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Hello,
I’m considering buying my sons Bettas. I fully expect to end up being their care-giver, so never fear! 🙂
My question is this – Does anyone here have Bettas? What kind of tank set-up do you use? Recommendations for a brand/system?
I’ve had a saltwater tank for years, but it turns out I’m completely baffled by what fresh-water fish need! 🙂
Thanks!
-Kiya
A 1-5 gallon set up would be sufficient for one betta splendens. Lots of pet store associates will say they are fine living in stagnant water (because their natural habitat is rice paddies) but all fish do better in water that is circulating/filtering as I’m sure you know since you’ve handled having salt water fish! Also, if you’ve a filter then you don’t have to change their water every week. Just like with salt water you need a dechlorinator to get rid of the nasty chemicals and heavy metals in tap water (you need it if you are on well water too, the fact that it comes from a well does not necessarily make it safe for fish and much of the water in North America is in fact contaminated by natural gas fracking) and some friendly bacteria stuff to get the biological filtration going. Back when I was a pet store associate (‘pet specialist’) I always liked Cycle for that, because that’s what I used when I had fresh water fish and it worked great. With bettas PH isn’t a big deal and they are pretty hardy, so basically all you have to do is give their tank a clean every two weeks if they’ve got a filter. If they don’t you then have to clean them once a week. I recommend a gravel vacuum for getting the poop and crud out of their substrate. Frozen blood worms are the best food for bettas but you can find okay dry stuff. Dried blood worms are a good option because there’s no filler involved, though just as a caution I have heard of them giving people allergic reactions. Normal betta fish food… just make sure sure it doesn’t have any wheat or junk like that in it. Fish don’t need that stuff. Also make sure there’s no ethoxyquin which is frequently found in pet food and which is poisonous – in non pet food circles it is often used as a pesticide and a hardening agent for synthetic rubber. Ew!
And one more thing – male bettas must not be kept together. They WILL kill each other! (Although, I have heard that when given sufficient/ample space for individual territories – such as a 90 gallon tank – male bettas can be happy together then but in most aquariums, you should only have one.) These are VERY territorial fish which do not appreciate other males around. Females should only be in their tank with them if you intend to breed because males sometimes kill them too. As one more note – bettas do not do well with other species of fish; aggressive species like barbs will find them easy prey for harassment with their ponderous movements and long fins and smaller swift species like neon tetras and zebra danios may fall prey to the betta. When I had an aquarium I started out with having a male betta and I can attest to the fact that they will likely kill your other fish if the other fish do not kill them first. It is possible for bettas to exist peacefully with other fish, but most of the time some violence happens in the tank when you aren’t looking.
Don’t give bettas mirrors because it stresses them out because they think their reflection is another male harassing them.
Tank maintenance for fresh water is pretty much the same as salt water. 🙂 (You can even add a small amount of aquarium salt! It’s supposed to help with fish health – aquarium salt packages will say how much to add per gallon for a fresh water tank. For my 20 gallon tank it was about a tablespoon.)
Check out my finished artwork at http://falcolf.deviantart.com/ and my sketch/studio blog at http://rosannapbrost.tumblr.com/
Excellent!
We’ll only have one per tank since we intend to get males.
This is the tank I’m looking at (though through another seller that doesn’t charge $75 for it!) I’m planning to add a small heater as well: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CCIOL8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
I think my salt-water fish place sells bettas so hopefully I can get the fish there instead of a big box pet store. I know their fish are good – one of my clowns is going on 10 years old now. 🙂
Can I use the same water testers for both salt and fresh water? I would THINK that there’s no difference in testing the water quality, but I’m not sure if the salt will change that.
I’ve got a betta too. I have him with some other fish, [long finned red minor tetras, cory doras, and a platy] and while he occasionally suffers a fin nip from the tetras, he does alright. I have a plastic plant mat that i hung upside down, tethered to the lid that he hides in. He loves it.
Mine is in a 20 gallon with filter and heater. I definitely would recommend a heater and filter for the bettas. While they CAN live without them, I think they do so much better with them.
They like to hide, I’d definitely suggest some sort of decor where they can slip in and hide. Don’t be alarmed if you find them just laying on the bottom or on the decor [unless they’re laying on their side or upside down], they will do that. Mine loves to find nooks and crannies to hide himself and just lay there.
Oooh this is kind of my home territory! I have 4 bettas at the moment.
Looks like everything has been covered pretty well so I will try not to repeat anything!
I just wanted to add that Bettas can have some tankmates – Corydora catfish for example!
