My roommate (she of the two albino mice) has gone and gotten herself a betta fish. A lovely blue female named Caroline. Someday I’m going to come in and find an elephant smuggled under her pillow or something.
Anyway, she got Caroline from a betta kit. Kinda like this, live betta included. Having seen posts here on how small fishbowls are cruel for goldfish, I wondered if maybe bettas need more space, too. Not to worry, Roomie said. It came with the package. The package says to use the bowl.
I know that pet-store employees often don’t know one end of a dog from the other, and I’m wondering if that goes for the directions on the back of the fish kit, too. I’ve been trawling (heh!) the web, and even a preliminary search seems to indicate that bettas require more than a plastic tank, water, and some fake plants. Also, Roomie wants to know if fish can get bored, and if so, how you entertain it.
Bettas can actually breath air (to a limited extent), so they can survive in much smaller bowls than other fish. Whether that’s cruel is another story.
And, if this one dies, just consider it a Betta test.
Bettas will do better in a larger tank with a little plant cover. They are very curious and will even follow a person’s movement around a room. I used to keep one in my 55 gallon community tank with a variety of other fish. They can be a little aggressive to other fish sometimes and they can also get picked on themselves. Sure, you can keep one alive in one of those 2 cup bowls that they can’t even swim in. But that is all you are doing, maintaining it’s existance. It won’t thrive under those conditions.
It will live in the bowl, as long as your roomie does frequent water changes, but a bigger home would be much much better for the health and happiness of the fish. I have mine in a 3 gal tank from petco, they’re pretty cheap and the lids come in many different colors Make sure your roomie is giving the fish a healthy, varied diet. A mix of flakes, pellets, and freeze dried worms are best. The worms are more like a treat so don’t rely heavily on those. They can be fed every other day, to keep them from getting constipated or overfed, and water changes are best at 50-75% a week. Make sure to get water conditioner, but it looks like the kit comes with it. Make sure all the plants you put in the tank are silk, otherwise they can rip the delicate fins of the betta. I have a gold mystery snail living with my betta, and they get along fine. Something cool you can do, hold a small mirror up to the side of the tank and you’ll see the betta “flare up”, let him see himself for a minute or two, then take it away, else you’ll stress him out. I wouldn’t do this more than twice a week. Essentially the betta will think he’s just scared off an inferior fish, and mine always does this type of strut swim after, so my guess is it boosts his confidence.
I have my betta Masterbetta in a 1 1/2 gallon wine glass fishbowl from petco. I had him in with two goldfish and a sucker fish and he got along fine until the bigger goldfish (he was the size of a baseball with fins!) started to pick on him and tear his fins. I think it’s nicer for the fish to have more space, and mine has a little bridge on the bottom that he likes to hang out under. He’s a bum-fish I suppose.
To keep a female company, just add another female. They do well together, I’ve had up to four living together in a larger tank and had no problems. Just don’t add a male to the mix.
Is she certain it’s female? Generally those kits are only sold with males.
If it has the big flowing fins and responds agressively to a mirror it’s a male. Female bettas (I used to breed bettas in college) are smaller, have small fins, and are nowhere near as brightly colored. Females will also have a small white ovipositor on their underbelly that looks like a pimple or somesuch.
I’ve gotten female bettas at Petsmart, so some pet stores do carry them. The containers are often mislabeled though. Don’t assume that it’s female because it has short fins. Can you post a picture?
A good way to keep a male betta occupied is to float a bit of fake plant or a piece of styrofoam cup on the top of the water and see if you can get him to make a bubblenest. They’ll spend hours tending and guarding it.
I was told that any number of females were fine together and with only one male, but that more than one male was a recipe for disaster. Is that wrong, or are you just warning they’ll wind up with lots of little bettas?
Through what research I’ve done, and the guidance of others I’ve known, having just one male in with the female is a no no. They will attack the females, causing stress and bodily harm. Being the betta lover that I am, I’ve never fancied to test the theory.
I’ve had male bettas, and they all made bubblenests even without anything floating on the water’s surface.
