New Betta Help?

This is going to be kind of morbid but one of my betta fish is on his last leg & I wanted some advice on what kind of betta I should get next. My dying betta is in a 5.5gal heated, filtered & cycled all by himself. He started showing a tumour in early august & has been doing fine but in the last week he has really deteriorated & I don't think he will make it overnight . I plan on doing a deep clean of substrate & changing about 50% of the water after he passes. I want to get a new betta right away so that the cycle doesn't get messed up & so new betta has a happy clean home with no ammonia . I'm just soooo indecisive about what kind to get & where to get it. I currently have a crowntail male, veiltail male, & veiltail female betta, all are in their own tanks. I'm trying to decide between a doubletail male, halfmoon male, or one of those "king" bettas(from petco). I was thinking of either going to the pet store by my house(a small chain) or going to petco. Both have pretty nice fish but the local one has less stock & seem to take more individual care with them. Does anyone have any experience with doubletail/halfmoon/king & have any advise?

 

Haha, I have experience with them all(bit of an addict). The king needs a 10 gallon minimum, so I wouldn't get one. Half moons are always beautiful, I personally like the plakat half moon the best and so are double tails as well. Halfmoons and double tails will need the same needs. I'd go with the one that seems to take better care of them personally. I'm very sorry your boy is passing..

 

I wouldn't recommend a king betta, simply because, well, they're huge. A 5.5g would be really cramped for one of them, though they are super cute. as you might already know, long-tailed Bettas have the risk of ending up with their tails in their mouths (this I speak from experience - my halfmoon Betta gets super hungry and bores easier than many other Bettas I've known, so he takes to eating his tail as a light snack (and something to do). I started feeding him worms and training him to go through hoops, and it's getting better).

But really, it depends all on the temperament and they're all super pleasant to have! super smart, too.

And always nice to meet a fellow supernatural fan!

 

Sorry about your dying betta.

I would get a doubletail betta. I'm a little biased as I have one myself, but they are super cute and unique with their short, stocky bodies and two full tails. It may be that they're less popular, but I haven't heard as many tail-biting stories with them as with other long-finned bettas like halfmoons. However, they can be more prone to swim bladder problems because of their shorter bodies.

But don't limit yourself to a tail type. You never know if a special one might catch your eye at the store

I would go with the smaller LFS, but Petco does have beautiful bettas and if they take decent care of them, I wouldn't beat myself up about buying from there.

 

Thanks for all the advise guys! Unfortunately my poor veiltail betta boy did pass overnight,(rip miracle 2014-2017). I was still unsure of which type I wanted(except I ruled out the king bettas since I don't have a big enough tank) so I just went out with an open mind. I went to the local pet store first but they didnt have any bettas in stock so I headed over to petco. I was soooo tempted by this pastel double tail but he had the same coloring as my crowntail & I wanted something different. I then saw this Gorgeous dark betta with red fins & just new I had to have him. He wasn't really moving too much & I noticed some fin rot but figured with a little tlc that would go away quick. Let me tell you though as soon as he was acclimated & I put him in the tank he did a complete 180° personality change. my other bettas usually hide the first week I get them(my crowntail did this for 10 days .) & don't eat but not this betta. As soon as he gets in there he starts swimming around & exploring every inch of the place, he even went over to the filter where the water comes out & was already playing in it & trying to bite the water, so cute! I think he is going to do great but ill still wait for a few days to name him just in case. You can't really tell in the pics but he is a doubletail so ill have to watch for swim bladder, my crowntail has swim bladder issues so I have frozen daphnia on hand if needed!!

 

What a pretty boy, do you have any ideas for a name for him yet?

 

Hmm I sort of have a few names in mind but usually for my bettas a name just randomly comes to me for some reason & it sticks. I'm not sure if I want to give him a "pet" type of name like miracle had or if I want to follow the route I went wit my other bettas & give them "people" names (my other bettas are named Brian & Chrissy lol). For some reason I think its the funniest thing when pets have people names. I'm thinking of naming him like Gerald or Chad maybe if I go with those kind of names. If I decide on a pet name I want to do something that sounds fiesty or energetic I guess because this fish is still swimming around everywhere, really reminds me of my veiltail before he got sick . I'm probably thinking way too much into it but I feel like if my bettas are going to be arouns for a few years they need good names!

 

my advice for naming any pet is to pick the one that comes to you naturally - you could spend years picking the most beautiful, fitting name for your fish, but from experience you'll tire of those names very soon. I named my fish dean (after a korean r&b artist) because it was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of half moon. it's stuck, I love the name so much even if it isn't 'perfect' or suiting to my fish's personality.

But yes! I love giving pets human names, it's funny and brings them just that much closer to you.

 

Update: New Betta finally has a name!!! He is now known as "El Diablo" or just Diablo for short lol. It just randomly came to me & it really fits him perfectly. He is a very angry fish but is also timid & funny at the same time. He likes to flare at any tiny reflection he sees of himself, I ended up having to tape a piece of printer paper on one side of the tank so he would stop doing it haha. I guess that tank is kind of reflective but I never noticed it since my old fish Miracle wasn't really that aggressive & would flare like one time at his reflection then lose interest. Diablo though is not a quitter, he has already declared that tank his, I cannot imagine if someone else had bought him because of how calm he was in the cup & tried him with tank mates, it would have been a mass murder lol. He l o v e s patrolling the tank & has been since I put him in there, he rests for a few seconds & then starts again its so cute. The funny thing is that even with how crazy he is, he is so so nervous around me when I come up to the tank. When he sees me get close he immediately freezes & does not move an inch until I walk away. Although as the day progressed there were a few times he kind of slowly approached me but then if I so much as lightly bumped the dresser the tank was on he would either freeze or go hide behind the filter. He also likes to go up to the filter outtake & try to bite the water as it comes out like a weirdo, I have no idea why. I tried getting pics but I bumped it & he went to hide so I decided to take out the piece of cardboard between his tank & my crowntails tank, it took them both a minute to realize the other was there but they both immediately started flaring & trying to get each other through the glass. I got afew really good pics & put the cardboard back so they don't get too stressed. They both kept flaring at the cardboard for about 30 seconds too before losing interest, which I thought was amusing. Kind of funny that I thought crowntails were the most aggressive bettas & mine hid in the tank for a month before showing any personality. Diablo is already acting a fool & it hasnt even been two days lol. Funny to think I was afraid he would be a boring betta since he is a rose-double tail & has so much finnage. But he actually gets around the tank better than my crowntail! ha! I honestly can't wait for Diablo to get more comfortable with me & to see how his personality develops & comes out over time. I'm hoping he eats some pellets in the next few days, yesterday he didnt even look at them & today he put one in his mouth & spit it out, which I actually take as a good sign. I'm so tempted to give him frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms but I know I need to get him consistently eating pellets for a few weeks first or ill never get him to eat them lol. I think he has mild finrot from the petstore, so ive decided to just do 25% water changes(no gravel deep clean) every day for a week or so to see if it clears up. I actually came up with diablo while I was doing todays water change because he was trying to attack the siphon!! I kept having to move it around because I was afraid of sucking him up & tearing his fins.

Ps. in one of the pics you can see my crowntail in the right side lol

 

He is absolutely gorgeous! The name fits, too. I wish you the best of luck with your new baby.