Do betas like sunlight?

Question

I have several male betas in different water bowls.. I just cleaned out all of there bowls and want to know if it is okay to sit them in the sun outside (in their water bowls of course)? I put netting on top of all of the bowls so nothing can get in there. I've heard that the sun makes them more active and enhances their color..
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Direct sun light could be a recipe for bouillabaisse, bright INDIRECT sunlight would be OK. The netting is probably unnecessary,and the fish might enjoy the occasional small insect that might wander in. I did keep one outdoors one summer,in a 300 gallon horse trough buried in the ground and his colors did improve,but returned to normal about 2 weeks after returning indoors. There were lots of floating plants and waterlilies in the"pond" also.

Answer 2

No betta dislike direct sunlight. It's okay if they have shade as their insight is to hide themselves for predators above them. Also in a small bowl the sun will heat the water possibly to dangerous levels. (Past 85F) The only reason they might be more active, and colorful is if they were in temps below 75F. Below the 75F they get sluggish, and past 70 they tend to get sick.

Answer 3

I'd keep them out of the sun as the temperature might get to be too much. they are used to the standing , weed-filled river water of Asia. The other thing about sunlight is that it will promote algae growth.

Answer 4

We had three beta's and none of them liked direct sunlight. They would start to get really sluggish and seem to actually be dying.

Edit: As soon as we noticed how they were, we took them out of the sunlight immedietly and they recovered just fine.

Answer 5

you can do it for a short while, an hour max really, breeders and people who show bettas do this as it helps with their colour, and in the case of crowntails, helps straighten any curled rays.

i would not leave them out for an extended length of time however.