Pretty

[MyBirdIsEvil]

My betta now looks MUCH better than when I brought him home over a month ago. His fins don't look unhealthy, he's active, and he swims up to the side of the tank really fast every time I approach the tank.



Oh, and he's a bit fat right now, can you tell?

[Prin]

Pretty fishy. I never knew you could make them healthy and fat...

[cpietra16]

WOW, kind of wants to make me go to all the W*******'s and get them out of those drinking glasses....a very sad site.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Pretty fishy. I never knew you could make them healthy and fat...

I didn't either when I got him. I bought a fish magazine with bettas in it the other day, talking about their history and stuff, and they were beautiful. They breed them to show, and those ones look a lot better than the pet store ones. Interestingly though, the original wild bettas have short fins.

cpietra16, That's why I bought him. I was thinking of fish to buy 'cause I'd bought a ten gallon tank, and I saw all of them sitting in little cups, so I decided to get one.
We were 2 hours away from home at the time, but I figured it was worth the chance of bringing him home 'cause he couldn't do much worse.
After we floated him and put him in the tank he was extremely happy and kept blowing bubbles, I don't think he knew what to do with all the space, lol.

I'm actually thinking about dividing another 10 gallon tank and getting a couple more.

[cpietra16]

How will you divide a tank...sorry for the dumb question. But if you can tell me I might just go and save me a few of those poor babies

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Originally Posted by cpietra16

How will you divide a tank...sorry for the dumb question. But if you can tell me I might just go and save me a few of those poor babies

Not sure how I'm going to yet, you can buy tank dividers or you can make them to fit the tank and stick them in the middle. They have to be able to allow water flow, but in the case of bettas you need to make sure the bettas can't really see each other well, or else they'll try to fight through the divider.

If you search google there's all kinds of directions for making dividers if you can't find one to buy.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Oh yeah you can technically put in a divider that doesn't allow water flow, but in that case you'd need a small filter on each side (if you use filtration at all).
If you don't use filters you'll have to do more water changes, which is fine, but a bit harder on the fish and more work.

This site has lots of info:
http://bettatalk.com/betta_care.htm
And if you click on the housing part they have a section about divided tanks.

I would read all the other sections too if you dunno much about them. Bettas do best with heaters, especially if your house is cool. I keep my tank at 75, but I also have other fish in it with him.

Don't be discouraged if can't put him in the optimal tank, bettas are pretty flexible, and either way he'll be in a much better position than in the little cup at the store. Biggest thing would be temperature - if the temperature drops too low they may die. That website talks about what temperature they should be kept at, and the minimum temp they can live in.

I'm a bit overkill, which is why he's in a 10 gallon tank with good filtration, a heater, a bubble curtain and several other compatible fish, lol. Then again it's also why he looks so healthy.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

This pic came out pretty crappy, because he moves around a lot while he's doing it and my digicam isn't that great, but this is what he looks like when he's displaying his fins (I held a mirror up to the tank).



The irridescent blue isn't lighting, that is actually the color on his fins.

[jesse's mommy]

Here's a thought about a divider, but would need more work and thought put into it (maybe it'll trigger ideas in others ). Couldn't you put some kind of netting or screen to divide the tank. This way the water would be able to flow. As for them not seeing each other, what about putting plants on each side of the net/screen to block the view?

By the way, your fishy is beautiful. We just bought a pond kit yesterday and will be putting that together soon. Honey wants to move the goldfish and cod from our tank into it and get new tropical fish for our tank. I'm not completely convinced I want the pond yet -- without some kind of enclosure. I'm thinking it might be a little too easy for the birds that live on the lake to get into it and the cats that some of the neighbors let roam free. Oops, just realized, sorry for the threadjack.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Originally Posted by jesse's mommy

Here's a thought about a divider, but would need more work and thought put into it (maybe it'll trigger ideas in others ). Couldn't you put some kind of netting or screen to divide the tank. This way the water would be able to flow. As for them not seeing each other, what about putting plants on each side of the net/screen to block the view?

I think the problem with most netting is that it may be able to catch on scales, or snag the fish. Metal screen may be likely to rust, and it might snag scales also, because bettas love rubbing against stuff. With plants, the bettas would just wedge themselves in between the plant and the screen, lol. Bettas loves plants, and often sit in them and wedge themselves between the leaves and the sides of the glass. You can't use hard plastic plants because they can rip their fins. I think the best material for a homeade divider would be some kind of smooth tank safe plastic. I've seen plastic canvas recommended several times, but not for a 10 gallon, so I don't know.

