read somewhere that they are prone to fin rot? We used rocks in the bottom of ours too. The people at the pet store told me we didn't need to condition the water, but I think we should have. Everyone we asked said the beta was the easiest to care for, even easier than a goldfish.

I won't try again anytime soon.

 

[Imzadi]

I could have told you that that would have happened with the beta. I've never known them to last long, no matter what other people say.

 

[Robmom]

My DD has a betta. I bought a 2 1/2 gallon tank with a filter for him. I also change his water once a week or every other week. I use bottled room temperature water. She had one years ago, and I used tap water, and also just in a small bowl, and it didn't last long at all.

 

[SaraJayne]

Both of my Betta's lived for over 4 years. I changed the water every week, as well as rinsing the bowl and rocks thoroughly (NO soap) but didn't use a filter (they were in seperate bowls).

I never had a problem with either one of them. I don't think you can get any easier than a fish in a bowl.

 

[WriteDisney]

My DD got a beta fish for her 9th birthday. Exactly 2 weeks later, its dead

She was pretty sad the first couple days, she's better now. Don't know what happened (maybe I shouldn't have used rocks as the bottom?) but what fish will last longer? Goldfish?

I have a goldfish that will be celebrating its fourth birthday next month. He's in a 5 gallon tank (I think its 5) with a filter. We change the water about every 2 weeks or so. He's getting HUGE compared to what he use to be.