Betta FAQ - Frequently asked
Questions about Bettas
I have a new Betta, what do
I do?
For the best page on beginning betta keeping, I like Faith's page of "Betta Talk"
http://www.bettatalk.com/The actual page on basic betta care is at
http://www.bettatalk.com/betta_care.htmAlso go to Renee's site of BettaStarz - http://www.bettastarz.com/, with some top-notch answers that everybody can understand!
Another place to find information on bettas is by surfing the betta webring. They have *tons* of sites listed and if you have the time, it's one of the best ways to learn about bettas.
http//www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=bettaring&list
Some quick basic info about bettas not covered in other questions :
Lifespan:
Bettas live an average of 3 years, and can live up to 5 years. The ones sold in pet stores are usually adults, so they have the nice long fins, but that also means that they are already a year old when sold. That means that if you have a betta for more than two years after you buy it, it's a nice, long-lived fish.
Food:
The food for bettas tends to be more of a meat diet than for most other fish. Some fish are very picky about what they will or won't eat. It's completely different with each fish, though, and depends a great deal on what they were raised with. Most bettas will automatically adore and devour all types of live food, brine shrimp, tubiflex worms, black worms, mosquito larvae, daphina, etc. But most people don't like to keep (or aren't able to keep) the live food around constantly, so dry foods are developed for the fish. Check with the local pet stores for pellets or special flakes for bettas, but be warned that if the betta hasn't eaten them before it might take awhile for him to develop a liking to them (or even to start eating them). Another type of dried food is the freeze-dried products such as bloodworms, brineshrimp, worms, etc. (Be careful of the bloodworms, though, some people, including me, develop allergy reactions to them.) I also train my fish to eat regular flake food that I feed the rest of my aquarium fish and alternate that with the live food.
What temperature should
I keep my betta at?
A betta's home must be similar to their original habitat in order for it to be a happy fish and live. The rice paddy area is exceedingly tropical, with normal waters in the 80-85 deg F range, and very humid air. Here in the U.S. our outside air doesn't normally come close to matching that, and the fish have been bred for years and years to adjust to different conditions, so they can *survive* in room temperature water, but they will be much happier and healthier in warmer water.
A good temperature for a betta is 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Not much warmer than that, because the outside air doesn't match. And they are also good usually down to 72 degrees (though not quite as happy). But if the temperature gets much lower than that in the house, the betta will probably not be able to eat, will get sick, or have other problems.
If the outside air is *warmer* than 80 degrees, don't worry about trying to keep the betta cool. They will be happy in the higher temperatures, but you'll also have to keep a closer eye on them as warmer temperatures will also foul the water quicker and diseases that had been hibernating might suddenly affect the fish.
Not true. What the situation is, is that bettas are fish that originally came from very warm areas in Asia. They grew up in very slow moving water where rice and other plants grew. To adapt to this stagnant water with low-oxygen content, they developed a special organ called a "labyrinth organ" that acts sortof like a mammal's lung in that the fish goes to the surface of the water, takes in a breath of air, and then the organ allows them to process the oxygen from the air, instead of a normal fish that gets the oxygen from the water through its gills.
Because of this special ability of bettas, they _can_ be kept in small jars and enclosures and be able to live. They don't require the movement of the water and the amounts of water like other fish.
However, that doesn't mean they're happy fish kept in the small jars. They do like to swim around and move and associate with other fish and things... They are generally very happy fish in larger containers, and a small bowl or jar should only be a temporary tank for a betta.
For the most part, one gallon of water is a good size to keep a fish in with bi-weekly water changes. Anything less than that and there are two main problems that start coming up -- first of all, the water will get dirty *very* quickly and so will need to be changed more often (for the betta hexes, probably every other day or so), and second, the fish can't swim in it.
If you don't have an aquarium, I'd personally recommend a plastic or glass 1 gal goldfish bowl for a first container for a betta. Those are fairly cheap, allow the betta plenty of room to move around it, and are easy to clean. Even a 1/2 gal bowl is fine for most bettas as long as the water changes are kept up with.
Water Changes
When changing the water, it is a good idea to get some water conditioner to remove the chlorine and some "stress coat" formula to help keep the fish healthy. Be careful to to match the temperature (new with old)! That way the fish doesn't get shocked.
Can I keep bettas with
other fish?
Yes. Bettas are actually very friendly fish as long as you don't put two males together. They get along with most other fish, and what you really have to watch out for is the fish that harass bettas.Bettas are slow moving fish with very long fins, so they can't be kept with any quick fish that have a reputation of fin-nipping, like zebra danios. They get along *great* with most variety of tetras, and I raise my baby fish with baby neons all the time. Mollies and platies and other of that variety also work well.
I've had bad experiences with keeping bettas and guppies, as the male bettas will mistake a male guppy tail for its own sort and fight. Other people do fine with them, though.
No goldfish. Goldfish come from cold water and bettas from very warm water, so their temperature requirements are very far apart, and also their general water conditions. Goldfish are very heavy water pollutants and require an absolute minimum of an inch and a half of fish per gallon of water (the usual way to estimate how many fish in a tank is one inch per gallon).