The cories keep to themselves and the betta doesn’t mind because they mostly keep to their own space, which is the tank’s bottom. The bettas will puff our their chests for a bit at first, but once they understand the cories aren’t aggressive, they just leave eachother alone. 🙂 It might vary for the individual fish but I’ve kept a couple tanks with cories and one male Betta together.
They WILL need fairly consistent care, though. Don’t believe the pet store when they say that they’re super easy… Goldfish are easy, bettas not as much! Water quality is super important to be on top of. The smaller the tank, the more often you will need to clean it. They are tropical fish and will succumb to poor tank conditions very easily!
Ah, I forgot about mentioning a heater! But yes, by all means one of those. I’d go to the small fish store too, the ones in larger big box pet stores are often sick. I was horrified once when I went into a Petsmart and saw their bettas in water that was blue with anti-ich medication!
I don’t recommend tank mates with bettas just out of my own personal experience and feedback that I have gotten, though I would agree that cories might be okay. (I can’t definitely say any species would be just because I had Chinese Butterfly Plecos, which have pretty much the same behaviour except for sticking to glass and those often disappeared without a trace.)
I believe the same PH tester strips and whatnot will work for fresh water. 🙂
In my experience goldfish need filtration just as much as any other fish. They’re also poop machines!
Check out my finished artwork at http://falcolf.deviantart.com/ and my sketch/studio blog at http://rosannapbrost.tumblr.com/
Excellent!
Did the tank I linked look like it would be sufficient? We may just start with one to see how it goes, then get a second tank if we manage to have good luck with the first one! 🙂
Look at these! https://www.facebook.com/BettaBids
I’ve been giving print out pics of bettas to Brandi for painting inspiration. Many of the totally awesome dragons she has painted lately are betta inspired.Look at these! https://www.facebook.com/BettaBids
I’ve been giving print out pics of bettas to Brandi for painting inspiration. Many of the totally awesome dragons she has painted lately are betta inspired.Oh no… Now I’m going to end up with a $50 Betta 😛
Seriously though, these are awesome!!!
Yes, that tank would be fine. I got a nice little 3 gallon tank that had everything with it but the heater for around $30.00 at Pet smart. What size saltwater tank do you have? I would love to see a picture!
My saltwater tank is just 55 gallons – nothing huge. I have a pair of mated clowns, a yellow tang, a royal gamma, and a watchman gobi along with a bunch of corals and crabs and an urchin. My oldest fish is one of the clowns, he’s about 10 years old. The other clown is about 6 years old. I don’t think any of the fish are younger than 3 or 4. 🙂
The tank looks a little “bleh” right now – the kenya trees had a major spawn and are just FILLING the tank. I need to prune them back and buy a few new corals and maybe a damsel for some blue and then it might be photo-worthy again. LOL
Looks okay other than add a heater- bettas do best around 80*. Soft and/or smooth things in their tank the can rest on and hide behind- if it’s available to you, I love water sprite live plant- it prefers to float so the betta would love that, and is pretty forgiving as to light levels and water quality. When it overpopulates, just add some to your mulch pile- it reproduces from plantlets and splitting, so can fill up even a big tank fast. Dark substrate and background tend to be more soothing to the fish (and better looking IMHO); very light or bright substrate and background can reflect light in ways fish can find distressing.
Many saltwater tests can’t be used on freshwater, some can. Look at the directions for your products is my best recommendation. Unless you have funky water though, the bettas will probably not have a problem.
Goldfish aren’t easy! I definitely don’t consider them beginner fish. They grow huge (if cared for properly, 18-24″ is not unheard of for commons, 10-16″ for fancies), live a long time (20+ longest with documentation is almost 50 years), and are POOP MACHINES. They need well oxygenated, clean water (ponds or big tanks with big filters, lightly stocked and changed often) if they’re going to thrive not just barely survive. They can be really nifty pets with loads of personality and rather surprising intelligence if given the chance. PLEASE never put them in bowls, they will die a horrible cruel death there!
Thanks for all the tips! We’ll probably just start with one beta to make sure we have the system down, then maybe get another little tank if it goes well. 🙂
Sounds like this might be good practice for my next saltwater project – a nano reef! Smaller systems are so much harder to regulate!
I would still like to see a picture! I am upgrading to a 72 bow front reef. my 40 is my biggest right now. I also have two 30’s a 10 and an eight gallon. and a 2 gallon.
Very nice! I don’t have the time to have that many tanks. I’d like to get mine upgraded to a 100 gallon so I could have a few more fish. I’d love to do a fish only tank (since some of the prettier fish tend to nip corrals), but those are harder to keep stable in my experience. I’ve been fiddling with saltwater tanks since middle school. So, like, 20 years now … yikes!
Funny to think I worked all summer at odd jobs to raise money for the first one. 🙂
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