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Fish Bowls
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This page contains information and advice about keeping fish in fish bowls. You can read about starting a fish bowl, water that is safe to put in fish
bowls, how to clean a fish bowl, where to put a fish bowl, and what fish to put in fish bowls - not goldfish! |
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This beautiful fish bowl was the center piece of the decorations on my mother's dining table during Easter. The bowl is surrounded by a
piece of artificial ivy and some flowers. Fish Bowls can be integrated into many decorations. |
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Here is an arrangement with the same fish bowl and the plastic cover with a murex shell on top. The bowl is surrounded by two beautiful
ceramic fish, a silk plant, and several shells. |
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| How to Start a Fish Bowl. When you choose a
fish bowl, pick a big one: at least one-gallon. You’ll also need a small 3" wide fish net, two 1-gallon bottles of drinking water not distilled or de-ionized water, and some floating fish
food. Together
floating fish food that is
labeled for your type of
fish plus some freeze dried
blood worms, which are
actually mosquito larvae, make an excellent diet for the fish in your fish bowl. Don't buy
or use fish food that sinks. |
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Click
here to listen to
a Special Show
titled "Fish
Bowls", an MP3
PodCast, hosted by
the Bailey Brothers
on Pet Fish Talk. |
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1. Water from the Tap Isn't Safe for Fish.
Even if you treat the tap water straight from the faucet with water conditioner it still won't be safe for fish in fish bowls. Bottled
drinking water is safe for fish in fish bowls.
Fill the fish bowl 2” from the top with the bottled
drinking water, not bottled distilled or de-ionized water, and then cover your fish bowl with a clean plastic cover from a can of coffee so the fish won’t jump out.
Your Fish need fresh water. Your fish can’t live forever in the same old water. Twice a week replace 20% of the water in your fish bowl with bottled drinking water. |
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| The advertisement, shown below, links to
this advertiser's web site. |
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Customer Comments |
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I want to pass on a mistake I made that killed my first beta. I always used bottled water (reverse osmosis method) that I got
from the machine at the health food store.
One evening I went and filled the bottle as usual and as soon as I got home I cleaned the tank. I used the bottled water to replace some of the old water and the next morning my
poor fish was dead.
I was so upset. My husband tasted the water and said he thought it had a chlorine after-taste. I contacted the health food store and asked if they had any complaints about the
water and they said that the reverse osmosis pump was connected backwards!!!
So I just recently got a new beta and will always buy bottled drinking water instead of using the refills. (By the way, I no longer buy my water from that machine!)
Thanks,
Jean L. |
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| Reply. Hello Jean. Thank you for your email and the details about your experience. Water that has gone through a reverse osmosis filter is often
called de-ionized water. We recommend using Bottled Drinking water not distilled or de-ionized water. |
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2. How to Change Some Water in your Fish Bowl.
Twice a week pour out 20%, not all, of the water from your fish bowl. Be careful not to pour any fish down the drain.
Use bottled drinking water to refill your fish bowl. Don’t fill it higher than 2” from the top of the bowl. What to do with the old water? It's very good for plants.
I filled my 1.5 gallon fish bowl about 3" from the top. Then I slowly poured
some of the water into a measuring cup, noted how many ounces were in the measuring cup, and continued pouring the water into a measuring cup, until I'd measured all the water, and added up the
total. It came to 160 ounces, and 20% of 160 ounces is 32 ounces.
Then I realized that my 1.5 gallon fish bowl had about 1 quart of air at the top
plus 5 quarts of water (5 quarts x 32 ounces-per-quart = 160 ounces total) and 20% of 5 quarts of water is 1 quart of water. So in my case it was easy to do the math.
I was just lucky, but if your bowl has 151 ounces of water, or some other unlucky
number. You'd still multiply by 20% to find out how much to change each week. In this case 151 x 20% = 151 x 0.20 = 30.2 ounces, rounded down slightly to about 30 ounces. |
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3. Making
Bottled Water
When you’ve used all the bottled water, you can make more safe water for your fish bowl by filling the empty plastic water bottle with tap water from the faucet.
Leave 2” of empty space at the top of the bottle.
Add five drops of water conditioner, put the cap back on the bottle tightly, give the bottle a good shake to mix
the ingredients, and then let the bottle sit for three days before adding the water to your fish bowl.
Click
here for more about
water conditioner.
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4. How to Clean your Fish Bowl.
After a few weeks algae and other stuff will start to coat the inside of your fish bowl. It won’t hurt the fish, but it doesn't look good, and you should get rid of it. Here’s how; pour 80%
of the water from your fish bowl into a clean bucket, then use your 3” net to carefully move all the items from the fish bowl into the bucket.
Next take a clean paper towel and scrub the inside of the fish bowl until it’s squeaky-clean. Rinse the fish bowl well
with tap water, pour the old water with the fish, aquatic snails, shrimps, and plants from the bucket back into your fish bowl, and fill your fish bowl 2” from the top with bottled drinking
water.
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