chickadee

First of all, let me say,"Welcome" to this new area of the Forum. Naturally, you know it is devoted to the many facets of the fish we all know and love, the Betta. Those of you who know me, know that I have had several Bettas and presently have 5 nice males with me nearly 24/7. They are members of my family, my children in a funny kind of way. They challenge me, they make me laugh, and there are have been times when they have been the cause of great distress in my life. These are the times we are going to talk about here. These are the times we want to hear about. (the good and the bad)

There is a lot to raising a Betta, and raising a Betta is exactly what you do. When you go to the Local Fish Store (LFS) or go on-line or wherever you get your Betta, you are getting a fish (especially the males) that has been raised as few fish are. There are reasons a Betta will not react as pretty much any other fish in your tank to the other fish in your tank. He has never been around other fish since he was a fry. Soon after it was determined that he was a male he was removed from the tank and placed in an individual jar or some other small container so he would not fight to the death with others of his kind. He simply does not know that there are other fish who are ALLOWED to be in with him. Well, I am not going to go into the whole Betta psychology now. How about a few basics:

SPACE: Contrary to popular opinion a Betta cannot live in a BETTA BOWL or such similar sized tank. I would say the minimum size for a truly happy Betta is 5 gallons. The BETTA BOWLS or cute little containers that are on the market today are too small and impossible to keep heated and filtered and we will come to that momentarily, but Bettas are Tropical Fish and as such, need to be kept in heated and filtered water. While a Betta can be kept in 2.5 gallons of water as that is the absolute minimum that can be safely heated with a quality heater, my present tank compliment is 3-12 gallon tanks (2 divided) and one 25 gallon tank (divided). I also have a 4 gallon hospital tank in use.

HEAT: Being Tropical Fish, Bettas need to be kept at a temperature of at least 78 degrees F (25 degrees C) at a MINIMUM on a constant basis. It would be much better to aim for 80 degrees F (26 degrees C) to make them even happier. This is very important as the Betta seems to be especially prone to some of the cold water conditions such as Ich and Finrot. These diseases are primarily prevented by keeping the tank temperature at steady and proper levels and water parameters good and water clean at all times. For those of you lucky enough to live in a warm climate, I should mention that this does NOT mean that you should not heat your tank. The word here is "consistency". The temperature needs to be maintained at a constant level and not fluctuate. That means that you cannot have the temperature warm during the day and cool down even a few degrees at night. This is how a heater helps. If it does not need to run during the day in a warm room it will just be there, but at night if the room cools a few degrees THAT HEATER can be the one thing that is going to keep your betta healthy by keeping his water temperature at a level that is constant while the room air cools down. You will not be wasting electricity because as long as the tank can stay warm without the heater running it doesn't use any energy at all. Just consider it a little insurance policy. And while I am on this subject, of all the equipment you purchase for your betta; please do yourself a favor and get a good heater and a good filter. They may seem like an expense at first but if you get a good one it will last longer and perform better. If not you will probably have to pay for another soon and that is just a sad unneeded expense.

FILTRATION: Here again, because the Betta is a Tropical Fish and especially because you love your fish and do not want to subject him to having to live in a sewer, you need a GOOD filter in the tank you will be housing him in. This means chemical, biological, and mechanical filtration - no undergravel filters (UGF). There are a lot of types of filters out there but not all of them are appropriate for a Betta. Bettas are not given to being in a strong current so you need to find a filter that is adjustable to the degree that it provides a ripple or small waterfall - not a torrent. They do like some movement to the top surface of the water as they are one of the Labyrinth fishes. These fish have an organ on the top of their heads that not only allow them to breathe air like we do, but demands it. So if dust, scum, or anything else builds up on the surface of the water and the Betta is prevented from reaching a clean surface spot, he will drown. He also uses his gills so he can remain underwater for a time, but if you watch your Betta he will go to the surface and "butt" the surface with top of his head. This is his "breathing air". A lot of owners provide a tall plant for their Betta to sleep in at night so they won't have to swim so far to "breathe". As you heard me mention above, please get the best filtration set-up that you can get for your fish. This is where the bacterial bed is housed that will determine the health of your tank and the fish you put in it. Keeping fish is not an inexpensive hobby if you keep having fish die and filters and other equipment break down and not do their job, so if it means waiting for a bit to get the right equipment and healthy fish, then it really is worth the wait.
I have also come to recommend the use of a sponge filter as a secondary filter in a tank to use as an emergency filter in case of power failure. If you have a battery operated air pump, this can keep your tank filtered throughout the failure and save the lives of your fish which can be a savings of not only their lives but also the money you spent investing in them. As we all know the cost of fish can be high and well worth the added effort and sponge filters are not expensive. Battery operated air pumps can be very inexpensive as well.

FOOD: There are many special foods for Bettas and thanks for all of them because you see, the Betta is probably one of the most picky eaters there has ever been. I am sure someone somewhere has more than likely taken out bankruptcy trying to find a food their Betta would eat. LOL There are really only 3 main types of that are generally successful. The pellets (be careful of the size of the pellets - even some of those advertised as Betta pellets are too big for their mouths), Bloodworms (handle with care, some people are allergic to them, but most Bettas seem to love them - I recommend ONLY the Freeze-dried variety as the fresh or frozen can bring disease), and Freeze-dried Baby Brine Shrimp (they either love them or they hate them - I would try the first two options first as if they do not like these they tend to be a little pricey.) Some people have luck with feeding their Bettas flake food, but it is not a good idea on a steady basis as the Betta is a meat eater and his mouth is just not shaped for a flake. If you have purchased a very young betta, it is probably going to be necessary to get a food that is sized for their mouths. Ocean Nutrition makes the Atison's Betta Food line of very tiny pellets that are perfect for tiny bettas.

