Betta Splendens

Mar 11, 2003
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#1
Betta Basics (question/response)

Question: What size of bowl should I keep my betta in?

Bettas should be kept in bowls no smaller than a 1/2 gallon. Anything less than that is not acceptable, unless you take extra precautions for their health. These bowls should be cleaned out completely once a week, and twice a week if it is 1/2 gallon. These tanks really should be considered temporary housing. The bigger the better, as in a larger tank of 2-5 gallons you can add other necessities for them to thrive like filters and heaters. Think long and hard before you buy a permanent home for your betta. Most people say that 2.5 gallons should be the absolute minimum, as bettas can grow to be 5” long!

Question: Why can they live in those tiny cups then? I thought they are happier in small spaces.

Bettas are labyrinth fish, which allows them to breath atmospheric air. The labyrinth acts as a lung. This is why they can survive in small volumes of water, because they only need to be wet in order to live, assuming they have a place to breath air from the surface. So make sure that they have a place to get air from in their bowl (betta vases usually block off air because they have an air tight lid on top of the bowl). They are not happy in small amounts of water, however; there is a big difference between survival and thriving. Bettas usually get the shaft in pet stores because of their unique ability to survive without air pumps.

Question: My betta is a picky eater, what should he be eating?

They are quite known for being picky eaters. Bettas can and should be fed a variety of foods. Foods that should be fed are betta flakes/pellets, freeze dried bloodworms/brine shrimp, and frozen foods. They can also be fed live foods, but it isn't necessary. A bettas stomach is only as big as its eye, so keep their meals small. You can feed them either once or twice a day. It doesn’t really matter.

Bettas can live up to a week with out being fed, although you will see some damaging effects if you try it purposely. It is best to keep a daily feeding routine, but if you are going away for a couple of days, the betta will be fine. Some betta owners like to skip a day of food every here and there to keep their digestive system clean.

Question: My betta tried to jump out of his bowl! Is this common? What are some other behaviors they exhibit?

Yes, while seemingly slow moving and graceful, bettas are excellent jumpers, and always need a lid (with air holes) on their bowls. Chances are if your betta is alive, he will jump. Plastic canvas works perfect for this, as it is heavy enough to weigh down a betta jump, and is completely open for air to travel through. It can also be cut to whatever size you need. If your betta jumps out of his bowl, even though it may look dry, put it back in water just to be safe. Sometimes they are still alive after jumping, even after 10-15 minutes (we can all thank the labyrinth for this miracle).

Other strange behavior they show is flaring. If bettas get excited or territorial, especially after coming in view with other bettas, they flare. This is when they use their gill cover to make themselves look bigger. You can see this by holding a mirror up to your bettas bowl. It is good stimulus for them, although it should not be done for more than 15 minutes a day, or they can get stressed out.

Question: Can I keep more than one betta together?

It depends. Male bettas must be kept away from all other types of bettas (male and female, unless spawning), while females may be kept with other females. The females can be just as aggressive as the males however, so you have to keep a close eye on them for aggression. Females will establish a pecking order (hierarchy) at first, but then should be done with the aggressive behavior. Both genders can be kept in a community tank with other peaceful fish.

They cannot be kept with other long finned fish (such as angels and guppies), cold water fish (such as golf fish and koi), fish related to them (such as other bettas-besides female/female mixes- and gouramis), and fin nipping fish (such as tiger barbs and other aggressive fish). They can be safely be kept with most tetras, mollies, and swordtails, along with African Dwarf Frogs. But each betta has their own personality, so it is up to them if they want a tank mate or not.

Question: How can I tell if my betta is a male or female?

The difference between males and females is very easy to distinguish. Males have longer bodies and fins, while females have much shorter bodies and fins. Males also have a more pointed anal fin (the long solid fin on the bottom of the betta), while female's anal fins are more level. Females also have ovipositors, which is a tube that the eggs come out of during spawning.

Question: How do bettas breed?