When mixing bettas in a community tank, the thing to keep in mind with bettas is that they are fish that originally came from very an area with slow moving water. So any type of major filtration on the tank will shock a betta and make him hide in a corner away from the current. You have to balance this with the other fish in the tank that require the current and bubbles for the oxygen in the water for them to live. On the other hand, once a betta gets used to the "current" from a filter, you will sometimes see the betta 'playing' in it for fun. Just make sure that there is a quiet area in the tank for the betta to move to when they are tired.
Can I keep male betta in the same tank as a female when they're not spawning?
Generally you cannot keep a male betta in the same tank as a female if 1) the two fish are not very young (more than a few months old usually won't work) and/or 2) they are not primed and ready to spawn, 3) they were not raised together from a very young age, and/or 4) You do not have enough hiding places for the female.
This is a generalization - your mileage may vary on this one!
What about these "betta vases"
that say the fish can live on the roots of the plants?
No, the betta can NOT live on the roots of the plant!!A betta normally eats either live food (microworms) or dry food that is specially prepared with a high-protein content. Basically, the betta in the lily tank is starving... The local fish store should have some food for bettas. Ask at the counter. Some fish people aren't as familiar with bettas, so I'd recommend looking over the websites below in case you have to hunt through the store yourself for the food.
This is a current fad going through some stores and we betta people are going crazy with trying to deal with it and the mis-information that is going out about our favorite fish. This webpage has the best "betta in a vase" information and set of links so far:
http://bettalistserv.tripod.com/AquaBabies.htmThere is also a page with some "quick" information on the bettas in vases at:
http://petfish.net/lillybetta.htmIf you'd like more information and more people to talk to about this, you might want to sign up for the Betta Event mailing list and the AOL Bettas mailing list (this one talks a *lot*) at our 'Betta Mailing List' page. They will give you some very good and detailed information and you'll have hundreds of enthusiastic betta-ists who might be able to help more.
I want to breed my bettas, how do
I do this?
I'm working on a separate page for that, but it's another that's long in making and short on time.
What I generally recommend is first visting my favorite two websites for betta breeding hints:
Lee & Walt John's page (**very** detailed and comprehensive): http://members.aol.com/WJohn63834/Breeding_Your_Beauties.htmland Faith's page of "Betta Talk" (very beginner-friendly): http://www.bettatalk.com/
Basically, even for regular breeders, getting the silly little fish to breed can be either a painless delight or a royal pain. They're worse than humans on blind dates. Sometimes one couple will take to each other immediately and you'll have eggs all over the tank, and then other times they can swim around the tank for weeks and never once look at each other. Or one will be interested but the other won't... ;-p So don't ever despair about getting not being able to breed the fish or not. Check with the general tank and setup requirements, and if you're doing everything right, then it's just a pair that isn't meant to be -- at that moment.
How often can I breed
my bettas?
As a general rule, for a female betta, give her enough time for her to recover and start looking ready again. ;-p Sorry, that wasn't a lot of help, but every fish is different -- just keep an eye on yours. If she had a miserable first time, it'll take her a while to recover. If everything went fine, she can be hot to trot again within a week. Often, I've used the same female with a different male the very next day. Usually the second mating won't have as many eggs as the first, but it's never harmed the female yet. The female *does* have to be conditioned, and full of eggs to breed. If she hasn't been fed a regular, high-protein diet on a regular basis, then it will generally be at least two-three weeks after starting that diet that she'll be ready for breeding. After having been bred, if she's put on that diet again, generally two weeks she'll be ready again. Most breeders generally give their fish at least a month inbetween, though. (Most breeders don't have room for that many fry!)
Watch your fish carefully when putting them together. If the female actively is approaching the male and the bubblenest, and hanging her head down in the water, she's ready. If all she does is swim away frantically trying to escape, she's not. (This is a very *general* rule -- fish are odd. ;-) )
Males also have to be conditioned as they spend a *lot* of effort in tending the fry, but they're often more ready than females for "any time is good for me!" However, keep an eye on the fish. Sometimes the male is just *so* excited to be with a female that he's more interested in either fighting or showing off to actually do anything about it. Or he's been around females so much that being isolated with one just isn't a thrill anymore. Use your judgement.
Generally after a fish is beaten up, it's good to give them enough time to recover from whatever wounds they received, but torn fins aren't usually a problem.
What do I feed the baby fish?
For live food, baby brine shrimp, microworms, vineager eels, grindle worms, and daphnia are all excellent.Check out the above links under general breeding, and then also try:
http://www.livefoodcultures.com/Jim Atchison's website of live foods and cultures. He is local to the Bay Area and frequently comes to meetings -- ask him about live foods, and he'll have answers and cultures! Jim did a special talk on Live Foods at our October 2001 meeting and we all learned a lot!
Another place with live food cultures and information is http://www.angelfire.com/biz/livefood/
The CBS club also has some instructions on Live Foods here.
What do these betta variety abbreviations mean?
bf = butterfly
ct = crowntail
ddr = double double ray
dt = double tail
hm = halfmoon
mg = mustard gas
pk = plakat
sd = super delta
st = single tail