CONSTIPATION: Maybe this should be considered with the FOOD topic, but it is such a MAJOR problem with the Betta, I am giving it a category of its own. The main cause is SPOILING YOUR BETTA (overfeeding)

Baby Bettas should be getting no more than 2 mini pellets for 3 to 4 very small meals a day VERY tiny stomachs!
Small Pellet Foods 5-6 pellets twice a day (like Atison's Betta Pro)
Pellets feed 3-4 pellets twice a day (like Hikari Betta Bio-gold)
Bloodworms feed 6-7 worms twice a day

This is one or the other of the above NOT both. Bettas will make you believe they have never had a bite of food ever before and they are going to starve unless you give them more. They do not know when to quit. Do Not follow the rule of "feed what they will eat in a few minutes". Your tank could not possibly hold enough. LOL They will make themselves sick and there are Bettas (many Bettas) who have died of constipation. If they do become constipated, and it is caught before they have totally impacted themselves, it is easily fixed with a bag of frozen peas and a microwave oven or a small pan of water. Just defrost (not cook) one frozen pea and remove the skin and cut a couple very small chunks of it (no more than the size of half his eye total) and feed it to him. Hopefully this will get him going again, literally. Then be very careful to monitor his eating. Bettas will also eat other veggies occasionally and do like fruit also. They will eat almost everything that we do but be careful to remove skins and seeds and to cut the pieces very small in pellet form for them. I have also fed mine a very small amount of raw liver which they love but I am cautious not to give them too much as I do not want them to stuff themselves with it as I am not sure what raw meat will do to them.

LOVE: As most Betta owners can tell you, this is not a problem. Even when they are being naughty and chasing their tankmates or not eating or making you worry there is never any question that you love them. They have a very personal relationship with their humans, perhaps because because they do not bond well with the other fish. You will find them watching you and what is going on around you and them. They want to be a part of your life and you must interact with them. They can become depressed and will "sulk" if they are left alone with no attention for a period of time.

MEDICATING YOUR BETTA: This material is being added due to the recent problems with some of the medication advice about one of the most commonly used products for Tropical Fish. It is no longer considered appropriate to use the medication MELAFIX for
Bettas among other fish of the same family. There are other medications that will serve the purpose that this one has filled that will be safe for the Betta and not pose a threat to their health or their lives.


There is also a medication, PIMAFIX, that contains chemicals in it that are sometimes used to anesthetize fish and in some cases to euthanize them. I do not recommend the use of this product because it creates the same problems with Bettas that the medication mentioned above creates. As I mentioned above, there are enough really safe and very good medications out on the market for Betta owners to use and more coming out all the time. We do not need to resort to the use of those which have caused problems or have ingredients in them that even pose potential problems.

FINROT: Finrot has become a major problem lately and has various and many causes. They range from bacterial infections to stress and sometimes defy all attempts to heal the problem. The first lines of defense that many of the owners here have found to work begin with very clean water, Vitamins in some form like VitaChem, Triple Sulfa in some form (some have had better luck with the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand and others with the Mardel Brand), and others have had good results with a combination of Maracyn/Maracyn2. The main thing is the cleanliness of the tank and the consistency of the treatment. The medications while they suggest only using them for a period of 5 or so days need to be continued for a period of two weeks or longer as this disease is a long term infection. You can expect not to see much regrowth of the finnage for a matter of weeks and when it does come in it may be a different color or curly or changed in some manner. The important thing is when the fins have even a small tear or hole that the treatment begin immediately and continue until the symptoms are gone. Fish can and do survive this problem but it is a long term recovery and can be discouraging to the owner. The good part is that the fish generally does not know he is sick. There are a lot of other owners who have suffered through this with their fish on this forum. If you find yourself needing help, be sure to ask for it. There is a lot of experience out there to be used. You are not alone.

I hope you have found some of this helpful. If there are questions you have or information you need that has not been covered here, that is what we are here for. If we do not have the information for you right away, there are resources we can check. It may take a little doing but we will do out best to get the information to you as soon as possible. It is fully our goal to see that you have the information you need to have a happy and healthy Betta.

I am going to make one further comment. I make no apologies for the fact that I ask for the best for the Bettas. They have no voices and they have been mistreated almost since birth. They need patience and understanding and not to be treated as some pretty toy. They are beautiful Tropical Fish and some of the current products being put out in the name of Betta fish are nothing more than convenience and a way to sell more fish. The BETTA BOWL will HOLD a Betta but they will have shortened lives and be very miserable and unwell.

Again, I want to welcome you and invite you to browse through the posts by the members who have written about their experience with their Bettas. There are some marvelous pictures and stories in this area of the forum. Several people have Bettas on this Forum and they all have knowledge to share. Our Betta Board has grown by leaps and bounds and we now have many more members who can share their experience and caring with you. This is a board that loves their fish individually and we like to meet each fish and greet them by name and make them a part of our community because after all without them, there would be no reason to be here.


Rose
Chickadee

-Mike removed the strange A character from the upgrade
- updated on 7/28/2007 by Rose