Bettas; keeping them in fishbowls

Question
Hello,
I am a experienced aquarist.
I have a total of 14 bettas. Ten of my bettas live in a fishbowl ranging in size from half a gallon to a little over 1 gallon. I know the extreme danger of ammonia which rise to horrible levels in such small amount of water often to the point of where the fish cannot take the ammonia any longer and dies. I often test the ammonia in my betta bowls and it is often to a very high level in just 2 days after I have cleaned it. So, to try and eliminate the problem somewhat, I have gone to twice a week water changes or 100% and now I have added a thin layer of gravel from my Oscar cichlid tank which has beneficial bacteria living on it. Now I wonder how to clean the bowl without
the bacteria on the gravel by rinsing all of it. For a while I have been dipping
water out of the bowl (with the betta in a separate cup) until there is less than an inch left in the bowl, just enough to cover the gravel.
In your opinion, what is the best way to clean
betta bowls without harming the benenficial
bacteria?  And I plan to keep a small live plant
in with all my betta bowls. What species of plant
is best for bettas where they get little light?
I wish there was a way I could keep all my bettas
in fish tanks, but I ended up with a whole lot
because for awhile I had been rescuing bettas in
petstores which had less than 1 inch of water and
the color of the water would be brown, many I have
found and rescued had almost completely rotted
away fins. I never go to those petstores anymore.
Thanks for your help!
Bye,
Susan
ps: sorry the letter is so long. :(


Answer
Hi Susan;

What a betta hero you are! I know how horrible those poor fellas get treated sometimes. I am glad yours are safe and happy now.

The gravel is a great idea. Treat the bacteria-coated gravel just like they are fish. To rinse the gravel out, use water conditioned water that is the same temperature as what they are used to. Maybe just net the gravel and pour some of the fresh water through it to get rid of the crud. That's what I do for my smaller containers that have gravel in them.

I haven't found any plants that will survive low light conditions like in betta bowls. They always seem to just fade away and make a mess.

Followups welcome.

At Service;
Chris Robbins