People with fish......Is it cruel to keep fish in a glass fish bowl and not a tank?

[LittleMissBliss]

It's ds's birthday in 10 days and i want to get him fish in a traditional bowl.

But have been told by the pet shop that they need to be in a tank which has been left switched on for a week to purify the water.

Is this true or are they just trying to con me into getting a fancy tank when i want a glass bowl?

I wont be bale to return it. I purchased it online and i've opened everything and set it all up already. Its already been running for a day.

OK well. If you are VERY careful then you will be able to keep just one betta in there but you will need to do a few things.

1. Chuck out the biorb instructions. They are a work of pure fiction, the company seem to think that biorbs have some kind of magical powers and the laws of nature do not apply to them. This is rubbish. Have a read of this- LINK

1. Make sure you do a proper fishless cycle. As I said before, this can take up to 6 weeks but it's VERY VERY important especially in a small tank like a biorb. Instructions how to do it are HERE

1. Good luck and enjoy it!

Thank you That article is very helpful. Especially reagarding the cycling of the tank. Will def be leaving it longer than the 24 hours advised on the box!

Also the infomation on cleaning and not changing the filter.

Thanks again

No problem, hope it goes well! Can't believe the box says only 24 hrs, fish tank manufacturers are unbelievable

Sorry a few more questions regarding betta fish. Don't want to mess this up!

When i was looking at the fish at the pet shop the assitant said that tropical fish flakes would be fine for the betta. But i have been reading up and they prefer mosquito larva, shirmps and worms etc. But If you don't want to go down the live feed route or frozen live feed. You can feed them freeze dried blood worms. So shall i take back the the tropical fish flakes and pick up some freeze dried blood worms and some betta pellets instead?

Also i have read not to feed them one day a week to help them clear out their system.

And not to over feed them. Which is obvious but what is a 'feed' for a betta? How much is enough. It says as much food as they can eat in 2 minutes so do you give them a little and they eat that really quickly you give them a little more until the 2 minutes is up?

Anything that you think that is important that i know please point it out, even if it is blindingly obvious as i am new to this!

(I do know to remove any uneaten food after the two minutes)

Betta in the wild would eat insect larva like mosquitos etc so they need a diet that mimics that. Betta flakes are good as a staple but the more varied their diet, the better. You can get bloodworm in jelly, Tetra make it in little tubes that you squeeze out into the water. They should go down pretty well as a treat Live food once in a while will be good for them too.

Getting the right amount of food can take practice, I would start out with a small pinch of food and see how he goes.

Don't know if there's anything else to tell you about bettas, they like it warmer than most fish, about 25C is good. Also, don't hold a mirror up to the biorb, it does look funny when the fish flares its fins but it stresses it out.

I would do as much reading as you can about fishkeeping so that you can avoid any potential problems, here's a step by step guide to water changes that you might find useful- LINK