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Betta fish Chat

19K views 64 replies 29 participants last post by  Joedans 
#1 ·
hi so I go this PM from someone that really made me feel horrible I just want to prove them wrong and let them know that I am a very involved tank person you should check me out on bettafish.com my user is jona31 as you can see I am a very involved person in the fish community anyways I want to start a Betta fish chat anyone up for it here we go:fish::fish::fish::fish::fish::fish:
 
#2 ·
sorry you got an ugly pm.

here are my BETTAs. yes they are simply in bowls which I refresh every few days so they always look like this...
 
#5 ·
man i really like your fish ichise i have a half moon like that is just like yours right now that i bought at petco. i fell in love with it because i never find black bettas like that. i would try and snap a pic but he doesn't seem to pose well when i get close to take a picture. but i think i'm going to be buying more black bettas like this from no on, they're just so unique looking IMO
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
The 20G, water is cloudy because I just added flora max and they LIED when they said "minimal rinsing required"
It houses 4 female bettas, 2 clown pelcos and some apple snails


It cleared up in about 24 hours - ignore the breeder net. I need to add more plants for more coverage but I am having a hard time trying to find bushy plants that arent taller then the tank and that are not from sellers in malaysia. With the silk plants, there was ALOT more coverage and the girls didnt fight but I removed them and now they are a bit more nippy.


This is El Kabong. Sometimes I "use this as a quarentine "tank". I dont like circular tanks as it distorts the view. Its a little under 2 gallons.


One of my 10G's used to be divided 3 ways


Phinneas when I first got him in his QT storage bin.

Right now he has the above 10G all to himself as I had a nasty case of something kill off the other 2 that were in the tank :icon_cry:



Princess Azula - she was one of the Petco babies that actually made it to adulthood


This is Ba Sing Se. I think he is blind as he swims into things and the side of the tank. He actually lived with my females for over a year (I got him very young and he was labled a female by petco. As he got older he never got more aggressive so I let him be). Since I think he has poor vision, I figured it was best to get him his own 5 gallon palace. He is a BIG boy and he looked so cramped in my 3 gallon tank. He likes to sleep on that leaf


And my Baby SLUGGLES
Its best to view his recovery pics here.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151397974972861.1073741829.505322860&type=3

I found him in walmart in Fairbanks, Alaska and DROVE him to NEW YORk in winter.

Few days later






He lives in his own 5G as well. Actually now most have at least 5 gallons as I lost quite a few recetnly to an unknown bug and moved everytone out of the smaller tanks into divided 10G's. Less water changes to do that way. I do want to add another female or 2 to the 20G and another 2 or 3 males and redivided the one 10G OR maybe add some cory's or something. I dont want to keep one lone betta in a 10G by itself.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Betta Fish won't attack shrimp unless hungry or very aggressive. Now that doesn't mean your shrimp wont become jumpers (had two die from jumping out of the tank) I'm actually going to try RCS with my betta in a few weeks. Waiting for the DHG to grow out a bit more. I want to turn my little 6 gallon into it's own eco-system where RCS breed and my betta has fry for food.

It's actually very interesting that my eldest Amano doesn't freak out like day 1 when he is confronted with my betta. He just kind-of pauses and waits for the betta to swim on and he will resume foraging. This is at night of course (he's not much of a day-walker because of how bright it is. I'm waiting on red root floaters to grow and absorb more of the light and hopefully they both will come out more)

My oto's are night cleaners as well and shoal together - also the betta gets along with them - he will follow them trying to see what the heck they are eating.
 
#20 ·
I am a longtime Betta breeder and I show my Bettas (many wins)

I can safely say that your bowls are just perfect for the Bettas. The key
to Betta longevity is quality of water, not a fancy big tank.

Bettas can and are kept in 1 gallon bowls with comfort, as long as the water is changed every 2-3 days (no longer) the Betta will not suffer any harm to its fins.
Also if you clean up any uneaten food each day that will help immensely.

My longest living Betta was a regular turquoise veiltail who died at 5 years old. My current supreme champion is now retired and heading for his 4th birthday in August.

