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Taking Care of Your Betta
WATER
Although bettas breathe through
their labyrinth organ, water quality is still of utmost importance. Many people
think they are like a goldfish and require little maintenance. This is not the
case. Your betta's water should be changed at least twice a week if kept in a
half gallon jar. When changing water, make sure it is the
same temperature (bettas do best at a temperature of 77 to 80 degrees) and has
been dechlorinated. We do recommend at least gallon size jars for male bettas.
Maintaining water quality
will help keep nasty things like fin rot from occurring. A little prevention
goes a long way. Aquarium salt can be added as additional prevention in addition
to other various medications and treatments. Just remember to use
aquarium salt,
not table salt! Water quality is a major factor in fish quality and overall
health. If you are trying to rear fish to show, water quality is of the utmost
importance. If you are raising your betta as a pet, he still deserves top quality
water. If you only have a fish or 2 for pets, you should be able to afford to
give them extra special attention. In other words, all bettas need good water!
We like to use a turkey baster to remove uneaten food and fecal material. A
small pump can also be used but too much suction can suck the fish right up.
Sucking a fish into a pump would most definitely be the end of the fish. Use
caution even when using a turkey baster not to cause enough suction to damage
fins or even injure your fish.
Bettas prefer neutral to slightly acidic water. A pH
from 6.7-7.0 is the norm of their natural environment. Although they can adjust to and tolerate hard alkaline water,
water chemistry is the single most important factor in keeping bettas healthy
and happy. To test your water, use a pH test kit.
We would caution you that consistently high pH levels may indicate hard
water. Test KH before trying to change pH. If you add a pH
decreasing product to hard water, the pH will decrease initially but then bounce
back in 24 hours, causing pH shock to the fish resulting in death. Some places do have acidic water and people who live in these areas should use PH up or just use pure drinking water. You can also add drinking water or
distilled water to your tap water as a pH "adjuster". Remember the buffering
ability of your water will play a role in whether or not your pH will remain
constant. Distilled water is acidic and drinking water is usually neutral to
alkaline depending on brand. Never ever use only distilled water for your bettas!
Distilled water does not contain any of the electrolytes and minerals bettas need,
and it will kill them in short order.
Bettas prefer still water but can tolerate very slight movement. I stress the
word slight here. A little movement when changing water or using a baster will
be handled with ease. Constant movement can wear the fish out to the point he or
even she succumbs and begins to swim with the current instead of against. At
this point the fish is in serious danger. Slightly swirling the water a little
once a day can be good exercise; just remember not too fast and don't over do it.
FEEDING
Bettas should be fed twice a day. It is best to get into a routine and feed them
in the morning and in the evening. If you are leaving town for a few days it is
no big deal; they will live. However, if you plan to be gone longer than
3-4 days, you
should get somebody to stop by and feed your fish once a day. Make sure you
teach this person how to correctly feed your fish way before you take off. Make
sure it is somebody who is responsible and will refrain from over feeding.
Bettas should be fed what takes no more than 2 minutes to eat; if they really
like what you are feeding them probably less. Wild instinct tells them to eat as
much as they can. Being that we know when their next meal is and they don't, we
have to control food intake. Fat and obese fish lose points in betta
competition and can be unhealthy to the point where "over conditioning" them is
negative. Female fish can actually become somewhat infertile because they can't
release their eggs due to internal problems. Plain and simple, don't over feed.
What you feed your bettas is very important as you may have well figured out by
now. There are 3 basic choices: live food, frozen food and dehydrated food. Our
personal choice is live food for 2 main reasons. First of all live food is more
nutritious. Secondly it pollutes the water less. Others may disagree but it is
simple to see there is less immediate pollution from waste particles. If you
change your water often, you will avoid bacterial build up. This may mean doing
partial water changes every day you don't do full water changes. Make sure your
water quality is always constant though. This being said our favorite live foods
are wingless fruit flies, guppy fry and daphnia.
Guppy fry should be raised by you. Feeder guppies bought at the fish store can
carry disease and spread them to your prize fish. This means you would have to
start a guppy tank or 2. Guppies are prolific live bearers and breed with a much
more simple set up than bettas. Our bettas just love guppy fry and it keeps
them very healthy. Bettas are carnivorous and it is our belief that bettas most
likely eat betta fry in the wild. Eating live fish or fry means mega protein and
our bettas grow quite fast. Once again remember not to over feed and don't try
to feed your bettas guppies that are too large. We are not going to get deep
into breeding guppies at this time. There are many other sites with such
information. We suggest getting some decent sized fancy female guppies and male
feeder guppies. Larger females will produce more fry. Small feeder males will be
less likely to chase guppy fry and will help keep the size of the fry small
longer genetically. Guppies are quite simple to take care of.
Other choices for live food are
Daphnia, Brine Shrimp Grindal Worms, White Worms etc. Brine
shrimp are extremely difficult to raise to adult size but can be purchased
online or at your local pet store. We haven't used worms often though the fish seem to like them. They are
messy, and somewhat bothersome to raise. Lots of water changing. Worms are very
rich and can cause constipation. They can also cause bacterial build up. Make
sure you keep your water changed often if you feed your fish worms or any live
food for that matter.
