My Betta Fish May Be Dying!!!

Question

-------------------------------------------
The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
My betta fish is on the bottom of the fish tank but its in his side. I change the water twice a week and feed it twice a day. I only feed it Betta Pellet food. There was  2 incidents that happened. My baby sister poured juice in the fish bowl it probably set in there for 10 minutes till I realized it that was about 2 weeks ago. But recently, 3 days ago, she accidently dumped probably 50 or more of the food in the fish bowl. I have 2 of the fish tat happened to the same one the other 1 is just fine. I made it move around but after it moved it hit the ground hard and turned on its side. When I feed it this morning it didn't even eat the food. It is now laying on its side on the bottom of the tank. What should I do is it Sick? Please help!!! I really don't want the fish death to be on a 3 year old heart.
-----Answer-----
Hi Kendall;

Poor little guy. He's really been through a lot lately. It sounds like a case of swim bladder failure. Here is a link to information about it;

http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/31/338/

I hope he feels better soon....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Thanks a lot for your advice but unfortunately my betta fish passed away this morning. I replaced my little sister with the other one so she wouldn't know but I'll have to tell her so it wont happen again. I'm going to get a female one for this one and maybe some more variety of fish so maybe you can tell me if the betta can live with other type of fish or not. If not I'll just buy another tank but what fish would be good to have that would live long? If some could live with the betta and its female please tell me what. Again Thanks A Lot.
:>)

Answer
Hi Kendall;

Oh, that's too bad. I'm so sorry you lost him. It's especially difficult when you have to tell a young child. It really is for the best to tell her, if you can do it. She may not quite understand how final death is at her age though. Until she is about 5 or 6 she will think it's "reversible". It's important for her to know that the fishies can't have extra food, people food or people drinks. I told my kids that "fish are silly" and just eat and eat until it makes them sick. We have to help them not be sick by only giving them a tiny bit. I've even had to go the extra length for my tanks when my children were small and tape the lids shut. Also, hide the food container. ;-)

It is best not to put a female with him full time. If they spawn, he will want her out of there and can kill her to accompish that. Male bettas take care of the nest of eggs and babies and it is very, very rare for him to accept help from the mom, and even more rare that she won't eat them. Other fish are also a threat to the babies so he will want them out too.

It really depends on the size of your tank as to what else you can put with him. If it's under 5 gallons in capacity there realy isn't much. Maybe a snail or a cory cat and that's actually pushing it. If the tank is 5 gallons or more you could give him a 3 small friends. Danios, cory cats, platies, ghost shrimp, dwarf frogs, are some possibilities. The important thing is to get fish that stay under an inch- and-a-half long. Avoid dwarf gouramis, even though they stay small and are very cute. They are in the same family as your betta and will often fight or harrass each other to death.

I hope all goes well with your little sister....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins