Funny Betta Stories

Hi, I'm Kristyn (jinx_beta)
I thought it would it would be a great idea to write about our gorgeous bettas, seeing as they all have their own personalities!

here's mine...

When I first got Orion, I was soooooo excited (as you would be) and, seeing as I had the tank set up, I got to work letting him float in his bag.
After leaving him in the bag, and walking away (talk about dumb!) I came back... Orion was at the bottom of the bag, flared up, as red as he could go. I was so scared!
Any way, I realised the time was done, and added water to the bag, from the tank. It showered down, and Orion stressed out again, and attacked the flow of water!!!

I have successfully made him at home, in his new tank (5 gallon) but, every time I clean the tank, and put him it the bag, repeating the process, he attacks the water, and is in a sociable mood after that!!!

Feel free to write about any funny stories about your better (why can't I poop?) ;D

Kristyn

 

it is a very funny story indeed, but jinx why do you put him back in the bag to do the water changes? Eventurally the bag will have bacteria in it which may make him ill.

Just leave him in the tank and he will be fine as you just change part of the water, don't you? They do just fine in even a 75% water change wihich you would only do in the most dire of circumstances. In a regular 25% or even a 50% water change he will do fine just staying in his tank and be much less stressed. Just try to make sure the water is about the same temperature as what is in the tank when you add the new water and that you have added the dechlor treatment for a few minutes ahead and stirred it well. He will be fine even if you vacuum the gravel. He may try to attack the siphon but he won't get hurt. He may even have fun playing in the new water as it is being poured in. Mine do. Just pour it in a little slow.

Rose

 

Now I have a 5 gallon tank, my old tank can be used when I'm cleaning out the bigger one. I haven't used the bag method for quite some time now.

 

I had no idea you could clean the tank with the betta in it ... I always take them out. Does it cause them unneeded stress to be removed?

 

yes it stresses them any time they are handled. if you can leave them in the tank they do much better. the only exception I can think of is when there is something in the water that is toxic to fish or the whole tank needs to be taken down for some reason. I cannot think that the fish should ever be taken out for a routine water change. I have left mine in for an occasional 75% water change with no ill effects at all. They do very well indeed.

Rose

 

Bettas also hate nets--the best thing for them is some kind of scoop, which will stress them but not as much as being netted. It can also damage their fins and give them an infection to net them, apparently.

It is a funny story btw about him attacking the water current.

Rusty took a while to flare up, I think he was too fascinated by the size of his tank to notice the 'other bettas' in the reflections but now he does on a regular basis if the tank light is the only one on in the room. I usually leave that on an hour or so by itself to exercise him a bit.

A funny story about Rusty: he's so greedy that he sometimes misses his pellets by sheer exhuberance. He'll charge up and sometimes miss and then the pellet floats away and he spins around looking for it. BTW, Rose, that also explains him learning the finger game so quickly. Once he realized it didn't mean he was getting more eats he stopped playing.

 

My Betta was mad at me when I put my Guppy fry in with him. He flared up when he saw me for 2 days straight!

Haha, I just bought a Betta (practically) out of spite. I was standing in the fish section at Wal-Mart, looking at what was in stock, when I see the Bettas and walk over. I decide I'm going to buy one for my 55 gallon. While I'm looking at all of them someone walks up to me and says, "Well, that one doesn't look like he's doing good, doesn't he? Haha!" and pokes the fish/container twice. I responded, "Well, they're in cups. What the heck do you think they'll be?" in a somewhat brash tone, and proceeded to take and purchase the Betta they so un-thoughtfully abused.

 

Oh Bless You, Marc. People are so thoughtless. I wonder how that unfeeling so-and-so would be feeling if he were in the cup and some big Betta came along and poked his cup and said the same thing about HIM. I know that is silly but it is about time people started to see the rest of God's creatures as feeling, breathing creatures capable of hurting just like we are.

I am so glad you rescued the little buddy. Let us know how he (I am guessing since he was in a container it was a "he") is doing, okay?

Thanks again,

Rose

 

Actually they've got females in cups at Walmart too. I have stopped going to the fish section there because it is too depressing. You can barely see the fish the water is so dirty and like all the tanks have dead fish floating around the dying fish. :'( > Once I saw a beutiful Betta, dead and covered with fungus. :'( I doubt they even cared, let alone tried to treat him...or else they just didn't even know he was sick, because, what the heck, that is not a fish store, so they shouldn't try to sell fish!!! > Last time I went to look at the Bettas there.
Thanks for rescuing that Betta, Marc. I'm sure he will be very happy with you. Some people are just so cruel. I think I should stop talking now before I say something worse...