Daphnia are a great natural
laxative. Daphnia can also be raised from a culture and are not extremely
difficult to raise. The trick to raising Daphnia is a natural water source like
a pond with no fish. It is said Daphnia are extremely sensitive to metals and hard water or
water raised through pipes. Many
daphnia keepers like to have a constant supply of "green water". Green water is
water full of algae, and algae is one thing Daphnia eat. Green water can be cultured fairly simple. Just get
a decent sized clear container with a lid preferably. Make sure the container
can breathe. Add some clean pond or rain water to the container and
place in a sunlit location. Adding some water from your community aquarium may
help speed up the process. Daphnia can also be fed yeast. When
we don't have any green water, we use bakers yeast. Just add some bakers yeast to
some lukewarm water and swish it a around until it dissolves. Once dissolved
add some to your Daphnia culture. Only put enough in to make the water slightly
cloudy. Repeat once water begins to clear. Remember to use water that you know
daphnia can thrive in.
The next choice would be frozen
food. We still like to use frozen blood worms. They are rich, fairly inexpensive
and bettas love them. Just be careful not to over feed and constipate your fine
finned friends please! If your bettas become constipated, you can always give them some live Daphnia.
It is like salad or Metamucil for your fish, roughage. Frozen brine shrimp are ok
but somewhat messy and require immediate clean-up.
As far as dehydrated betta food, we have had success with both Bio-Gold
and Atison's Betta Pro food. We have actually had some bettas who
preferred the Bio-Gold and Atison's Betta Pro food over bloodworms!!Remember though to break out the turkey baster to
remove uneaten food.
Other Points Of Interest
Never put 2 males in the same
container or tank. They will fight and damage each other and possibly end in the
death of a fish or even both. Long finned Bettas are not designed for fighting.
They have been bred for their beauty and uniformity. The fish used and bred to
fight are short finned. Many other fighting attributes are bred in as well, such
as sharp teeth, tougher scales, attitude body shape, size and more.
New bettas
should be acclimated to their new water. The best way to do this is to
float the bag they came in in the water they are to be placed into until the
water becomes the same temperature. Then open the bag and put a little bit of
your water in the bag, maybe a few tablespoons. Let the bag float for another
hour and put another 3 tablespoons of your water in the bag. Keep repeating this
until the bag is too full to continue. Now empty the bag and your betta into his
or her container or tank. Continue to add small amounts of your water to the
container every hour. The longer you take with this process the better it is for
your fish. Once you get your container to where it is full don't stop. The next
day do a partial water change, very partial though. When you remove the uneaten
food and fecal material with the turkey baster add more of your water.
Eventually you will have the fish acclimated to your water.
Remember bettas can jump right out of their container. This can be devastating.
Sometimes a fish will jump from one tank or container to another. They can jump
to their death, fall on the floor and dry out. If you do find a betta on the
floor, try to revive him by putting him in some water with aquarium salt and/or
slime coat. Of course if he is dried out and dead nothing will revive him.
Covering your betta containers in a very good plan as you can see. Use something
that will breathe.
Don't use the same net or any utensil on a sick fish that you do on a healthy
fish. Don't mix the water from a sick fish to a healthy fish. Actually don't mix
the water from one fish to another any more than you have to. Use a net dip
solution once a week and keep that net clean. You should have a minimum of 2
nets, at least one for sick fish and at least one for healthy fish. Of course if
you raise guppies and other live foods you will need more nets. Always
thoroughly clean the container a sick fish has been kept in. Use bleach water
and be sure to totally rinse ALL the bleach out of the container!
Bettas can become very delicate when exposed to high
bacterial situations. What happens is the bacteria attacks your bettas and
usually the first sign is fin rot. Keeping your water clean and free of waste
will keep bacteria down. Frequent water changes also help deter bacterial blooms
and aquarium salt will also help protect your fish. There are also medications
for fin rot as well as other diseases and ailments.
Putting plastic plants in jars with males is asking for damaged fins. Putting fish next to each
other usually stimulates them. This usually makes for a more happy fish. Just
like us, happy = healthy. Sometimes fish that have been sent in the mail may get
stressed and go into a "sulking type" mode. Giving them a neighbor seems to help
prevent and/or help snap them out of the "sulking mode". Although too much of a
good thing can be bad.
Sometimes bettas, especially males, can actually split their fins from flaring too much
due to overstimulation. Placing paper or cardboard between containers can help
aid in fin damage prevention. The idea is to let the fish "exercise" for a while
then put the cardboard back once the fish have had enough. You have to be the
judge once again. I think many fish react best when they have "cardboard' time.
They get "bored" during this time. When the cardboard is lifted they again see
their neighbor and react. If you are raising show fish, you will want your fish
to react well as they will be judged greatly on their reaction. I like to keep
my cardboards on during feed time also. This helps the fish concentrate on
feeding so he cleans up every scrap quickly. Again, this helps keep the water
clean. Live food also helps keep your betta more active. Chasing guppy fry can
be all it takes to bring a "sulking" betta around! This is not a guaranteed cure
though.
Last but not least, if you choose to keep stones,
gravel or marbles in your betta containers you must clean this stuff, once a
week at least. Always remember the 3 most important things for the health of your betta are water quality, diet, and care!!
Giving your betta the best of all 3 will keep him healthy and happy ☺
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