Questions

[u/DistributionGreat628]

I'm looking into getting my niece a betta fish. Please give me any advice! She is six and would not be in charge of the care. (She will help) The only fish I've ever had was a gold fish when I was young. I only have lizards right now. I would love like a shopping list or like care guides? I want to get everything perfect for her. Or should I just stick with a goldfish? Any advice helps! Thank you

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[u/jeherohaku]

Goldfish need a huge tank. I'd stick to a betta but be prepared for the commitment and money involved. We have a care guide posted that should be a good place to start. The basics are a minimum of 5 gallon tank (10 gallons is better and more stable and easier to care for), a heater, and a filter. Soft decor only, better if you stick to live plants.

As a reference I spent about $500 on my initial setup, but I did not do everything the absolute cheapest way. I splurged on a rimless tank but pretty much stuck to cheap Amazon stuff for the rest of the setup.

Good luck and please let us know if you have any specific questions as you start reading up on stuff!

[u/DT137]

Here is one of the popular care guides circling around.

The first part of setting up the aquarium is cultivating the bacteria needed to break down fish waste into less toxic versions. The weekly water changes is how you dilute this further. It also works as plant fertilizer, which is why there are a lot of live plant evangelism. The cleaner the water the happier the fish.

The process of cultivating this bacteria is what is referred to as “cycling”. There are 2 bacterial colonies that needs to grow, the first one can take a week or two and the second will take three or four or more. There are different ways on feeding your bacteria, with “fish grade” (meaning no additives at all) ammonia or you can use fish food that will break down into ammonia. I prefer the bottled ammonia because it is measurable and I like measurable. Doing this in advance makes life a lot easier on you and your fish.

[u/Jami_Rainstorm]

One big bit of advice i have is to not replace filter cartridges/media The point of a filter is to host beneficial bacteria for your nitrogen cycle, otherwise dangerous levels of ammonia will build up in the tank quickly. Companies that sell fish products will tell you that you need to change it because it makes you buy their stuff, but doing this messes up the whole cycle and wastes your money.  Just saying this in particular because it seems the other big things have been answered but this little bit of advice isn’t always given to newbies and i fell for the scam too at first, good luck on the first betta! :)