My Bettas are not kept in heated tanks, I don't have filters in their houses, just clean conditioned water and I only feed in the am, not twice a day. I feed Ocean Nutrition Betta food and Hikari Bio-Gold pellets which everyone loves. Occassionally they might get a treat of frozen bloodworms, but only once a month.
 
#59 ·
I am a longtime Betta breeder and I show my Bettas (many wins)

I can safely say that your bowls are just perfect for the Bettas. The key
to Betta longevity is quality of water, not a fancy big tank.

Bettas can and are kept in 1 gallon bowls with comfort, as long as the water is changed every 2-3 days (no longer) the Betta will not suffer any harm to its fins.
Also if you clean up any uneaten food each day that will help immensely.

My longest living Betta was a regular turquoise veiltail who died at 5 years old. My current supreme champion is now retired and heading for his 4th birthday in August.

My Bettas are not kept in heated tanks, I don't have filters in their houses, just clean conditioned water and I only feed in the am, not twice a day. I feed Ocean Nutrition Betta food and Hikari Bio-Gold pellets which everyone loves. Occassionally they might get a treat of frozen bloodworms, but only once a month.
thank you. both my Betta seem very content, my big red is a very curious fellow and flares when ever he is excited. when he sees me he knows he might be getting a bite to eat ...and flares!
the irridecant veil tail is a quiet fellow and likes tucking himself up in the mosses. Funny the behave so differently.
 
#21 ·
My betta

so this is my black half moon betta (not too sure about specific coloration names) i bought at pet co. he's on my night stand in maybe a .5-1 gal square vase. there's some rocks with fissidens on it that im trying to grow out and hydrocotyl that i put in just to see if it'll grow in the gravel.
ichise, i didn't know that color was so common. here in the U.S. i only mostly see blues and reds and the sort. this might have been the first time i saw a black betta in the store so i bought it haha
 

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#28 ·
so this is my black half moon betta (not too sure about specific coloration names) i bought at pet co. he's on my night stand in maybe a .5-1 gal square vase. there's some rocks with fissidens on it that im trying to grow out and hydrocotyl that i put in just to see if it'll grow in the gravel.
ichise, i didn't know that color was so common. here in the U.S. i only mostly see blues and reds and the sort. this might have been the first time i saw a black betta in the store so i bought it haha
Nice ~ black and silky . We got all types of crazy color breed here in Singapore .
Our LFS import very often from Thailand (land of betta fish) :red_mouth
 
#23 ·
i think bettas like more room then the vases can provide. are they fine and healthy if the water is kept clean? sure, but as happy as in a 5g? i dont think so. im keeping one in a 1g HOB refugium but do plan on upgrading him when i can. i wont say its wrong to keep them in a gallon but i dont think its ideal. id say 2.5 is the min i like to keep them in.

how much to feed depends on the betta and the temp you keep them in. the warmer the temps the more you feed. i keep my bettas in 80f and feed twice a day. 4 pellets in morning and 3 at night, alternating between NLS, hikari and ocean nutrition pellets. also feed some frozen food bloodworms, brine shrimp, and missy shrimp usually 2-3 times a week.

i couldn't keep mine without a heater. i dont know if your house is steady but mine is deff not. the tank would be form 66-80f throughout the day and i see no reason to allow that. again if your finding no problems then more power to you, everyone does it there own way.

great discussion. older pics below, to busy to take up to date ones right now.
 

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#24 ·
how do you measure your bettas happiness? i think as long as you keep their water clean and feed them regularly and keep their parameters at bay, they'll be fine. unless they're displaying signs of stress, then you should be worried. and i mean, betta fish are known to be able to thrive in all types of conditions. and thrive doesn't mean just being contempt, it means to be very vital and healthy. Not that im an expert or anything, but honestly, as long as the water isn't so low that it laying on it's side, it should be fine
 
#25 ·
just like any other fish they need a amount of space to explore and swim around. 1g is not enough room to swim in imo. i have a betta in my 4g that goes so crazy he will fly into the ground and walls of that tiny tank when excited. he deff needs a bigger tank imo, so i think it can come down to the individual fish. i still think for any betta less then 2.5g is not enough room for them to swim without having to make a quick turn.

