How Often To Change Betta Fish Water? (How To Perform A Water Change)

Performing a water change is necessary to provide your betta fish with clean water and ensure their ideal living conditions.

However, unrequired and major water changes can stress your betta fish, and they can suffer from various issues, so it is important to know how often we should perform a water change. So, How often to change betta fish water? Let us find out.

Do a 30-35% weekly water change to ensure good water conditions. Overcrowded, small-size, and tanks without a filter will require frequent water changes. Treat the water using the water conditioner when doing water changes to eliminate harmful toxins like chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals.

This article will also discuss how to perform a water change and what factors make it necessary to do a more frequent water change. So, let us get into it.

How often should I change my betta fish water?

You have to look for many factors when deciding how often to change your betta fish tank water.

However, you should perform a weekly water change of 30-35% of your betta fish tank.

Performing a water change will help you keep the water clean.

Bettas are hardy fish, but they are very sensitive when it comes to water parameters.

Bettas are tropical freshwater fish and require clean water conditions to thrive.

Performing a regular water change will ensure good water conditions; your tank water will also be safe from harmful toxins like ammonia and nitrite.

Knowing how much water to change and how often to do it is necessary as major and unrequired water change can stress out your betta fish, and they can go through worse than better.

What factors make frequent water change necessary?

All these factors make frequent water change necessary:

  1. The size of the tank
  2. Availability of a filter 
  3. The amount and timings of food you are serving to your betta
  4. The number of tankmates present in the tank

Size of the tank

The tank size also matters when deciding how often to perform a water change.

If you keep your betta fish in a small tank, you must perform more frequent water changes. 

Small-size tanks, like 3-5 gallons, will require a weekly water change of 30-35%.

And, if you are keeping your betta fish in a large-size tank, then you don’t have to perform a more frequent water change.

The big-size tank, like 20-30 gallons, will require a monthly water change of 30-40%.

It is not necessary to perform frequent water changes in a big-size tank as big tanks will contain more water, and when you have more water, it takes longer for the water chemistry to change.

The water temperature and pH are also more stable in large-size tanks.

Smaller tanks will contain less water, and the water chemistry of the small tanks will get change in a short period of time, which will make it necessary to perform a water change.

Availability of filter

The availability of a filter also matters when deciding how often to change your betta fish water.

The very first thing you should know is that betta fish can live without a filter.

However, a filter helps keep the water well-oxygenated, protects water from harmful toxins like ammonia and nitrite, and keeps the water clean.

Without the filter, you will be required to perform a water change more frequently.

Your betta tank water will get dirty by excessive waste and chemicals faster than usual when there is no filter.

The amount and timings of food served to your betta.

If you are overfeeding your betta fish, then you have to perform a more frequent water change.

Overfeeding your betta fish will produce more fish waste, and the water will get dirty from waste and food leftovers. 

Excessive fish waste and food leftovers will make the water toxic, and you will need to perform more regular water changes.

Betta fish have a stomach size similar to their eye, which means that they cannot eat much food at a time. 

Consider feeding your betta fish two to three pellets at a time twice a day to avoid overfeeding. 

Also read: How Often To Feed Betta Fish?

Tankmates present in the tank

Overstocking your fish tank will also result in water getting dirty faster than usual. 

Also, it can be possible that your betta tankmates are not as hardy as them and require more frequent water change to thrive.

Overcrowding your betta tank and adding fish that are very sensitive to water conditions will require a more frequent water change.

Also read: Can Guppies Live With Betta Fish?

What are the signs that indicate the necessity of water change?

We recommend a weekly water change of at least 30-35% to ensure good water conditions.

If you will not perform a water change or have not performed a water change for long, you will encounter all these things which will indicate to you that there is a necessity for a water change:

  1. There will be algae growth in your fish tank.
  2. You will see dirt developing at the bottom of the tank.
  3. Your fish will look stressed and remain at the bottom of the tank most of the time.
  4. The food leftovers and waste will be easily visible to the naked eye.
  5. The nitrate level of your fish tank will rise.
  6. The pH level of your fish tank will drop.

Performing a regular water change is necessary, as not doing that will worsen the water conditions, and your betta will suffer from various issues.

How to change my betta fish tank water?

Follow these steps to perform a water change of your betta fish tank:

  1. Prepare a container and fill it with tap water.
  2. Treat the tap water with a water conditioner to eliminate chlorine, chloramine, and other chemicals.
  3. Now, let the water settle and get warm for an hour. (You can also use a heater to warm the water and to ensure the exact water temperature of freshwater and betta tank water, use a digital thermometer)
  4. Replace the water from the betta tank using a gravel siphon. (While using the gravel siphon to remove the water, move the siphon towards the gravel so that it siphons out the fish waste and leftovers)
  5. Add the treated water to your betta fish tank. (You can use a jug or a gravel siphon to transfer the water to your betta tank)
  6. Perform a water change weekly to ensure clean water conditions.

To treat the water, we recommend using the API tap water conditioner as it helps to eliminate chlorine, chloramine, heavy metals, ammonia, and nitrite from the water.

Conclusion:

We recommend performing a weekly water change of 30-35%.

Regular water changes will keep the water clean and provide your betta fish with ideal living conditions.

Dirty water conditions will make your betta fish stressed and become prone to various diseases and parasites.

Also, you must know that there is a high risk of ammonia spikes in dirty water.

So, do a partial water change weekly to ensure good water conditions.

Also, make sure to treat the fresh water with a water conditioner to eliminate chlorine, chloramine, and other chemicals.


Reference: Wikipedia

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