 

Most Betta's that are kept in glasses are substantually smaller then the healthy one's

.... Sniff.... Sorry, I was thinking about a beautiful ruby betta I saw yesterday... he was about 1/4 the size of Orion.
Well done Marc, for saving your betta. However, I shopped around in my petshops, and got Orion (my betta) from a specialty aquarium shop, he was happy, in a 10 gallon tank!

I've never heard of 'WALL MART" (I'm from Australia) however, if you continue to purchase fish from this torture chamber.... Oh, sorry, I mean shop, then you are actually supporting the dumb bums that order the fish in, which will make them buy more, and more and more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you stop buying from WALL MART, then, that's 1 less betta to order in again. If no one buys fish here, then the manager will stop selling them!!!!

 

walmart is a big "we sell everything place" they will always have bettas and other fish always

 

SOrry for the 2 messages, my hand slipped, I was on a roll complaining about the cruelty to bettas in WALL MART

In fact... Who wants to join 'Po CAB' Prevention of Cruelty Against Betta?
Just reply saying "I" or something like that, it goes to a good cause. I'll start a petition............

Wait, if I make a petition, and go to Baites (my local torture chamber) then you who shop at WALL MART go and tell then it's against Po CAB's rules, and you could tell the police and..... and.... and!!!!!!!

Betta's will be saved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll start another topic, explaining Po CAB, by the way, I just made that name on the spot, pretty nifty huh?


ps, does this wall mart stock everything?

 

I had no idea you could clean the tank with the betta in it ... I always take them out. Does it cause them unneeded stress to be removed?

I do whole water changes about every two days on my male now and he hates it but when I put him back in he is fine he really doesn't care he just flares up at me and then chills back out once he is back in the water

walmart is a big "we sell everything place" they will always have bettas and other fish always

Yes but if u are going to sell fish by God learn how to care for them U won't sell the sickly looking ones very often now will u?

 

they sell fish to beginners

 

You would be surprised how many people will just walk into a store and buy a fish without even looking at him or knowing the first thing about fish.

 

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

 

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.

 

Well I guess I'll reply first then ;D 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 every time 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

 

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.

 

My first fish were Goldfish that I didn't know how to take care of. :'(

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?

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...

 

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

 

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.

 

His attitude is: "Not feeding me? Then beat it!" as he swirls away.

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

 

His attitude is: "Not feeding me? Then beat it!" as he swirls away.

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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. ;D

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!

 

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.    ;D

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 a lot better....but then something happened and I woke up one mornining and he was gone. He was no where in my tank.

Anyways, that's 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.

 

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!!

 

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...

 

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

 

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

 

oh goodness I won't be breeding bettas anytime too soon!

 

Yes my skin starts to go all "hivey" when I hear people talk about "breeding Bettas". It is a BIG job and for some reason it is treated like "well let's go get a couple of fish and get things goin'!" I want to get on top of the highest building and yell for them to stop and think before they go buy the fish. I love Bettas, goodness knows that I do, but I would rather see those poor little buddies stay where they are than to go to someone who expects to "breed Bettas" and has not got the faintest idea of how or what they are up against. The fish are the ones who pay for their inexperience and nothing of this type should be undertaken without some extensive study on the subject.

Rose

 

definately u need more room than most ppl have so bredding betta bad idea!!

 

We thought we'd start a new thread on funny Betta stories with one about our 1st Betta Mario.

You all know most Bettas get excited and flare when the lights are out & their tank light is on? When we first got him, Mario would sit there and flare at the glass until we turned the lights on or his light off but after a little while Mario came up with this routine of going up to the glass on the side, flaring at it, swimming around his big rock formation, then through the top hole in it straight from the back to the front as fast as he could to flare right at us watching him from the front, then back to the glass. And after we turned the light on, he'd swim up to us as if to say "I'm the big, bad Betta fish! Mr. Tough-Guy!" then swim off.

 

LOL. That's so cute. Natalie

 

That is cute! Isn't it funny how each of our bettas have their own personalities? To say nothing about their attitudes!!!

CherryRose

 

That is cute! Isn't it funny how each of our bettas have their own personalities? To say nothing about their attitudes!!!
CherryRose

Yea, he infected us SO fast with the Betta Bug & MTS with his tough-guy attitude and the funny things he did. We had no idea what we were in for when we got him. And then like you say each has a unique personality so every new Betta we buy is a new kind of joy.

Another funny thing Mario did (in line with his Big-Bad-Betta-Boy attitude) was the way that he'd act whenever I changed things around in his tank. For the rest of the day at least, he'd flare EVERY time he caught sight of me but be Mr. Sweetie to my wife because she wasn't the one who dared to mess with his stuff.