Under the right conditions, male bettas will embrace a female betta and literally squeeze the eggs out of her and fertilize them. The female is then removed from the spawning tank and the male takes care of the eggs and newly hatched fry (baby bettas) in a bubble nest. This is exactly what it sounds like, a nest made of betta spit and bubbles. Breeding should only be attempted after researching every aspect of betta spawning, and after you realize the tremendous amount of time and responsibility it takes.

Question: If they can't be kept with cold-water fish, what temperature should I keep their bowl at?

Being tropical fish, bettas like to be kept at temperatures of 70-80*F. Preferably 75*. That is why tanks of 2+ gallons are ideal for bettas, because they can have heaters. Tanks below 5 gallons should have a mini heater (anything below 25 watts, 7.5 watt heaters are usually sold at Wal*Mart), and tanks 5 gallons and above get 5 watts per gallon for heaters (i.e. 5 gal=25 watt heater, 10 gal=50 watt heater).

Filters can also be added to these larger homes. However, bettas do not like strong currents so they must have it on a gentle flow and the tank must be large enough for a place for them to escape movement in the water. Make sure to get a size appropriate filter for your bettas tank. Bowls cannot have heaters nor filters.

Question: I think my betta is sick! Help!

There are many different diseases that bettas can get infected with. Some of the more common ones are fin rot (fins look like they are tearing off), dropsy (scales begin to pine cone because the betta swells, usually in the stomach), velvet (betta is itchy and is trying to scratch his body on the gravel), ich (betta is covered in tiny white dots), popeye (eye(s) become enlarged), cotton fungus (cotton fungus hangs from the betta's body), and gill flukes (gills are constantly flared, red, or inflamed). There are many other bacterial/parasite infections however.

Try searching "betta diseases" on Yahoo! or Google, and see if you can diagnose your bettas disease. Also, post his/her symptoms in the disease, or better yet, betta/gourami section of myfishtank.net and get advice from some other betta owners. There you can recieve personal experiences of what medications (yes, there ARE meds for fish) and special care you should use.

Question: Okay, so now I know how to care for bettas properly, how long will they live?

Bettas have a life span of 2-4 years, although pet store bettas are usually a year old already because at this age their fins are fully developed.
 

Mar 11, 2003
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#2
Planning to Spawn Bettas?

Warning! Spawning bettas is an enormous responsibility and you must be prepared to attempt it several ways. This post is to ensure that everyone who reads it becomes informed of both the perils and necessities of spawning bettas and rearing their young.

Motivation

This is the most important factor before you begin to breed bettas. Your motivation should not be to make money (which breeders rarely do considering the expenses) or to “experiment”. The motivation for betta breeders is to have fun while bettering the species of Betta Splendens. Any other underlying desires will be the destruction of your achievements, as you will become completely discouraged in your efforts.

Knowledge Is the Key To Success
In order to even consider breeding bettas, you must be prepared to research…a lot! Each breeder has their own technique that is successful to them, so it is best to check all of the possible sources that you can before you decide on an approach to spawning. Techniques are based on what works for breeders, their bettas, and is based on experience. Researching never gets old, and I often review the basic process of spawning weekly. Learning all that you possible can ensures that you will know how to handle even the most unique of circumstances that may surprise you.

Financial Obligations
When you decide to venture into the betta-breeding world, you make a financial commitment to your fish. Buying the best conditioning and fry foods, healthy pairs (in order to improve the species), and medications is very important. Make sure you buy all of your supplies before you spawn your pairs. Although you can be smart with your money (seeking out deals, ect), don’t try to cut corners; quality (not necessarily expensive) items can make a huge difference in the quality of a spawn.

Think Ahead
You must always think ahead when you attempt to spawn bettas. They can have between 1-500 surviving fry, all of which may need to be separated. Five hundred male fry means 500 jars. You must have a way to keep them at a reasonable temperature (at least 70*F), and room for each one. Also, before you have fry, make sure you have pet stores and homes lined up. Quality bettas are easily sold off of the internet, while lesser quality ones can be left at pet stores. You have to keep in mind that most pet stores will not pay for bettas, so don’t plan on making a profit off of pet stores unless you discuss your plans with them first. Again, make sure you have all of the supplies you need for emergencies. Another thing to think about is that fry foods must be allotted a few weeks in order to grow to a sufficient production rate that will feed hundreds of fry. The pair must also be fed high quality foods for 2 weeks prior to spawning, and they should be isolated from seeing any other fish. This is called conditioning which gets them ready for spawning. At this time the water must also be kept very clean.
 

