Any Betta Fish Owners?

Anyone else here own a betta fish?

If so, show your setup and tell me a little about it. I'm looking for idea's for Bellpepper's new setup. Right now he's in a 1/2 gallon temp. tank. I'm looking to possibly set him up a nicely planted 10 gallon tank all for himself.

Lemme see pics if anyone here has a betta fish.

i dont have a betta, but i really want one! but im so confused as far as setups.. do you need a filter or not?
this one is pretty cool
http://www.versaquatics.com/images/Betta_tank.jpg

I just noticed what you wrote in your siggy! :rofl1: dont forget when the ASPCA conficates everybody, i have dibs on gage!

D'oh, that's right, Gage is going to you! :rofl1:

I'm pretty sure Frankie is going to smkie, LOL. Not sure where everyone else is going, but I have a feeling Blue and Sam won't be hard to place either. :lol-sign:

That setup is gorgeous! But not the best idea with no lid, because betta fish are avid jumpers, and can leap out of a open top tank easily. I lost a couple long ago to bettacide.

Nope, you don't need a filter for them, because they do not like much water movement at all, and are not good swimmers. If your house doesn't get very cold (which ours never does), you don't need a heater either, and they do great. Bellpepper is currently on a stand in front of my bedroom window, where he gets natural warmth and daylight.

Very easy little fish to keep.

How often do you clean the tank? do you take all the water out?
Some people have them under plants.. is that ideal?

I cant beleive they jump out! crazy lil bettas!

I had Broccoli, my old betta, for over four years. I cleaned his tank about once a week, replacing 75% of the water. Bellpepper will get the same. They're really not messy fish at all, compared to ones like goldfish.

I don't think keeping them in a vase, under plants, is the best idea. Mainly because it gives them very little room to move around. The original habitat for a betta is a small area of water, like puddles, so they don't need the biggest space to swim, but they do need some. Broccoli was in a 5 gallon tank and made use of every inch of it when he used to swim around.

I had a female betta commit suicide by jumping her tank and never went topless again til my current bowl set up. The two bowls that are uncovered though seem to have very unmotivated Bettas. I've got mine in little gallon bowls without filtration so I'm not much help I always thought it was neat how bettas breathe from the surface with their labyrinth

Our guy Fang; who is in his tank with Bumpkin (an albino chocolate pleco) has 25 gallons; a heater and a filter. He started out in a heart shaped "betta" bowl and was pathetic.

He's got really long fins and would just sit at the bottom of the bowl; not moving at all. I bought the tank for $25 from kijiji; with the heater and the filter; he's been in it for at least a year. I used to do a clean and 25% every month + evaporation; when Fang got cotton mouth. I consulted a few boards to see what to do and everyone said flush and buy another; I couldn't do that to Fang; who we've had for over a year; so bought Fungus cure; did a run through; used some colloidal silver in their water; some Silicea and he's still kicking; looks really good. I was told that if the fishes are healthy and water tests show no discrepancies; don't do such a drastic clean, it can unbalance the water. I've seen some in vases at the bottom of a water lily kinda plant; the vase has a narrow neck and a bulbous bottom; the fish looked o.k.; but I would be concerned with how much water needs to be cleaned out so your vase doesn't look gross.

I have a betta. Two actually. I don't have pictures of their tanks though. I'm a bad fish mom

I just got a betta for my dorm room last week. I dont have much room on my desk shelf so I had to just put him in a small gold fish bowl with a little fake plant at the bottom and rocks of course. he seems to be doing well but he is very active so next year I would like to get him a larger tank if I have room in my new dorm room. I could use some help with a name though. right now he is Gangsta, but I dont like it. Myroommate named him that. heres a pic:

The important thing about the vases:

1. Bettas are from tropical areas. They do like warm water. They will survive at room temp, but they are more prone to infections like fin rot, unless the water is very, very clean.

