Betta Care

I was persuaded, against my better judgement, to get another goldifh today as I only had the one black moor on his own. So we trot off to the lfs and there in a row of little jars were some beautiful male bettas. They looked really lovely but one blood red betta stood out as being the best so we ended up coming home with a fantail goldfish, a male betta, some fake plants for the betta palace, and an ornament of a lighthouse with a waterwheel attached (the price you pay for letting kids decorate the tank ).

So, I did buy some betta flakes, and believe that they like live foods, but can you also feed them freeze dried and frozen stuff too?

I will try and get some pics of the new arrivals when they have had time to settle and get used to swimming round a red and white striped lighthouse!

i bet you chose that light house really and just thought you would blame it on the kids lol

Wait till you see it kb, it's quite dominant in the tank - there was a smaller one but that was completely ignored!

sound like great pick ups diana looking forward to seeing the pics

love betta's myself - and the deep red one's at that



dekker

How marvellous. Does this mean you've finally succumbed to MTS, Diana?

I feed my Betta a mix of betta flake, betta pellets and live food but, by far, his favourite is bloodworms which I give him twice a week. He also pecks at the cucumber that I put in for the Otos.

pretty much as mary said - mine always favoured mozzie larvae and tubifex worms too.

Mine seemed to prefer lots of little snacks thru the day as opposed to a big breakfast - my guppy tanks gets this treatment and all seem happier this way.

Cooked, peeled (squeezed) peas finely chopped is another big favourite with bettas

Thanks for that, he is a great little fellow, he is a firm favourite already and has been given the name Max. My only worry about him is that he does seem to just sit around the filter and not swim in the tank much, so I hope he is ok.

Could the filter fllow be too much for him? I have it situated so that the nozzle is about 1" below the waterline and just causing some agitation. Also, the tank temp went down to 25 overnight - could this be a bit too cold for him? (How silly to be worrying over a fish like this!! )

So, next question, - tankmates for him. He is in a tank which has about 20litres of water so I thought probably only shrimp would be suitable, what do you think?

He is having some defrosted tubiflex today. Do you feed every day?

1st up - they really do hate any amount of flow - imagine you were always wearing a massive raincoat (couldnt take it off) and it was always windy outside - youd soon get tired of fighting the wind - same idea for betta - Im not sure what kind of filter you have - but im sure you could knock up some sort of spary bar of water diffuser - or even just angle the outlet so its aimed at the side or something.

2nd - he will likely lurk in a corner to sulk - youve only just got him so give him time to settle into the new home - try to have the kids keep away or at least be quiet around him for a few days - also - bettas do like to 'rest' on things - mine always curled up into a little ball to 'sleep' in the plants.

I have found that bettas rest ont he substarte when they are not well - even if there are no other outward signs - in my mind a betta resting on substrate is not 100% - they are rather prone to internal infection n dropsy so try a melafix pimafix combo along with an internal infection treatment - i dont recommend salt for bettas.

Tank temp is fine - I keep all my beasties at 25c

Tank mates - well - for now id let him settle in first. Also bearing in mind ivw said they can be prone to ills - personally i thing make bettas are best on their own. They differ in personality - but the ones Ive had - sooner or later got 'grumpy' with other fish - even ottos. Ive heard they are ok with shrimp etc (the clawless type) but remember shrimp dont appreciate meds so having them with bettas in my view (only my view) may not be a good plan.

You could be mercenary about and say a shrimp is £7 and a betta is £3 (and you will have more than 1 shrimp) so if the fish is ill so be it - but we all know the bettas have little lovable characters - i couldnt do this - and if your kids get attached to the betta - well m, we all know what will happen.

Upto you.

I never fed my bettas 'live' (real bugs) more than tewice a week, be it frozen, freeze dried or fresh live. Also bettas get choosy about the food theyll take given the chance - I found mine all liked hikari betta pellets over flake food - except for brineshrimp flake.

I got 'proper' betta food from here

http://www.bettas.org.uk/forum/

Not sure they still do it but im sure youll find the forum useful (personally I found wm to be a little up their own backsides on that forum - nothing like as friendly as us 'orrible lot ) anyway - give it a try.

