Beta Fish 101?

Question

My husband just got a beta fish and I'm completly clueless of the care for this animal! He seems confident, but for my own sake I'd like to know how to care for it!

Sit down and give me the 101 on Beta Fish, please!

Answer 1

Hi! Bettas are the EASIEST fish on the face of the earth to care for, so you picked the best one! Give them a decent sized fish bowl to swim around in, but they aren't too active. The colorful ones are males, never put 2 or more together in one bowl, they will fight to the death. Never place them in bowls beside each other where they will see each other, it will stress them out. (They are territorial) They typically live for 2 years max, and if your betta is fully grown, you have no idea how long he will live so if he dies in 6 or so months don't be suprised. They like bloodworms best but if you get them flake food get stuff specifically for bettas. Change his water when it looks dirty obviously.

Enjoy him! They are the most beautiful fish you can own IMO...

Answer 2

You want to buy either Betta food or frozen brine shrimp to feed the betta. The Betta food pellets are easier though. You need to make sure your betta is in a fairly warm location as they do not fair well in the cold. Keep the tank or bowl clean by changing it once a week or more depending on the size of the tank or bowl. If you have a tank, use a filter and get a bottom dweller like a catfish to help keep the gravel clean.

Do not ever mix two betta fish together. Male bettas will fight until one or both of them end up dead. Males have the long fins and females have the short fins.

When you change the fish, if you use tap water try to lay it out in a container for 24 hours so it is room temperature before doing a water change. You can add Start Right drops to decrease the stress on the fish.

Don't overfeed your fish or you could pollute the tank. A small amount of food is sufficient...

Good luck!

Answer 3

try to get it a home that is at least a gallon. decorate the home heavily. they like having stuff to swim around -- like plants real or fake. you can grow java fern easily in a bowl -- just tie it on a rock with some string and you don't even have to plant it in gravel -- mine all get asian teacups they make them their little resting spots.

i feed mine hikari pellets -- its very easy -- 3 pellets twice a day. no extra food leftovers. once a week feed them green peas to keep away swim bladder problems and constipation. you do this by removing the skin and chopping up a pea into small pieces and holding it by his head with tweezers or forceps.

many people offer different advice. learn what common diseases look like so if he gets anything you know what it is - -there are like 10 different kinds that are easy and obvious.

heres a web site with lots of info and pictures -- and be ready to get a second betta.

fyi you can keep several females together in a small 5 gallon tank when you make the move to betta master.

Answer 4

i'm merely backing up the NO-BOWL theory. tell your mom that that's rather not a reliable theory to abode any fish in a bowl. the appropriate element for you and your mom to do is to get a minimum of a 2.5 gallon tank (ideally better) with a comfortable modern-day filter out and a heater. Bettas are tropical fish so without heating on the main appropriate temperature they'd exchange into torpid and finally will die. without filtration in a pre-cycled tank, they are plenty greater liable to ailments enormously ones of bacterial commencing place like Fin-rot and Gill-rot. With faucet water, letting it take a seat for twenty-four hours does not do plenty yet enable chlorine to evaporate. maximum faucet water includes different issues like heavy metals and chloramines which do not evaporate. that's the reason that's mandatory you utilize a water conditioner and dechlorinator. My very own decision of dechlorinator/conditioner are top and rigidity Coat Plus. a significant component to retaining fish is which you will desire to enable the tank bypass in the process the Nitrogen Cycle forward of having fish. This cycle can final everywhere from 3-6 weeks and that's particularly ordinary to do. you will choose liquid attempt kits for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and attempt each 2-3 days in this technique. i in my opinion use the fish flake technique in which you upload a pinch of flake into the fishless tank each 12 hours. merely remember that fishless cycling is often greater ordinary and greater humane than that of fish-in cycling. So in certainty you will desire to attend some weeks earlier actual procuring the fish. look on the links, they may be very powerful.

Answer 5

BETTAS 101:
Bettas are tropical fish from southeast Asia (Thailand, formerly Siam). The proper name is betta (pronounced bet-tah, not bay-tah) splendens. They are also called Siamese fighting fish. They come from water temps in the area of 78-82 degrees and should therefore have a heater in their tank.

Never keep one in a small bowl, the temp fluctuations between night and day in your home will cause a lot of stress and eventually (could be up to a year) compromise their immune systems. Opportunistic bacteria and parasites will then attack them and cause sickness and eventually death. Fading color and listlessness is a sign of stress and impending illness.

A 2-5 gallon tank is perfect, allowing a heater and filter and enough room for the fish to actually move around a little.

Bettas are solitary fish who must not be kept with others of their species. Males will kill males and males will kill females unless the female is ready to spawn. He will kill her after spawning if she cannot get away from him.

Bettas can be kept with other fish as long as the other fish are not agressive or fin nippers. Guppies, platies neons, angels and other calm fish are perfect.

After spawning, the male guards the nest and takes care of the eggs and then the babies (fry) until they become free swimming.

A group of females can be kept together, they are not agressive to their own species like the males. In the wild, bettas live as long as 5-7 years.... in our "care, they are lucky to last for 2-3 years.