2. Vases make that hard.

3. They eat bugs, not plants as the makers of the vases say.

I currently have one female betta in a 20 gallon tank (I don't put my bettas in ANYTHING smaller than a 10 gallon, 5 gallon temporarily, or if they are aggressive with schooling fish. I usually have tank mates such as danios, or platys. never had a problem with any of the mix.

My female is with a horseface loach, but I will be getting a 55 gallon tank soon and will move him to that with other fish, and probably get a few more female bettas and maybe some corys.

My handsome pink male died a few weeks ago, I had him 6 years!

But I love bettas!

Awww, sorry to hear about your pink male Punky.

Got any pics of the female??

Lauren, that is a BEAUTIFUL betta you have there!

I have Betta FEVER. Seriously. I can't get enough of them. ;3

At one point... like 3 years ago... I had 100+ Bettas at once! 80 of those were juveniles from one spawn. The line is still going on today, not with me, but with the people I sold/gave them to. One of the boys won a show in Texas. Since then, I've had a few smaller spawns. I did an F2, an F3 (in which all but one died of velvet), and a couple of Plakat spawns.

I have been taking a break from spawning for a while but I have a metallic Plakat boy, Falkor, who placed second in a show in September. He's such a sassy little guy. I'm currently trying to find the perfect girlfriend for him. At the same show I bought a purple/yellow HM, Liberace, and a yellow/white HM Plakat, Meringue. I also have a cellophane Plakat girl, Nilla, who is from my spawn 3 years ago.

Setup (the only difference now is that the entire surface is covered in duckweed... entire... surface.)


Liberace
A few weeks after I got him (he had finrot... his owner moved to Thailand and left his Bettas. his tail was jagged and bloody when I got him.):


His tail continues to grow out! It's much longer than this, even.


Givin me lip.


Meringue. He is very camera shy.




Falkor. <3333




Lil' Nilla.


Unless you have a filter, a tank of 10 gallons+, and you read up on cycling a tank, you should be doing roughly 100% water changes weekly. I despise cycling, so I do lots and lots of water changes instead. Water quality is very important. It's best to treat water with a combo of Amquel & Novaqua and allow it to age in a covered contained for at least 24 hours. I highly recommend adding a dash (1 teaspoon per 5 gallons) of aquarium salt to prevent diseases, and either buying Indian Almond Leaves (available online) or Indian Almond Leaf Extract (available at fish stores). It replicates the natural, "black water" conditions that Bettas come from.

The percentages are up to you. You can change 10% a day, you can change 50% twice weekly, or you can do the full 100% one day a week. When I have my juvies in 1 gallon "jars", I change the water 100% twice per week. It's an awesome idea to also syphon out any uneaten food or waste at the bottom of the tank as often as possible (all you need is some airline tubing attached to a piece of stiff airline tubing, and gravity), especially if your tank is small. That stuff decomposing in the water is producing the ammonia that causes finrot and many illnesses.

Bettas are carnivores, and should never, ever be expected to eat a plant on top of a vase. Live plants are great for tank decor, and they produce lots of oxygen and absorb bad stuff, but they aren't a food source and shouldn't be blocking a Betta's access to air. The best food for a Betta is fresh, frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp (available at pet stores)... if you can't do that, look for a premium tropical fish food that comes in small pellets (Hikari has good stuff).

Once, I had this enormous, 40 gallon grow-out tank for some of my young females (40 females!). It was on the floor and I left the top off by accident one night. I woke up, looked in, and I knew something was amiss. The surface of the water was a good 6-10" from the top. It was pretty much impossible to count them but I just knew all of them. I looked everywhere... behind my desk, under my bed, everywhere! Finally I decided to peek behind the tank itself and I discovered one of my favorite girls all dried up and covered in dog hair on the carpet. I was distraught, but I put her in a jar of water first to be sure. When I came back in several minutes later she was wiggling around waiting for breakfast. Bizarre!!!!! She jumped a good foot, was drying out on the carpet for who knows how long, and made it through that unphased.