Bettas!

[Julee]

I'm getting back into my other hobby, which is fishkeeping (with a focus on Betta splendens, the betta you find at pet stores), so I figured I'd make a thread to put all of betta pictures in. Feel free to post yours! Right now I just have the one boy I got on Tuesday, who needs a name (Sunkist?). He's an orange cellophane butterfly veiltail male.

 

[JessLough]

Oh, he's really pretty!

This is Berta He's in a 20 gallon planted tank, currently just sharing with 7 rasboras.

And just one of (6 of) his tankmates!

ETA: *disclaimer* That dead, black plant has since been taken out of the tank

 

[xpaeanx]

I miss my fish! Another thing to add to the list for when I move! HaHa!


Both of yours are beautiful!

 

[AmberH]

I've been out of fish keeping for a few years now but I used to have 20+ betta, about 50/50 males and females. The girls stayed in a sorority tank together. I tried my hand at breeding and only have one semi-successful bunch. They were slow, slow, slow growing and most were deformed. The one little one who made it the longest, I called Sunkist. His dad was orange and his mom was yellow cambodian. Your guy looks similar to what mine would have looked like as an adult, Julee. Oooh, the memories. Sometimes I want more fish but then I remember all the work that it requires. That, and I'd have to start from scratch again, I got rid of everything when the last of my fish died.

 

[Upendi&Mina]

I currently have two babies and an adult male yellow pineapple crowntial! One of the baby is a double tail and I believe the other is a delta, it's hard to tell on the babies. Their color is still unknown as they're just starting to really color up

Fred who has is still working on getting back to his former glory after being in pretty rough shape when I picked him up at Petco.

The day I got him for reference. He was resting on the plant because he couldn't swim much without exhausting himself.

Theta who I believe is a delta tail.

And George who is the double tail.

Just starting to color up.

 

[Julee]

So cute! Fred is a pineapple, the first baby is going to be a veiltail (and is a marble), and the second you already know is a doubletail, looks like he/she will be a blue with red wash.

Jess, I love your guy and his set up! Do you have a shot of his whole tank? I love rasboras, but I've never actually kept them. Maybe when I set up a 10g soon.

 

[JessLough]

Jess, I love your guy and his set up! Do you have a shot of his whole tank? I love rasboras, but I've never actually kept them. Maybe when I set up a 10g soon.

Now I do! Haha. His tank as of today! There's a couple anubias, a couple (potted) sword plants, those 2 moneywort until they die, a moss ball and a couple hornwort.

Yesterday, I was at the pet store to buy some filter cartridges, and, well, this happened.

Meet Lupin

IMG_4054 by JessLough, on Flickr

I'm heading back today because I bought the wrong filter cartridges, and forgot to buy him a plant. He's quite a bit smaller than Berta, and has already coloured up quite a bit from yesterday.

IMG_4056 by JessLough, on Flickr

IMG_4058 by JessLough, on Flickr

 

[ruffiangirl]

Well now I want a betta!

 

[Julee]

Get one! They do need to be heated, and do best in at least a 2.5g (bigger is always better). Some people choose to filter, some don't (I don't usually, unless they're in a tank with other fish. I do partial water changes daily and a full water change 1-2x weekly depending on the size of the tank, I also use live plants). They're super personable, and come in a huge variety of colors, patterns, and tail types. Don't overlook the females, either, they can be quite pretty and equally as personable.

Jess, I love your new guy! I don't know if you know colors and tail types and whatnot, let me know if you don't!

 

[JessLough]

Jess, I love your new guy! I don't know if you know colors and tail types and whatnot, let me know if you don't!

Thanks! And haven't a clue. :lol-sign:

 

[Julee]

Berta is a red bicolor crowntail male, and Lupin is either a super delta or halfmoon (I think he'd be halfmoon if he flared) blue marble.

 

[ruffiangirl]

I have a 50gal corner tank running I could put one into, nothing I there that he could hurt, and since he would stay at the top the kribs would leave him alone. I just don't like to support the place here that sells fish, then new one at least has filtered cups though.

 

[Julee]

They don't just stick at the top, they go all over. I wouldn't trust the kribs with him or her.

 

[Assamiea]

Craptastic cell pics of Shark Bait... Gah, I need a new camera! Picked the smallest, dullest betta at the store about a year ago and this is what I got a few hours later when his color perked up. This and a whole bunch of attitude! Lol.

 

[LostAndConfused]

One of my coworkers has a betta on her desk. His name is....crap, I don't remember his name it's either Thor or Sharknado. That's all I've got. I would so love to get a fish tank with some pretty, colorful fish, but not here, not in this house. Instead, I'll just creep on everyone's FB

 

[Laurelin]

Oh man I miss my fish! Once I move...

My favorite was my 'king betta'. That guy was awesome.

I always hear the baby bettas are hard to get to live long. I always want one though...

 

[Upendi&Mina]

Oh man I miss my fish! Once I move...

My favorite was my 'king betta'. That guy was awesome.

I always hear the baby bettas are hard to get to live long. I always want one though...

I've done tons of research on the betta forums, and generally if you can get the to adolescence you're okay. They require a slightly higher constant temperature than the adults to really thrive as well as more frequent feedings and super duper clean water as they emit a growth stunting hormone that needs to be removed. The two babies I have get a 50% water change one day and a 100% the next every day. LOL

 

[Julee]

I've done tons of research on the betta forums, and generally if you can get the to adolescence you're okay. They require a slightly higher constant temperature than the adults to really thrive as well as more frequent feedings and super duper clean water as they emit a growth stunting hormone that needs to be removed. The two babies I have get a 50% water change one day and a 100% the next every day. LOL

Pretty spot on. They don't sell decent food for them at Petco - they need live or frozen brine shrimp. Some are too small for adult brine shrimp, so you'd have to hatch your own (which isn't hard at alllll).

King bettas are actually called giants (no idea why they picked "king", lol), and most are pretty old males.

Assamiea, your guy is a dark bodied yellow bicolor veiltail with dragon scaling. WORDS. Calling him a yellow dragon veiltail shortens it a bit

Rick decided tonight that he was going to take the plunge. He bought a rack ($20 at walmart, woo), four bettas, fake plants (will add real later) and we got some 2.5g bins. We use heat tape to heat our guys, way cheaper and way less cords than if we bought everyone an individual heater. Yay, bettas! He's expressed some interest in breeding, which I've done, so we will be importing from Thailand in a few months and going from there. So nice to have him be interested!

 

[Upendi&Mina]

Petco does sell frozen brine shrimp fwiw. My two babies get a mix of crushed presoaked NLS pellets and frozen brine shrimp and occasionally some ground presoaked omega one flakes.

 

[Julee]

They do, most of the babies they sell (that I've seen) are large enough to eat it, too. The little "micro pellets" they sell above them don't meet their nutritional needs to grow and thrive, for anyone wanting a baby instead of an adult.