Mar 11, 2003
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#3
Spawning

Warning! The following is a basic technique to spawning bettas. This is the safest route to take when spawning bettas. Although breeders often bend to rules to accommodate specific bettas, beginners should use this method first, and tweak as necessary in future spawns.

Spawning Tank Set-Up Supplies: 10 gallon aquarium, full hood with lights, submersible heater, plants (fake or real, although real is better), salt, Aquari-Sol, Stress Zyme (to help ease the cycling process), dechlorinator, sponge/corner filter, thermometer, Styrofoam cup cut in half lengthwise, and glass chimney. Required fry foods: microworms/vinegar eels and live baby brine shrimp eggs (you must create a hatchery and hatch them out)

Step 1: Fill the tank with about 5 inches of water (treated with the correct amount of salt, dechlorinator, Stress Zyme, and Aquari-Sol). Place the filter in the back left corner and turn it off. It will be used to slowly circulate the water and keep fry off the bottom of the tank when they become free swimming. Place the plants on the left side of the aquarium, and the chimney marking the halfway point. Tape the Styrofoam cup to the right front corner. This will be used to protect the male’s bubble nest. Place the heater in the middle of the back of the aquarium, and set to 80*F. Place the thermometer in the left front corner. Put the hood on, turn on the lights (they will be left on until the fry are 2 weeks old), and plug in the heater when finished.

Step 2: After the temperature is stable (if you did not use dechlorinator, wait about 24 hours for chlorine/chloramines to evaporate from the water), add the male to the tank. Let him get used to the tank for several hours, if not a day. Then place the female in the glass chimney. This will allow the pair to see each other, but to be separated. This gives the male time to build a bubble nest (which houses the fry until they are free swimming) under the Styrofoam cup (you can also use bubble wrap to shelter the nest). When the male completes the nest, and the female shows signs of readiness (swims head down, vertical stripes appear, belly is round with eggs), lift the chimney so she can be with the male.

Step 3: The male and female nip and flare at each other (if either severely wounds the other, remove and do not continue with the spawn). He’ll continue to build and chase her away from the nest, until they finally spawn. At this time he embraces – squeezes – the eggs out of her. The fallen eggs are then picked up by the male (and also female sometimes) and placed in the nest. Let them continue until no more eggs are released and he chases her away from the nest and won’t let her return.

Step 4: Remove the female gently, so the eggs are not knocked out of the nest. Even if they fall, the male will continue to put them back and will often move them around to prevent them from getting fungus. Take good care of the female for a week, like you would be conditioning her. The male will take care of the fry until they hatch (after 24-36 hours) and become free swimming (after 48-72 hours). When they are all swimming, remove the male and treat him well like the female. Do not attempt to spawn them for a few weeks, and then begin the conditioning process if you want to spawn them again.
 

Mar 11, 2003
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#4
Rearing Fry

Warning! The following is a basic technique to rearing fry. You must accommodate the amount of food being fed to the size of your spawn. Do not attempt to spawn without a mature culture of microworms/vinegar eels or without the knowledge of hatching baby brine shrimp. The post will not explain how to culture these foods, or how to harvest vinegar eels and baby brine shrimp (BBS). Research this independently or PM me for more information on live foods.

Step 1: On day 2, the fry have eaten up all of their food from their eggs, and you must feed them their first meal. You only need either microworms of vinegar eels, but can feed both. Microworms are by far the easiest to culture, harvest, and feed. You only scrape up enough to fit on the tip of a toothpick and swish it in the water. For vinegar eels, suction up a small amount of rinsed vinegar eels in a eye dropper and swish them around the tank. Feed this for about a week, and then introduce BBS. Rinse the BBS well also and feed as much as the microworms and vinegar eels. Over feeding will foul the water, so it is best to start off with small amounts, and add more than to add too much. Alternate the foods at each feeding (feed 2-3 times a day). Turn the corner filter on very slow (only a couple bubbles per minute), you may need to purchase a gang valve in order to control the flow.