TBH - id feed primarily what the store fed him and offer 'treats' in small amounts to see what he'll eat.

Thanks Rich, that really is a great help. I'll go and have a fiddle with the filter and see if I can make it a bit easier for him.

TBH - in a 20liter tank with 1 betta - an air sponge filter is about the best bet.

And you dont need to buy one - they are easy to make and you can use the existing media in it too

Are you expecting me to earn my Blue Peter badge Rich??

I am using a Fluval internal, and have now pointed the nozzle towards the back wall, so hopefully Max will feel a bit comfier soon.

Re: filter flow - I agree with Rich. Bettas like the water to be practically still IME so as little surface water movement as possible, giving that they swim to the surface to take the occasional gulp of air.

Re: tankmates - I've kept mine with Amano Shrimp and Otos, no problem. In a tank that size, you could have a pair of each.

mine didnt like the ottos - tthey play their music too loud or something - the bettas i had always had a go at them - the moral of the tale is basically be prepaired to move the tankmates if the betta is a grumpy bum

shrimps ought to be generally ignored - its the meds you have to be careful of

Thanks everyone. Well today I have had a rummage in my fish cupboard and found a small length of spray bar pipe that I have attached to the filter outlet and aimed at the back of the tank. Hopefully he will be a bit happier now.

I think for now I will leave him on his own. I have already taken to this little fish, and would be sorry if he got sick. I am going to vary his diet - how does this sound (I sound like areal newbie here don't I?? )

Sunday - veggies (shelled peas as suggested above)
Monday - Betta Flakes
Tuesday - Fasting
Wednesday - Frozen Tubiflex
Thursday - Flakes
Friday - Fasting and water change day
Saturday - Freeze dried whatever

I just hope the little fellow is ok when I go away for a few days (off on Monday) as there isnt much in the way of food bits in the gravel etc at the mo, it's all nice and clean. Maybe I should take him with me!

sounds like a good feeding regime he should be very happy with that - don't know about
taking him with you he mite be travel sick - hope you have a good few days away



dekker

Well I could always give him some car sick tablets and games to play

Have you thought of a name yet? I named my red Betta (RIP ) Clancy which is Celtic for "Red Warrior".

i dont agree with fasting days for fish on their own tbh - in a bigger community - there is more wasted food around - with a betta - feed em small amounts (they are usually quite greedy when hungry) mine would eat 6 betta pellets in a sitting - he got this morning (breakfast) and again n the eveing (6pm)

bettas in the wild are predators and this is the time theyd find the bugs they eat. Veggies on their own - again - a quarter of 1 pea is enough tbh - so give him the ration whjen your other fish have it.

As i said - bettas can be fussy on the food theyll take - it comes down to who is the more stubborn - one of mine ate nothing for 5 days before he took what I wanted him to eat oh and none of mine would touch blood worms for some reason.

Mary, the names were decided on our way home I had no input into this, but the goldfish is callled Patrick and the betta is called Max.

Thanks Rich for the info, it will be daily feeds then for the little fella. I hope there are enough bits in the tank for him to munch while I am away, I dont want him to starve

Diana wrote:

The goldfish is callled Patrick

An Irish Goldfish - I approve.

Quote :

none of mine would touch blood worms for some reason.

thats odd... mine eat only bloodworms- live as well as freeze dried

they don't eat the little pellets or anything else

there you go - proof if you spoil em - they get fussy

Hey Rich how you doing mate, good to see yous till posting I tried to keep a betta a couple of times recently and never had luck with them - reminded me of Mry's problems a while back.. Ggave up on them in the end which is a shame because they are a nice fish.

Reading this info theough, I only fed them betta flakes so maybe I just wasnt giving them the right combination of foods.

you could argue I killed em with the 'wrong' food also - mine never lasted long.

I do think perhaps if I ever get another - i'll get it from a proper breeder and not a lfs/petshop - they are someaht fragile ime - mine mostly died from dropsy type thing.

trouble with getting them from lfs is we don't know how old they are
they could be really mature and their life span is only 2 years or so
but as FF says they are beautiful fish.



dekker