inari

i had a friend who got i think it was a betta i don't remeber exactly, and never got the poor thing a tank just kept in the bowl some ppl are so dumb sometimes his poor fish ended up dyeing from lack of oxygen and probly space i jsut thought it was so rude that he didn't even bother to buy his fish a tank

jinx_beta

You guys all have picys of your beautiful fish...
I should try to take one of Orion, maybe chickadee, you could identify that 'gold dust' (that seems to have lessened) on him.

I'll show you my tank set up! Except, I'm not really a computer nerd, I'm just a betta-atic. I don't know how to get a picture on the side. I'll ask my brother.

I think it's a 5 gallon. If you could get a 6, it would probably be that. I'll work out how many, by asking the pet store.
I am still thinking of adding to my tank by the way. I've got sea monkeys, and will probably put them in my old tank or something (I've had them for 1 and 1/2 years) they were my test, to see if I could keep a small water dwelling creature away. I think my mum is impressed on how I'm going. Orion is my first fish after all.

Who were your (as in anyone) first fish. How long did they last, or are they still alive?

Oh, by the way, do neon tetra's nip at the fins of fancy finned fish?
Bronze catfish... Are they the Corys?
Gourami, they come in different sizes and colours, right?

I guess I've become OBBSSESSED with fish!

Orion has developed his own personality since I put him in the 5ish Gallon tank, he likes watching me on the computer, and every so often, he'll float around, and then... Charge around the tank once or twice! It's funny to watch.

inari

Well I guess i'll reply first then my first are Inari and Tenshi they are still alive and well they better be considering i've haven't even had them a month yet. Anyway they both have totally different personalities its hilarious Inari is more an aggressor I don't think I will ever try to get him to share a tank with another fish especially a female, and Tenshi as cute and sick as she is i guess the comedian. She is constantly up at the surface of the quarnentine tank asking for more food. When I got then I had the over feeding problem *bad me i know* so I had to feed them peas. i couldn't seem to get down the size very well so they varied in size significantly some the size of the tip of a pencil to ones almost the size of her eye. well most of them sank but she caught a few and decided she like them so much that she wanted more and started re-arranging the gravel so i took a pair of tweezers heated them up with a lighter to sterilize them and started pick the peas out of the gravel...she apparently liked the fact that someone was helping her so as i tried to take the pieces out she would snatch them up b4 i could break the surface of the water. i got most of them or she ate them one of the two and i took some and smashed it on the tweezer ends and when she realized that what was going on everytime she saw the tweezers with no peas on them she would get mad at me a flare up . such a personality i love my two bettas they are wonderful compainions

divakeeks

My first fish was Jesse (a betta) and he lived for about a year I guess... I believe he was a lot older than most fish when I bought him because he was REALLY big compared to the others. I bought him at my LFS and I picked him because he had the most color and looked the healthiest out of them all. They had them in cups and he couldn't even turn around in his. I had bought a small tank (no filter -- I didn't know at the time) but felt bad because he still didn't have much room that I bought him a larger bowl and he had that for quite some time. Then I decided I wanted a filtered tank for him so I bought one of the 5-gallon HEX tanks that Chickadee always talks about and he stayed in that until he passed away.

I've been addicted to bettas ever since. :-)

0morrokh

My first fish were Goldfish that I didn't know how to take care of. Neons would find the fins too hard to resist. Gouramis are not compatible with Bettas, if that's what you're wondering.
There are two types of "Bronze Catfish". There is a Cory which is Corydoras aeneus, I believe. There is also a very similar-looking bronze catfish which is Brochis...something. They are very similar just the Brochis get bigger than Cories. With a lot of catfish you have to id them by their scientific name since the common names are inconsistent or there are several kinds that look the same...

inari

no i'm pretty sure I won't be putting anything in with Inari I made that mistake once and only once so not happening again I almost lost my beautiful female for it like i said not happeneing agian

poefox

My first fish ever were two swordtails, two guppies, two corydoras catfish. They lived a couple of years, the catfish about a year and a half longer than that. Then I tried for something more ambitious and unfortunately added a small school of colorful little fish that seemed so pretty and lively in the story. The unfortunate part of it is that two of them were tiger barbs, one of which proceeded to hound every other fish in the tank to death except the catfish. After that I didn't have any fish for a while.

