Betta owners -URGENT ATTENTION-

pixietina · Apr 26, 2008

I have been meanining too this for ages,

i don't think anyone here would honestly do this, but there are an awfull lot of small "betta tanks" that are only 1-3 gallons, these really not suitable for bettas,
your bettas would be an awfull lot more happy in a larger 5-10 gallon tank,

sorry had too say it as so many people just assume it says betta tank its there for suitable it really is a con!

keith p · Apr 26, 2008

And those plant vases with the live bettas, that say the bettas eat plants only, thats a lie!

www.bettatalk.com is the BEST betta site ever! Thats where I learned everything about the bettas.

sharky · Apr 26, 2008

Bettas with proper filtration and decor are fine in 1-3 gallons... in the wild their puddles range from 1/2 gallon to 18 gallons on ave

pixietina · Apr 26, 2008

Originally Posted by sharky

Bettas with proper filtration and decor are fine in 1-3 gallons... in the wild their puddles range from 1/2 gallon to 18 gallons on ave

i was a breeder for a while and although yes in the wild this is the case these fish are far more active and happy in 5 gallon min 3 1/2

sharky · Apr 26, 2008

Originally Posted by pixietina

i was a breeder for a while and although yes in the wild this is the case these fish are far more active and happy in 5 gallon min 3 1/2

Agreed I use a three and half or a two gallon minimum... but right now am betta less

vixen16 · Apr 26, 2008

I noticed that the larger the Betta Tank = the longer my Betta's live... wow... thanx for the info!!

bonnie1965 · Apr 26, 2008

The people I work with bought a betta in a bowl. Poor little guy is miserable.

My last betta was in a 5 gallon with filter, etc. He lived about 3 years. Next tank, I want at least a 10 gallon

pixietina · Apr 27, 2008

as a breeder the minimum i kept any of mine were 4 gallon jars, filtered and heated,
although we imported a gorjus pair from thai that unfortunately had internal parasite and didnt show signs or anything, and the whole system was linked so they all started dropping like flies

now we have 6-8 females and errrm 0 males haha

strange_wings · Apr 27, 2008

That's too bad that you lost them all like that. Maybe in the future, if you go back to breeding them, making a separate quarantine system for any new acquires would be best?

I'm not sure about fish keepers, but it's something herp keepers do for 3 months to a year to prevent anything nasty from taking a whole collection or breeding colony. Crypto (cryptosporidium) being everyones biggest fear to deal with (crypto can infect all animals in fact).

In the past, when I've had bettas, they were always in 10 or 20 gals with a couple of similar sized fish. I had my first one when I was around six years old and already knew from that experience that they love having proper space to swim. Just because an animal is small doesn't mean that it's enclosure should be too (a common mistake people make with reptiles).

bonnie1965 · Apr 27, 2008

From what I learned about bettas (correct me if I'm wrong), they developed the auxiliary breathing so they could survive the dry season in the shallow puddles. During the wet season they have much more room to swim, right?

I liken it to a person living in solitary confinement. We could survive there but is it really what is best for our development and happiness? Back when I had larger tanks, always has a betta mixed in with other fish. Next tank, I want a betta with corys and ottos

pixietina · Apr 27, 2008

OMG i lllooovvve corys!
i cant find the otto's i put into the female sorority tank....
female bettas are very active and can live together and are as pretty in colour!

yeah bettas have a labrynth organ allowing them too breath oxygen, but its a bit like having a cat and keeping it in a dog cage.... theres room for it too move, so it must be ok?

rickyd · Apr 27, 2008

And its about time that they actually now realise about keeping goldfish in those stupid goldfish bowls is wrong,its obvious these fish need room to swim if they are to remain fit and healthy. Betta's are happier in bigger tanks with lots of room to swim and they don't suffer with clamped fins then.

keith p · Apr 27, 2008

One question though.

In the wild, what stops males from getting at eachother? If they will try and kill each other in captivity, then in the wild lots of males must die each year from fights, am I correct?

sharky · Apr 27, 2008

Originally Posted by keith p

One question though.

