How do you care for Siamese Fighting Fish?

My friend just got a male Beta, and has it in an approx. 2-3qt bowl with some stones and a little plastic plant.
She was given some pellet food and told to feed it 3 once a day.
Is this a good guideline? Also, how often should the water be changed? Any other little tips to keep this little guy healthy and happy would be appreciated.

I keep a good supply of spring water on hand (stored at room temp.), so I don’t have to use tap water. I change the water about once a week and use conditioning drops (a commercial product found at pet stores).

I feed mine a little bit a couple of times a day. He’s quite good at getting my attention and letting me know when he’s hungry.

Mine has been going strong for about 5 months. I’m no expert, so if any of my advice is wrong, somebody please let me know.

In a bowl without filtration I have read it is ideal to change 50% of the water every 2 days. The ideal temperature for him is 78 degrees F. I feed mine Betta pellets 2-4 per day and occasionally crushed flakes. Spring water is best, because it lacks chrloramine (the chemical that keeps chlorine in the water). Keep an eye on the ends of his fins, make sure they dont turn brown-black…

A cool trick is to stick a mirror up to the bowl briefly, and watch his fins “poof”.

The Betta FAQ,The Aquaria FAQs and brief Betta info… and a little more on Bettas

Bettas can breathe air, so they aren’t as finicky as other fish when it comes to oxygen saturation in the water. In Thailand, they live in stagnant water. Of course, if you give yours nice, clean, filtered water to live in, he’ll probably be happier and healthier and live longer.

Mine is pretty responsive to my presence when I come close to the tank… you could say he’s tame, even…

Whatever you do… DON’T use bleach to clean ANYTHING you’re going to put into the fish’s home!

I feed mine flakes once every two days. Hungry fish = happy fish.

I try to change half the water every week. No filtration - bettas don’t really need it. He’s doing great.

Not much to add, but that them come from muddy tributaries of the Yellow river. The only reason they haven’t killed themselves off is the visibility in the water is so poor, they rarely see each other. Even the females have to be kept seperate from the males, except when breading. The male makes a bubble nest to attract the female. when the eggs hatch either one will eat the fry, so they have to be seperated right away.
Good luck, I really enjoyed the ones I had until my roommate’s cat ate them!

Teenie-Weenie boxing gloves.

You can use Amquel (a water conditioner sold at pet stores) to remove chlorine and chloramines from tap water.

I know that they do fine in small bowls, but, if you have the space, it’s really cool to keep one in a ten-gallon aquarium. You can even keep other gentle fish (of a different species, of course!) in with him. My daughter has one, along with her ghost shrimps and her algae eater, and it’s really beautiful to see one with a bit more room to swim around.

I used to have a betta in the jar of an old broken blender (motor burnt out, blades removed). It was really fun to see the look on people’s faces when I’d push the “puree” button…