Step 2: After two weeks, increase the flow of the filter. You should know how strong the fry are at swimming, and what they can handle. At this time you can also perform the first cleaning. Put nylon over a siphon to prevent fry from being sucked up. Vacuum the bottom gently, and make sure the replacement water is the exact same temperature (80*F). Allow the clean water to trickle into the tank gently. Check the dirty water for fry, and return them. I use a turkey baster to suck them up and return them. You can now turn the lights off the lights at night, but leave on during feedings. Clean the tank as necessary, preferably once every day or two.

Step three: As the fry gain color and mature, watch out for aggressive behavior. Jar those that are aggressive, keeping the temperature at least at 70*F (try to keep it as close to 80 as possible, as they will grow better/faster) and the water clean. Quart jars should be cleaned every 2-3 days. After about a month, you can stop with microworms and introduce finely crushed dry foods. Make sure they are eating dry foods before removing all sources of live foods later on. You should be able to tell which foods are small enough for them to eat.

Step Four: At 1.5- 2 months, continue to jar all noticeable males and aggressive fish. To sex them, males have longer fins and more pointed anal fins. Females have shorter bodies/fins, ovipositors, and often, round bellies (be sure they aren’t just well-fed males!). They also have more square anal fins. The temperature can now be lowered to 75*F gradually, and dry foods should be a main source of diet. Prepare the fish to be sold, as they are reaching prime breeding age, which will allow them to be easily sold.
 

May 1, 2007
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MI
#9
Betta need a tank of atleast 3 gallons with a heater and filter. 1/2 gallon is way to small. You are not taking into account that they make waste and that makes ammonia. Also betta tanks also need to be cycled. They also like tank mates too. They have proven that fish get bored and fish of all kinds need mental stimulation on a regular bacis. Providing a tank mate will do that. Another option is to hold a mirror up to him for a few minutes everyday. Not too long or he will get to stressed. The perfect tank mate for a betta in a 3 gallon tank is an African Dawf Frog or two. Like you said there is a big difference between surviving and thriving. As for females they need to be kept in threes. You are right that they have a pecking order. If there are only two then the dominant female will harrass the sub-dominant female to death in most cases. Also there will be fights when one female challenges the dominant one for well, dominance. Also looking at the fin size is not a sure fire way of sexing. Expessially with plakat bettas. Both male and female of that finnage have short finnes. The only sure fire way is by looking for a white dot called the ovipositors between the females pelvic fins. Be carefull because when males are young they may to show something simular. Also during breeding the male's reproductive organ comes out and it looks some what like a ovipositor, but is used to squrit his milt on the eggs so they get fertilized. Other wise good job PreciousGems.
 

Moshi-Cat

Medium Fish
Apr 28, 2009
64
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Pinellas Park, FL
#12
Well, I betta's color isn't one set of genes, It's different ones. If the pretty color we want is resessive then and the two color genes of our fish are in different places then we could say the two fish are

rr, WW and
WW, bb and if you breed them together you get

Wr, Wb which looks like a wild type Betta.

But if the color is by degree then a fish bred for strong red pigment bred to a fish with no red pigment would get a fish with weak/medium red pigment.

But I don't really know about betta color genetics...
 

Jul 13, 2010
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#14
I find it really hard to raise just 1 fish in a tank. It feels like a waste of water and electricity. And it also takes a lot of work to clean. I'm using a pump but it doesn't work well with my bettas. I'm raising 6 of them.
 