By the way, your fishy is beautiful. We just bought a pond kit yesterday and will be putting that together soon. Honey wants to move the goldfish and cod from our tank into it and get new tropical fish for our tank.

Goldfish are really better as pond fish, but if they're in danger of getting eaten maybe it isn't a great idea. Perhaps you could put up some kind barrier right on the edge of the pond? If there's no clearence between the barrier and the water cats would have trouble getting to the fish without falling in.
Do you have raccoons? That would be my worry.

Thanks for the compliment on my fishy
His fins are still growing out some, but when I got him they looked ripped and he was just generally in bad condition, so he looks nothing like he did when I got him.

[jesse's mommy]

Well we have a 55 gallon tank and have had them in there for almost a year now. They don't seem to be over-growing the space so that is cool with me. We don't have raccoons, but we do have possums. The birds we have on the lake (I think) are cranes. Who knows, we'll see what happens with the "pond-to-be". I'm definitely not putting my fishies in harms way so if honey can convince me that it's safe for them, then we'll put it together. I'm not in any rush.

[phoenix]

oooh another betta lover!

I don't have good luck with bettas, but I love them. Right now I have one: a male 'red devil' crown tail. I can't really get a pic of him, but he is black with red webbing in his tail. Maybe I'll try... Gorgeous. I can't believe I found him in a pet store; he is really unusual.

Your red baby is very cute! COngrats on improving the finnage!!!! well done!

I used to have 2 males in a 10g divided. I used a plastic screen, sold for about 15$... it worked reallly well. At first they flared at each other a lot, but after about a week they ignored each other. Lots of real plants or silk if you have them will distract them. They can as you said squeeze into little spots so make sure that the screen is tightly pressed onto the glass and well below the gravel.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Originally Posted by phoenix

I used to have 2 males in a 10g divided. I used a plastic screen, sold for about 15$... it worked reallly well. At first they flared at each other a lot, but after about a week they ignored each other. Lots of real plants or silk if you have them will distract them.

That's good to know, because I've really been wanting to get a couple more. My b/f saw one the other day at the pet store that he said was about 3 times the size of mine, unfortunately I didn't have another tank set up, so he's probably gone already.

On the plus side, now that we've had my very happy betta for awhile, my b/f goes up to everyone he sees buying one and goes "DON'T PUT THEM IN A BOWL!", I'm sure they think he's crazy though, lol.

I don't have good luck with bettas, but I love them.

Maybe I did just get lucky, how is your tank set up?

I have a 10 g with a 30 g filter, an undergravel (which I only turn on to do water changes), and a heater that's kept at 76 degrees. My tank wasn't even cycled yet when we put him in there, so we weren't sure he was gonna live, but now it's fully cycled and he never really had a negative reaction.

My b/f has TONS of experience with fish, which helps, 'cause I think you have to go kind of by feel. He's rarely ever had a fish die after he put it in a tank. He has a 29 gallon with 4 clown loaches, 6 danios, an anostomus, and 4 corycats, and they're all really healthy.
In my tank I have the betta, 4 kuhlis, 3 corycats, and a dojo loach (which will be moved to his own tank when he's no longer stressed).

[Sneaky]

Gorgeous betta!
Looks very healthy!

Hopefully your boyfriend and you know that
Clown loaches grow to a foot in length and will eventually
need a tank around 90 gallons +, but take about
5-7 years to reach near that size.

[phoenix]

I have 3 tanks. My 10G has the betta, pristella tetras and my little endlers. It's full of plants, crypts and amazon swords, and is tinted brown by the drift wood and java moss. This betta is doing really well.

I also have a 5 g (has a pair of killifish) and a 46 g (has assorted tetras, an angel and some cories and lots of plants).

I used to have 2 male bettas in the 10g divided, and 3 girls in my 46g. However all died within a 24 h period. No idea why. They weren't even in contact with each other...

They are addictive little guys, aren't they? I LOVE that your bf gives the stores he## for keeping them in the little cups. GRR.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Sneaky - we're going to eventually have a 100+ gallon tank, but right now the loaches aren't very big, and like you said, it's going to take quite awhile for them to need a tank that large.
They also live a VERY long time as I understand it, and aren't mature until they're fairly old. I'm not really the fish person though (yet), my b/f is. His parents used to have several different tanks with all kinds of fish, so he learned from them. I'd never even seen a clown loach before, but they're one of his favorite fish. It's fascinating to watch their odd behaviors.

They are addictive little guys, aren't they?

Definately - I was surprised that such a beautiful fish could be so easy to take care of, and they have a neat little personality.

I don't know why your bettas died, it seems odd that being in different tanks that would happen. Maybe it was just a freak occurance.