All fish should have filters in their tanks and regular (weekly) partial (25-30%) water changes should be done to keep the fish healthy and the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at a non-toxic level.

Feel free to email me if you have questions. Be sure to enter your email address two times in the Answers site to confirm it so you can receive emails back. Your address is never given out to anyone and does not appear in any emails sent or received through the site.

Answer 6

first of all, bettas are great. they like at least a gallon and a half of water (that's ideal, a little less is okay too.) bettas were originally bred in rice patties in the orient, and are adapted to low water levels. they like brine shrinp, or betta pellets fed once to twice a day, but if you feed them once every two days, then that's okay too. feed them a pea peeled and chopped well once a week, to avoid swimbladder problems and constipation. Bettas are unique in the fact that they don't need a bubbler, simply because they are one of the few fish that have lungs also. they go to the top of the water, and can breathe the air too, along with their gills getting the air from the water.

to clean the tank or bowl, take 20-30% of the water from the tank once a week, and replace with dechlorinated water. you might keep some medications on hand for finrot, because that's the one problem that they have the most, simply becuase of their beautiful flowing fins. keep plants in the tank so that they have a good place to hide and swim around, but make sure that the plants (especially if fake) have no sharp edges, because you don't want them to snag the fish's fins.

good luck, and you made a good choice!! they're great fish. it's kinda fun once in a while to put a pocket mirror next to the tank for a few seconds, so that you can see their pretty colors, but don't leave it there too long, or it can stress them out.

if you got a male (with the pretty fins, real long and flowing) then keep him by himself. if you got a female (slightly blander in colors, with shorter fins) then you can put them in with other fish, including other female bettas, as long as there are at least 3 fish total, because the female betta is just as teritorial as the males, and they need to establish that order of heirarchy. if youdo get more than one fish, make sure that you get a larger tank too.

good luck!! hope this helps!!!!

Answer 7

Betta Fish (or Siamese Fighting Fish) are relatively easy to care for. You purchase basic food, like betta flakes or bites and feed a small pinch daily (only enough that you know the fish will eat.) Try to clean the tank monthly. Fill a plastic bag with water from the tank and scoop the fish in. dump out the water from the fish tank and rinse until clear. Then fill the tank with water that's about room temperature and add water purifiers. There are chemicals you can get that instantly remove the chlorine from the water so that it is safe for the fish. If not, you can leave that water that you plan to use for your fish out for 24 hours until the chlorine dissipates. Put the bagged fish in to float in the water for about twenty minutes before returning your betta to his bowl. Good luck, and I hope that information is sufficient.

Answer 8

They need heat at least 78 degrees. Small tanks are very difficult to heat, a 2 gallon aquarium is the smallest tank that heaters are made for. 2 gallons is also the smallest that can be easily filtered. Feed them once a day and change at least 20% of the water once a week.

Answer 9

while the general belief is that betta are easier to take care fo because they only need to be in a little bowl or vase and fed very little and cleaned when you remember, this is not PROPER care for them.

bettas are tropical fish from eastern asia and are used to temps aorund 75-85F. some peopel say they live in puddles, this is untrue. they live in rice paddies (ex http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6458/yunyang2000520bax9.jpg ), calling them puddles is quite a stretch. while it is true the rice paddies are often not DEEP they are very large and the bettas have big territories to themselves. so keeping them in a bowl is quite unfit. however, finding a tank that is wider but not very tall, say 6inches tall but holds a couple gallons, would be quite suitable for a betta as long as is can have both a filter and heater.

it is easy to understand how your betta feels when kept in a bowl or vase at room temp. considering water at room temp in most houes is around 65F that's about 20F lower than they need. so think of it this way, some one is keeping you in a 45-50F closet. this closet has no toilet so you're forced to go on the floor. your care could vary depending on your caretaker, most will feed you either twice a day or 3 times a week from under the door. it's the same food every time. while your care taker is recommended to clean out your closet every three days to keep the floor clean of your "waste" you're lucky if you get a caretaker who cleans it once a week, most will clena it once a month or when they remember. can you survive? for a while, but you'll quickly be in poor weakened condition, and most likely end up sick and dead.

a happy betta lives in a 5gallon(or larger) tank with a filter and heater and a few live plants. for a 5gallon tank a tankmate like a mystery snail or fan shrimp is a nice addition that will keep your betta busy. for 10gallon tank or larger you can add tank mates like tetras, mollies, platies, or cory cats.

give your betta's diet some variety, add in some freeze dried bloodworms as a treat, and floating pellets as an everyday food. peas once or twice a month are good in keeping your betta from developing problems with his swim bladder.

males can't be kept with other bettas, females can be kept with other females.

hope that helps, if you already have a good sized rtank with filter and heater, good for you, I simply put everything I could to help provide proper care.

Answer 10

1. never put two of them together!
2. buy food that is for betas only
3. clean the aquarium @ least once a week -and do not replace with water that is warmer than what it was in...it can put it in shock and can kill it.

that's exactly what we do and we have had the same two betas now for over 3 years....good luck!