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
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Northern Arizona
#15
I find it really hard to raise just 1 fish in a tank. It feels like a waste of water and electricity. And it also takes a lot of work to clean. I'm using a pump but it doesn't work well with my bettas. I'm raising 6 of them.
If your tank is cycled and well-filtered, it should be almost self-maintaining outside of weekly water changes. I currently have five betta tanks going (one 2gal, three 5/6gal, and one divided 10gal) as well as the three other tanks listed in my signature (although the 55gal is currently decommissioned due to it going Chernobyl on me last week, so it was replaced temporarily with an 18gal, but it'll be back up and running next week) and I generally spend less than three hours a week on tank maintnance. That may sound like a lot, but considering I'm changing out approximately 20 gallons of water and I don't have a nifty Python gravel vac, I do it the old-fashioned way with a 5gal bucket (which has been downgraded to a 2.5gal bucket since my 5gal decided to die), that's not that much.
 

May 22, 2011
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#16
Betta need a tank of atleast 3 gallons with a heater and filter. 1/2 gallon is way to small. You are not taking into account that they make waste and that makes ammonia. Also betta tanks also need to be cycled. They also like tank mates too. They have proven that fish get bored and fish of all kinds need mental stimulation on a regular bacis. Providing a tank mate will do that. Another option is to hold a mirror up to him for a few minutes everyday. Not too long or he will get to stressed. The perfect tank mate for a betta in a 3 gallon tank is an African Dawf Frog or two. Like you said there is a big difference between surviving and thriving. As for females they need to be kept in threes. You are right that they have a pecking order. If there are only two then the dominant female will harrass the sub-dominant female to death in most cases. Also there will be fights when one female challenges the dominant one for well, dominance. Also looking at the fin size is not a sure fire way of sexing. Expessially with plakat bettas. Both male and female of that finnage have short finnes. The only sure fire way is by looking for a white dot called the ovipositors between the females pelvic fins. Be carefull because when males are young they may to show something simular. Also during breeding the male's reproductive organ comes out and it looks some what like a ovipositor, but is used to squrit his milt on the eggs so they get fertilized. Other wise good job PreciousGems.
I have 3 females and 3 males....all separated. 4 are in a gallon bowl and 2 are in 1.5 tank...the ladies at petsmart told me they don't even need to be in a gallon tank...and told me not to put them together! If I knew this I would of bought a bigger tank and put some together. I love the beautiful colors. I do not plan on breeding them though. I do clean their tanks/bowls once a week. So I can probably put my 3 females together, huh? Save some space too...I will see how they act too. Thanks for the info!
 

Oct 15, 2010
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#17
Well, you need at least 4 to spread out aggression, the more being the better. So I would set up a 10 gallon (5g is too small for 3 female bettas) have a bunch of hiding places, and get a couple more female bettas.

For the males, get a 10 gallon and 2 dividers, and set it up that way. Don't forget heaters. ;)

For now, I would do 100% water changes 2 or 3 times a week- 1 time doesn't quite seem like enough for a smaller tank.
 

May 22, 2011
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#18
ok I wasn't planning on breeding them but reading about them and my son and a few of my friends wanted to see how it works. I didn't think it would work but today two of them bred! I really didn't think it would work! The female is in her own tank and the male is in the original tank....I had bought a bigger tank for them. Well a 3gal one. I asked the lady at petsmart about a heater and she told me I'm wasting my money and bettas don't need one. Oh all my bettas are separated now. But I have been doing 100% water changes at least twice a week with the 1 gal ones....I don't know what I'm going to do with the babies.....it's going to be a lot of work! I think I need to find another pet store then petsmart.....they don't seem to be very helpful but the stuff are cheap there! But thanks for the info!
 

Oct 15, 2010
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#19
How did they end up in the same tank- did you put them together? I hope you have a source of live food (for the fry of course. :p) ready just in case they do hatch! You will need it. Along with a larger tank. (10 gallon) Let me tell you- betta breeding is not a cheap thing! Little bettas are pretty hard to take care of too. You NEED a heater- the fry will not live without one. What did they spawn in?? How is it going?? PM me I guess...let me know. :)

No, they don't NEED heaters, but I can guarantee that they will live a lot better with one. (chances of certain diseases are slightly lower too) After all, they are tropical fish!
 

LAVMAN

Medium Fish
Sep 28, 2009
56
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#20
i just bought a male betta and i have a circulation pump and i notice the betta kinda having a hard time swimming around. is this going to be a problem or will he get used to the water movement? also whats the ideal food for them?