In the wild, what stops males from getting at eachother? If they will try and kill each other in captivity, then in the wild lots of males must die each year from fights, am I correct?

In the wild most males stay in their territory and the females do the " roaming"

arlyn · Apr 27, 2008

In the wild, the fighting instinct is much less pronounced.
They were originally domesticated and bred for their fighting prowess.
Fish fighting is akin to dog, or rooster fighting and is a big money business, so only the best fighters were bred.

Now of course, they are mostly bred as ornamentals, but the enhanced readiness to fight is still there.

And to every idiot that tells me that they live in 6 to 18 inches of water in the wild, I respond yes, in rice paddies, do you know how much surface area a rice paddy has?

I don't keep them in anything under 5 gallons of cycling, filtered water.

keith p · Apr 27, 2008

Ok, so they have territories, that explains it then.

Wild males also have short fins, our captive bettas have longs fins, which probably slows them down and would impair them in a fight if they were wild.

Only reason I say this is because a sick person put a short finned and long finned betta together to fight to the death, and the short finned won because it was more agile and quicker while the long finned couldnt get away and had it's fins torn away in not much time. It was on youtube and I flagged it after seeing this.

pixietina · Apr 27, 2008

yuh sad people still fight them

betta imbellis wild betta

Betta simplex

all these are wilds and naturally short finned, they have been bred over years too get the ornamental bettas

The ornamental Plakat betta is the closest type betta too the wild types and the one normally used too fight

But the ornamentals such as Vieltails (the common petstore betta)
are bred as show bettas although VT's are now not recognised in the IBC shows due too how common they are....

Th HM is the favoured by most breeders...

arlyn · Apr 27, 2008

That halfmoon has a gorgeous display.

aussie_dog · Apr 27, 2008

Originally Posted by Arlyn

And to every idiot that tells me that they live in 6 to 18 inches of water in the wild, I respond yes, in rice paddies, do you know how much surface area a rice paddy has?

I love it when people use that as an excuse, that they live in little puddles and thus are fine in 1/2 gallon jars. But they don't realize that while the "puddles" are shallow, they stretch for miles and miles. So the fish has a LOT of swimming room, and a short distance to the surface for air, lol

The smallest I have is a 3gal, I won't go any smaller than that. It's occupied by my smallest Betta, and the other two guys have 5gal tanks (all of them are filtered; I won't do without a filter). I get the feeling I'm subconciously using the 3gal as a quarantine of some sort, as I'll put the new fish in there, and when I get another 5gal, he gets moved to the 5gal. Then a few weeks later, the next new fish comes in and takes over the currently empty 3gal. I think that once I get a 10gal, I'll move Sweeney into it, because he's ALWAYS moving (he's the energizer bunny) and I'm sure he'd love a long 10gal to really stretch his fins.

Speaking of fin types, I've fallen in love with the HalfSun. I want a Halfmoon someday, but my gosh, the Halfsun is gorgeous!

pixietina · Apr 28, 2008

Originally Posted by Aussie_Dog

I love it when people use that as an excuse, that they live in little puddles and thus are fine in 1/2 gallon jars. But they don't realize that while the "puddles" are shallow, they stretch for miles and miles. So the fish has a LOT of swimming room, and a short distance to the surface for air, lol

The smallest I have is a 3gal, I won't go any smaller than that. It's occupied by my smallest Betta, and the other two guys have 5gal tanks (all of them are filtered; I won't do without a filter). I get the feeling I'm subconciously using the 3gal as a quarantine of some sort, as I'll put the new fish in there, and when I get another 5gal, he gets moved to the 5gal. Then a few weeks later, the next new fish comes in and takes over the currently empty 3gal. I think that once I get a 10gal, I'll move Sweeney into it, because he's ALWAYS moving (he's the energizer bunny) and I'm sure he'd love a long 10gal to really stretch his fins.

Speaking of fin types, I've fallen in love with the HalfSun. I want a Halfmoon someday, but my gosh, the Halfsun is gorgeous!

i was once upon a time working on this line....
ill get back into bettas one day i think when i get a new tank ill dec it up ready for a wild pair of simplex or imbellis

Betta owners -URGENT ATTENTION-

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