Does anyone have a pet Betta Fish...NVR.....
My friend offered me a beautiful red male Betta, two beautiful blue female Betta's. and a homely blue female Betta. Someone brought the to the pet store that he manages. They don't sell fish in the store. Right now, they are happily swimming in a tank with some little frogs.
I love fish but haven't had any for years. I would love to take them but don't know much about them. Although googling and buying a book or two is not a hard thing.
Just wondered if any of you had Betta's?
I will not do the tiny bowl thing. Will get a small aquarium for them.
Any insights or tips will be most appreciated.
The one thing I have googled so far is the small bowl or vase is fine but not not give them an optimal life.
Considering I have an African Grey and I bought him the Macaw size cage.... you can see that I will not do a little bowl.
My Grey's cage is about the size of two fridges.
Feeding tips, filtration tips, etc...would help me make the decision. I am thinking a 5 gallon tank.
I vowed I would never get more fish. I used to have two turtles in a 125 gallon tank. I don't want to get back in to large scale fish tanks but these little Betta's need a home. The male is a lovely red.
Thanks in advance.....
Di
i don't have any right now...
i'm pretty sure that the fish shouldn't be sharing a tank, they are extremely aggressive, but maybe you will be ok since you only have one male.
but they are pretty much like basic goldfish. they can feed off of certain water plants (you can ask the fish person at a chain pet store), or just pellet or flake style food.
I've had a couple betas in the past, and I can tell you that my one experience getting a beta a friend turned out badly...for the friend. I was told that getting a nondescript, not so flashy fish might not trigger the beta's aggressive tendencies, but after several days, I found the friend was missing an eye. :( Maybe the male will behave differently with the females, but my male was a fighter, true to his name.
As for feeding, I always fed the first guy pellets - and he lived for almost four years (I think that's good for a beta?) - but my second beta quit eating them. So, after reading up a bit, I bought the recommended blood worms. I think you can get them live or frozen; I though they were icky so I got frozen. The fish seemed to really like them, but I can't give a long-term report as my little huntress cat wound up knocking part of the tank lid open and prying him out to, um, play :'(
Otherwise, they were fairly easy for me to care for; I made sure to treat their water with the ph stuff, gave them cool little plants and rocks and shells to swim around and hide (they both seemed to enjoy hiding), and fed them very infrequently. They're so pretty - I hope you have fun setting them up in their new home!
You should be ok with the whole gang since there is only one male. Betas are extremely easy to care for - I don't have one now, but I have had one in the past.
Be very cautious about water filtration and movement. I put a water filter w/bubbler in my tank and my fish developed a sore on his fin. When I removed the bubbler his fin healed back. It's possible it wasn't related - but it seemed more than coincidence.
Good luck!
yeah they are really easy, I used to have one male in a small ( maybe 5 gallon) tank for YEARS when I was a kid. Supposedly they don't need an aerator, but my tank had one and I think I just fed him flake food once a day or once every couple days.
Oh and I think the rule is only one male per tank, so you should be ok with them all sharing
I've had many beta fish in the past but only one at a time and only males. I believe lisaanddini is right, one male should be fine with other females. I always fed my beta dehydrated blood worms. They come in the same type of containers as the flake food. I always used a gallon of spring water when I cleaned the tank (I only had a 1 gallon tank) because the one time I used tap water, even with dechlorinating drops, my fish died within the day.
I used to care for beta fish. They are a lot more work than the tiny bowl at the pet store alludes too. In order to be the most comfortable, one male betta needs AT LEAST 10 gallons of water. With his 3 female friends, I think a 20 gallon would be appropriate. But 10 gallons in the least. Please do not cram all 4 of those fish into a 5 gallon tank. They will stress out and attack eachother! Also, make sure to provide many resting and hiding places in the tank. Soft live plants are really good, or imitation silk fake plants. A lot of bettas like to rest on things. Smooth rocks to hide behind, little castle things, whatever.
Also, don't crowd the tank with a bunch of decorations. Give them plenty of space to swim. Avoid intricate viney plants they might get caught in or something. Blood worms are good for them, but they shouldnt be their only food source. Feed them blood worms and pellet food.
Here's a picture of Opal