hey guys i have a dark black and blue crowntail betta and i had a plant in the tank with some peatmoss, sand, gravel substrate. note it is a 1 and 1/2 gallon tank. well anyway the plant died and i noticed a stink in the tank and my ammonia levels rised (apparently from the sand gathering food in pockets and releasing ammonia) so i did an emergency change i quarantined my betta in a large container for 10 minutes while i cleaned out the tank put in clean gravel only cleaned off the walls and refilled the tank with purified water and added mr. betta back when the water levels were ok again which didn't take long. well now he is fine but occasionally i notice him flaring his fins more than he used to. any thoughts?

Most likely he sees himself.My halfmoon is flarey when the sides are clean.A one and a half is too small for the peat/sand/gravel.You should also look into at least a five gallon so he can be heated and filtered.he would definately benefit from it.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

well i have an empty 10 gallon tank but yes im going to look into either a 3 gallon eclipse or a 5 gallon but my heater for his tank just broke :( which is not good cuz temps get hot at day and pretty cold at night and i'll be broke for like a month until i get a new job which means im in serious heater need now accepting donations lol

Well what I can come up with,is during the day he will be fine.At night,wrap a towel around him.What type of light is on the tank?If you have an extra lamp laying around,you can use it to help heat the tank a little.Do you not have any heat in your house?He will get listliss but if the temp stays above fifty then he will be ok.Ive had mine go down to 45 before,and even though they wasnt happy,because of their health,they were ok.I dont have a heater small enough for the tank,I dont think.Its non adjustable,but if I can,ill send it to you.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

i have heat in the house but its a very large 2 story house and the vents are on the 1st floor so not much heat reaches up here to the second. it stays about 69 degrees up here which is why i needed the heater. i keep changing about 15 % of the water ever day to replace the really cold water in the tank with some warmth for him but it cools off so fast he doesn't seem stressed or anything as far as i can tell. it has an led light that slides up and down on a rail right now i have it as close as possible to the tank. i have a 10 gallon tank empty in the closet but it doesn't have a heater and the 2 bulbs i had in it broke when the hood fell off the dresser :( im just having an unlucky day haha

Maybe just see if you can get a loan from a friend. For a tank that small, you're just talking $15 if you can get down to a PetsMart and buy their little 15 watt non-adjustable heater.

I don't think the temp itself is going to be an issue for your fish. I think the problem will be the temp fluctuations, constantly heating up and cooling. That could be a serious problem and probably not comfortable for him at all.

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"Have a betta day!" -Bob Vang, VangsPlakat