fish cant talk to us but iv always been about giving them close to a natural environment as i can. i use plants and driftwood in all tanks, and make sure i go above and beyond what most would recommend as a tank size. they dont live in puddles...

my neighbor has a dog in a small caged in area. they never play with that thing or take it out. i feel very bad for this dog and would not dare keep a dog like that. maybe he likes his tiny cage that he can barley turn around in and just constantly sits there and looks out....

im sick of someone saying how can you tell there not happy. so does that mean i can keep a oscar in a 20g as long as i keep the water clean? no fish need room to swim.

again this is only how i feel. if you dont feel this way thats fine.
 
#26 ·
Just because you can do something? Doesn't mean you should.

Can you keep a Betta in a tiny container? Absolutely.

Should you? It's up to you to decide what's humane, a best practice, what's best for the fish. (No, that's not a snobby thing to say - that's a humane thing to say.)

If it were me? I'd keep them in a larger tank if possible. Personally, I prefer to see Bettas in show tanks, floating about, looking gorgeous.

Haven't had one in about two years but my last one explored every inch of its 20gal long all the time. It spent about six months in a 2.5gal tank prior to moving into the 20L and during that time it barely moved, didn't explore, just kind of existed.

Do what's in the best interest of your particular critter. Think it needs to be in a larger tank? Get a larger tank. Think it would thrive in a 2gal vase? Go for it. But don't keep any fish in a tiny cup of water thinking it's okay because you keep things clean. That's both inhumane and beyond unethical in this hobby. Fortunately, no one here does that to my knowledge.
 
#35 ·
This is my betta Greg, found him being given away for free and thought Is let him be the first fish in my 30 gallon planted tank, he came out of a 3 gallon.

He seems pretty happy and swims the whole tank, I got some floater plants the other day and now all he does is make bubbles, the net gets bigger everyday.

I felt bad, he's had the whole tank to himself for a month now, a tank I was making to house a few tetras and yesterday someone gave me 3 emperor tetras a percilla tetra and some kind of African killifish.
He got so huffy, but nobodys bothering anyone and all seems to be good except I feel bad that the one percilla is all by herself.

Greg just keeps making his bubbles.




Sorry for bad pics, old camera.
 
#42 ·
Advice for my Betta

Hello,

I could use some advice on my betta fish. Currently, I have 2 bettas. The first one is a halfmoon living alone in a 2.5gal. The other betta, crowntail, is in a 20gal community tank w/ 4 mountain minnows, 2 Siamese algae eaters, and cherry shrimp.

Here are my current concerns:

1) 2.5 gallon tank- Everything is running well, but the halfmoon betta is tormented by my cat. =( There is a glass lid and a small hood covering the tank so the cat cannot get into the aquarium, but he will jump up onto my bookcase and tap the glass with his paws. This betta seems to be particularly scared of our cat. Our cat does the same thing with the 20g, but the fish don't seem to mind. Not sure if I should be concerned. We do spray our cat with water to get him to get away from the aquariums, but he just loves the fish!

2) The betta in the 20g seems very happy, but he steals food and has an ever growing belly. I only feed once a day and I barely feed these fish as it is. I know recently I saw a baby shrimp in the tank so I'm wondering if the betta is gobbling up some of the baby shrimp.

I tried feeding the crowntail betta at one end of the tank and give the flakes to the minnows at the other end of the tank, but the betta just goes after all the food so that didn't help. =/

I'm starting to wonder if I should switch each betta into the other aquarium. Move the betta in the 2.5 gallon to the 20g and vice versa with my crowntail.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Here is my lover- halfmoon betta. I just adore his coloring!


Here is my crowntail, you can see his belly is getting quite bloated. =(
 
#44 ·
Here is my crowntail, you can see his belly is getting quite bloated. =(
Hi , your betta is too bloated , will have swimming disorder , I will remove it alone and stop feeding it for few days . They can survive 2 weeks without food (just saying they can doesn't mean you should do it) .
Want a healthy betta , feed it alittle twice a day , feed for 6 days , fast it for 1 day . :)
 
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