Right now though I have Rusty, who still resents the fact that I vacuumed his gravel and moved his plants recently. His attitude is: "Not feeding me? Then beat it!" as he swirls away.

divakeeks

Sounds like your Rusty and my Raspy have a LOT in common. LOL

inari

i think that is just plain true for all bettas, "You're not here to feed me?!!?!??! Then go away"

mine two are the same way altho it make life easier if they get sick then u know when they aren't eating

brent

chickadee

oh, poe, what a bad boy you do have! He will come around eventually but he is just showing you who is boss yet.

And, yes they do get most upset when their environment is messed with especially when they really love their home and do not want to have ANYTHING changed. It is almost like they have it all marked down to the last little piece of gravel where it all goes.

Wish me luck, I have 3 tanks to vacuum and rearrange tomorrow LOL. So I will have 6 mad little Bettas LOL.

Rose

divakeeks

Oh my Rose ... good luck with your cleaning. Hopefully they won't be too mad at you!!

poefox

Good luck with that Rose. He's a little better now, more settled down, though he's still very greedy. I accidentally left his light on too long and I guess it wore him out, I found him slumped on a plant, but he perked up when I came in the room and I fed him and then turned it off. He's resting again. Rusty never really seems to rest for long, I don't know if anyone else's does that, he rests a few minutes then moves around, and doesn't do that even all the time.

divakeeks

Raspy seems to be on the go a lot. He does have his "spots" though where he'll stop and rest. He has one spot (new recently) where can see his reflection and just rests there and stares at himself. His lips also seem to be moving a lot when he's over there so I don't know if he's kissing himself or talking to himself.

Lilex stays put more often than Raspy. He likes to rest on the marbles I have at the bottom of his tank. I need to get him a new plant though because he doesn't like the one he has got very much. I'm trying to hold off until I can get their new tank though so I can do it all together. We'll see.

So, I guess I have one of each ... one who rests and one who is one the go!

ecnaj143

He might think to himself "mmmm I know I'm sexy" LOL

My first betta I got, I rescued from a store. He looked so sad. I felt so bad, I bought him, took him home, he could alot better....but then something happened and I woke up one mornining and he was gone. He was no where in my tank.

Anyways, thats awhile ago. I have to take down and clean my 10gal....then I was thinking of putting 1 male betta and 3 females....would that be ok I wanted to breed them, my LFS buys fry for store credit....so instead of spending money I don't have to get my 15gal set up, I'm gonna do that and use the credit to set it up.

inari

BAD IDEA!! I put a male and female together and they didn't get along at all the male tried to kill the female I had to promptly separate them. I had the same idea in mind but well needless to say it didn't work at all. Read some of the articles they have on fishlore website about breeding bettas before you even consider it. I would hate for more bettas to go through what I have put them.

Good Luck!!

0morrokh

Male and female Bettas can't be kept together. They must be kept separately and made ready to breed. Then once they have bred (and you have to be very careful they do not injure or even kill each other), you have a huge job at hand. There are tons of fry, and the water must be kept immaculate. You need a huge tank for all the female Bettas and separate small tanks for all the males. It is a huge job, as well as risky, and I do not recommend it unless you have tons of space and time and knowlegde and are willing to commit yourself to this task. If Chickadee posts she can probably give you some more specific details on what is involved...

chickadee

here are the tank requirements for breeding bettas, these are the basic tanks only and do not include the peripherals (heaters, filters, etc.) Home tank for the male; Home tank for the female - probaby shared with other females; hospital tank for the female to recuperate in BY HERSELF; Fry tank for the female fry; and all kind of little individual containers for all the little male fry to each have their own container. The minimum for the tanks are something like this 1-3 gallon; 1-5 gallon; 1-15 gallon; 1-55 gallon and all those little containers.

3 galllon - hospital tank
5 gallon - male (father's) tank
15 gallon - female (mother's) tank
55 gallon - female fry tank
and of course we all know who gets the little containers.

Then, in case your male doesn't kill or seriously injure your female so that she dies and you don't have a sick fish; I can guarantee the fry are going to need constant water changes. The female fry tank and ALL those little containers have to be kept VERY clean with good water parameters (tests for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate) This means daily water changes. and while you are at it be sure and keep the temperature very steady. You have immature and developing fish happening here and the way they develop depends on the work you are doing right now.

Breeding bettas is not an easy way to make money and Bettas are not easy fish to deal with during or after the process.

Rose

inari

hmmm let me think about this breeding bettas a total pain....there goes that idea :P what are some fish that are easier to breed angels or something like that jw now u have my curiousity up