Also, regarding this from the OP:
Bettas are originally swamp fish. That’s why they’re able to survive reasonably well in small, non-pump-aerated bowls. Goldfish, on the other hand, have a particularly inefficient digestive system and produce a disproportionately large amount of waste, so small non-pump-aerated bowls are death sentences for them.
I don’t want to sound sexist, but if you’re going to keep a single betta, keep a male betta. The female isn’t much to look at.
I got as a gift one of those big glass vases holding a betta and a floating plant on top. The plant just got in the way so I disposed of it and put a few marbles in the bottom of the vase. I kept a big container of water uncovered, to dechlorinate, and twice a week I would pour some in a pitcher, scoop out The Red Menace and plunk him in, and dump out his smelly vase water and swish the marbles, under the faucet. Replace dechlorinated water and fish, done in less than 5 minutes. He lived a good long time with this regime. The only down side was the destruction of his precious bubble nest, but he always went right back to work on it.
Oh, and I know what you mean about the ‘strut swim’ after repelling the strange fish in the mirror - a lot of entertainment from such a small creature!
Bettas are awesome fish. I’ve had several. I wouldn’t want to keep one in a container under a gallon – that’s still a very small aquarium, but it’s big enough the fishies can move around. It’s also enough space you can be a bit more creative with decorations.
Really you should keep a Betta in a 2 gallon plus aquarium. They can survive in smaller, but for maximum longevity they need some space. A big thing with Bettas and partially the reason smaller containers are no-no is they are tropical fish and need temperature in 76-80 region to thrive. In most parts of the country this means having a heater during the winter, and it is very difficult to properly control the temperature in a small bowl. Basically you are causing them stress and cutting their life short, but they will still survive for quite awhile if you keep up on water changes and put their bowl in a warm place (for 1 gal and under that means at a minimum weekly 100% water changes with a 50% in between those)
You can keep multiple females together (in a larger enough tank…I would say 10 gallons minimum for multiple fish), but males must be kept away from other males and females. The only time you should combine a male and female together is for breeding purposes and even then the female is going to get pretty torn up in the process.
I remember reading that Bettas are one of the few fish that learn to actually recognize their owners. Mine always starts doing happy little circles when I come into the room, but I am pretty sure that is just his look how cute I am now feed me dance. Speaking of which this is one of the biggest dangers with Bettas…being overfed. Their stomach is only about as big as their eyeball and while they will eat much more, that is about the amount of food they should be fed, once or twice daily. They should not look bloated at all after being fed.
As far as genetics, I can’t say authoritatively, but their is a pretty varied stock out there. The breeders are doing a lot to try and create new color variations and certain fin styles so they do quite a bit of cross breeding, including occasionally taking in bettas from the wild to breed. A lot of their failures are actually what ends up going to your local fish stores while they keep those that were successful and sell them at $30+ to collectors.
I have my betta in a 2.5 gallon Aqueon Mini Bow. However, I switched out the Tetra Hanging Internal filter for a Red Sea Deco Art Nano Filter to give him more tank space. However, it seems in the new models of the Mini Bow, they’ve switched to a Aqueon external filter from the pics on Petco.com. Also, I have water westeria, which helps filter the water as well as provide a place for my betta to rest and hide.
My oldest male does this. His tank is situated where he can see me no matter where I am in the room, and whichever side I cross to he follows and watches me. Whenever I come close to his tank his spins in circles and blows bubbles
Make sure your roomie is giving the fish a healthy, varied diet. A mix of flakes, pellets, and freeze dried worms are best. The worms are more like a treat so don’t rely heavily on those. They can be fed every other day, to keep them from getting constipated or overfed, and water changes are best at 50-75% a week. Make sure to get water conditioner, but it looks like the kit comes with it. Make sure all the plants you put in the tank are silk, otherwise they can rip the delicate fins of the betta. I have a gold mystery snail living with my betta, and they get along fine. Something cool you can do, hold a small mirror up to the side of the tank and you’ll see the betta “flare up”, let him see himself for a minute or two, then take it away, else you’ll stress him out. I wouldn’t do this more than twice a week. Essentially the betta will think he’s just scared off an inferior fish, and mine always does this type of strut swim after, so my guess is it boosts his confidence.