Betta fish laying on side

May 2, 2021
Basically we bought the same

My male betta fish shares a gallon tank with another male (there's a divider in between). The tank does not have a filter and I replace 50% of the water about every two weeks or less. They have coexisted perfectly for a few months.
I recently got an African Dwarf frog, which I was told would live peacefully with my bettas. However, after a day I noticed the frog being aggressive toward my betta (he was biting his tail), so I moved the betta out of his bowl and into a clear mixing bowl for the night (so the frog wouldn't kill him...?) with gravel and a statue to make him feel at home. The frog had to stay in the tank because it has a lid and I was worried he'd jump out of the uncovered bowl. This morning I went out and bought a new container for the frog and put my betta back in his bowl. I left him alone for a few hours and came back to find him lying motionless at the bottom of his tank. I'm not sure what's wrong, whether it's trauma from all the moving or from the frog nibbles, or what I should do. Does anyone have experience on the topic? Thank you!

First you need to change 50% twice a day at the limits your at

Second upgrade to at least 5 gal you are overstocked with the one betta severely pushing it with 2

Third you need a filter and a heater

You are not keeping your fish properly, bettas need 5 gallons EACH and so do frogs, they all need heaters and filters too, and water changes should be once a week in a properly sized tank, you should be cleaning the water every other day in that horrible death trap. NO fish can live in one gallon.

why do they offer one gallon with a divider if it's unsafe for a fish two fish to live in it?

Is there anything I can do for it at this point? It's 11 pm where I am, so not many pet stores will be open to purchase a heater... but I don't want to cause more damage by moving him

Will it not traumatize the fish changing the water so much?

Do a 50% water change refill 25% wait 15 min then refill the rest of the way then change another 50%

Do I have to move the fish out of the tank while I do that? I'm afraid of accidentally killing him (or his buddy) by moving them around so much.

No leave them in, it'll be less stress what we are doing is lowering the amount of ammonia that has built up and is making your fishy sick

Okay thank you! Can I put conditioner in while they are in there?

Add the conditioner to your replacement water what is the brand of conditioner your using?

Yes you can just try not to dump it right on top of him

When you upgrade buy prime it detoxes ammonia nitrite and nitrate for 24-48hrs it's much better and worth the price ammonia and nitrite are poison to your fish

Okay.. I think it's more the fact that the fins were chewed on by the frog than the quality of the water but I'm changing out the water anyway... The other betta appears unaffected.

The clean water will do wonders to prevent infection, and your fish will live longer and healthier without the toxins poisoning them, everytime your fish potties he puts off ammonia it degrades into nitrite which is also poison, in a larger tank you can grow beneficial bacteria which will eat ammonia and give off nitrite then another set of beneficial bacteria eat the nitrite and turn it into nitrate which under 40ppm isn't harmful to fish this is called the nitrogen cycle

Followed your instructions but fish does NOT look good. Mostly got old water from and poured water into the healthy fish's side of the tank... every little thing I did to the water made my sick betta sway with the water levels Going to let them be for the night and unfortunately I'll probably wake to a dead fish, but at this point (and hour... almost midnight) there's nothing else I can do. I think the frog damaged the fish's fins more than I could tell at first... I see little strips of fin amongst the gravel. Very sad and gross... will most likely make someone else retrieve fish and clean gravel. All very sad for me as I am very attached to my fish, but I suppose it's a good learning experience. It was all fine until the frog came. Thank you so much for your help, seeing that the Petco people didn't even know enough to tell me that these frogs do not coexist with bettas even though we described their living conditions before we purchased the frog.

Again, thank you for your help. I really appreciate it and will report back with results (fingers crossed they're good). Have a good night.

Praying for the best, he is severely stressed and your welcome!!! Please do update and we will try our best to help you help your little guy recover. Have a good night also

Please go out and get 2, 5 gallons with a heater and filter and return the frog. Aunt had an albino one and it ate all her fish. Plus the tank is to small anyway. You'll need to cycle the tanks until the parameters are fine. Also take a water sample into the petstore and have them test it and show you that it has
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0

Source: www.myaquariumclub.com
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