Go Back   Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca > Other pet critters - Birds, fish, rabbits, reptiles, rodents and exotics > Fish

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old May 6th, 2005, 04:39 PM
Cactus Flower's Avatar
Cactus Flower Cactus Flower is offline
banned user
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 1,769
Anyone know about caring for beta fish?

My son won a beta fish at the prom.

Huge surprise that now I have the beta fish and am caring for it.

I immediately went out and bought a BIG vase for him (call it a fishbowl and the price goes up, looked in the vases and got the same size for a third of the price).

He seems to sleep on his side (not kidding) on the bottom of the tank. Been doing this for the week that we've had him. When he's "awake", he swims around, rubs himself all over the roots of the bamboo plant that's in there, and seems normal and fine. But this sleeping-on-the-side thing....worries me. Is this a bad sign?

Also, I bought the beta food for him, and was surprised that they are tiny pellots. They float for a while, then sink to the bottom. He does NOT seem interested in them at all. The first night we got him we borrowed some goldfish flakes, and he ate those (when you "win" a fish, they don't come with food- and good luck finding fish food at midnight).
Would it be ok to just feed him the goldfish flakes? The ingredients are a bit different, and I know that betas are carnivores. The flakes have "fish meal" in them. Is that enough for this beta?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old May 6th, 2005, 04:56 PM
Jackie467's Avatar
Jackie467 Jackie467 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 887
I don't know a whole lot about bettas but I know a little. They tend to be slow moving and for lack of a better word lazy. I have one in my 40 gal tank. You should feed him food for bettas, it has the neutrients he needs. but i'v never seen betta food in pellet form, only flake form. The stuff I used is I think called bettamin and is a red flake with yellow peices of something. also watch out for excessive scratching. I recently had an outbrake of ick in my tank, luckly it's all cleared up now since the medication. Signs of sickness are excessive scratching, white or black spots appearing where they weren't previously, constipation, and lack of appitite. Bettas are (i know this isn't spelled right) lybrinth fish, this means they can breath from their gills or a special organ on their head by comming to the surface. I know someone on here used to breed bettas, so they porbably know a whole lot more. I think it was GSDimond, sorry if the name is off. I know she has a GSD named dimond. (sorry if i butchered, or forgot the name, or have the wrong person)
__________________
Jackie and her little babies.

Candi- Italian Greyhound
Cash- Italian Greyhound
Jasmine- Tabby cat
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old May 6th, 2005, 05:02 PM
kandy kandy is offline
Hazel's Personal Servant
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 1,742
Found this online...

I've owned different kinds of fish, but never any betas. I googled Beta Fish and came up with a website that had this:

Recommended Diet. Floating Food and Freeze Dried Blood Worms both available in most places that pet fish are sold. Bettas are not an active fish, so they don't require as much oxygen or as much food as energetic active fish do.

Feed your Betta twice each day. I feed my Bettas in the morning and in the evening.

Be careful not to feed your Bettas more than they will eat. Remove uneaten food with a small net after 10 minutes. Click here for more about feeding fish.

I feed all my Bettas a few Black Worms every other day. Click here for more about Black Worms.

Here's the website itself so that you can do the 'click here' thingys if you want: http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_..._more.htm#diet

Hope that helps - and Good luck with your new addition!
__________________
Kandy
Livin in a Newfie Drool Zone
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old May 6th, 2005, 05:49 PM
meb999's Avatar
meb999 meb999 is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: montreal
Posts: 2,673
I used to have a betta -- it was a long time ago, but I remember I used to feed it special betta food (they have different dietary needs than most fish) and freeze dried bloodworms (he LOVED those). Bettas are prone to fin-rott (I don't know the technical term, but it's a little white poof -- kinda like fungus-- that eats away at the fins)

Other than that I don't remember much about bettas, only that you can't put two males in a tank -- unless you want Raja to have some delicious betta snacks!!
__________________
Marie-Eve and Buster (5 year old-ish rescued Boxer)

Deep thought, by Jack Handey : "I think my new thing will be to try to be a real happy guy. I'll just walk around being real happy until some jerk says something stupid to me."
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old May 6th, 2005, 07:02 PM
Cactus Flower's Avatar
Cactus Flower Cactus Flower is offline
banned user
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 1,769
Wow, I had no idea that they were inactive by nature. That was worrying me.

And it looks as though I have to buy WORMS, ewwwww! I think my son should be in charge of the dried-worm-feeding, don't you?

Ok, no golfish food, only beta food. Maybe I'll grind it up a little, and he'll be more interested in that.

THANK YOU everyone for your advice, and for the link!
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old May 6th, 2005, 07:08 PM
BMDLuver's Avatar
BMDLuver BMDLuver is offline
Teddy's Canine Railroad
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Oxford Mills, Ontario
Posts: 3,996
they also like...

If you are cooking hamburger for dinner, then take a tiny speck raw and give it to the beta. They love it. I had a beta for 4 years and he was very friendly. They like the feel of a human finger and will curl around it if you put your finger in the bowl just barely. I fed mine some type of shrimp that I got at a tropical place, you kept it in the freezer.
__________________
"For every animal that dies in a shelter, there is someone somewhere responsible for its death".
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old May 6th, 2005, 07:11 PM
Cactus Flower's Avatar
Cactus Flower Cactus Flower is offline
banned user
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 1,769
No kidding? I will try both the hamburger and the finger!
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Forum Terms of Use

  • All Bulletin Board Posts are for personal/non-commercial use only.
  • Self-promotion and/or promotion in general is prohibited.
  • Debate is healthy but profane and deliberately rude posts will be deleted.
  • Posters not following the rules will be banned at the Admins' discretion.
  • Read the Full Forum Rules

Forum Details

  • Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
    Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
    vBulletin Optimisation by vB Optimise (Reduced on this page: MySQL 0%).
  • All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:49 AM.