Betta Care
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Basic Betta Care.
Basic Betta (Bet-a, not Bay-ta)Care Sheet (feel free to print out)
1. Choosing your Betta
Your betta should be active and flaring at other male bettas (if there are any beside him). But of course, that is your choice. You may see a sick betta and may want to bring him home to treat him. Check his fins carefully. Make sure there are no holes, no black edges on his fins. The fins should not be too ragged and ripped looking (it depends on the type of betta). Check the body for white spots, or other un-natural looking build-ups.
2. Housing Your Betta
You should try to keep your betta in a 1-2 gallons tank or bowl. It's best not to keep your betta in anything less than a gallon. Never put 2 males in the same tank/bowl without a tank divider. (They will fight) The water temperature should be anywhere from 74 degrees F - 79 degrees F. Bettas like water with a pH of 7.0 and soft water. If the temperature is lower or higher than 74 degrees F - 79 degrees F, your betta may not be as active or the water temperature may cause illness. Make sure you have a large enough surface area (meniscus area) so your betta can breathe. On the first couple days, you should keep the betta in a dark place, leave him alone, and don't "peek" at him or change the water too often. This may stress the betta out.
3. Maintaining
a. less than 2 gallons
fill up a container with the water from his tank. Net him out carefully as not to tear his fins, and place him into the container with his tank water. Pour the water from his old tank out. Rinse the tank with warm water. If you have gravel or plants, you can dump it into a collander/sive and rise it. Do not use soap or anything that you use in the kitchen with fish. It can be poisonous to fish. After rinsing out the tank or jar, fill it up with treated wter. It would also help to add a little bit of salt. The salt can kill and prevent illness. Do not use table salt. Use just rock salt or aquarium salt. Make sure the water from the 2 containers/tanks/bowls are the same with a thermometre. Net the betta out of the container and put him into his newly cleaned home.
b. 2 gallons or more
Using a siphon, suck out all the uneaten food and the fish wastes. Suck out about half the water and add new treated water in. Make sure the new water you add in is the same temperature as the water in the bowl or tank. In partial water changes, there will still be salt left in the tank from the last time that you added salt, so add salt less often.
4. Food
Bettas eat meat (carnivores), so they will not survive on just a vegetable diet. Try not to feed your betta the food that you feed your other tropical fish. Your betta needs betta food. You can feed your betta:
a. Hikari's Betta Bio-Gold (pellets)
b. Tetra's Bettamin (flake) -your betta may not like this food as much
c. Hikari Micro Pellets (pellet)
Feed your betta about 2-4 pellets 2-3 times a day. Some live, frozen, or freeze dried foods that you can feed your betta are:
a. bloodworms
b. waterfleas
c. daphnia
d. tubifex worms (there are doubts about this one though. I myself prefer not to feed it)
e. brine shrimp
The above foods cannot be fed every day unless you are conditioning your betta. Maybe 1-2 times a week. You can try raising your own wingless fruit flies, blackworms, or white worms for your betta to eat.
5. Fighting
2 Male Bettas put together in the same tank without a tank divider will fight. They will tear and rip each other's fins w/ their mouth. Some will fight until death while some may just run away. Never put 2 males together. Sometimes male bettas and female bettas will fight and flare at each other.
6. Heating
It's best to keep your bettas in heated tanks ranging from 78-82 degrees Fahrenheit. Always have a thermometre for your tank. You'll never know when your heater decides to go off. :p
7. Just for the Betta
It's best for each betta to have his/her own individual net. This way, diseases and germs won't get from one betta to the other. It's also good to have stress coat around. Most water conditioners will come with it, but if not, it's good to have handy for when your betta decides to jump out of the tank or when he gets a cut.
**Please feel free to print the Basic Betta Care Sheet out**
1. Choosing your Betta
Your betta should be active and flaring at other male bettas (if there are any beside him). But of course, that is your choice. You may see a sick betta and may want to bring him home to treat him. Check his fins carefully. Make sure there are no holes, no black edges on his fins. The fins should not be too ragged and ripped looking (it depends on the type of betta). Check the body for white spots, or other un-natural looking build-ups.
2. Housing Your Betta
You should try to keep your betta in a 1-2 gallons tank or bowl. It's best not to keep your betta in anything less than a gallon. Never put 2 males in the same tank/bowl without a tank divider. (They will fight) The water temperature should be anywhere from 74 degrees F - 79 degrees F. Bettas like water with a pH of 7.0 and soft water. If the temperature is lower or higher than 74 degrees F - 79 degrees F, your betta may not be as active or the water temperature may cause illness. Make sure you have a large enough surface area (meniscus area) so your betta can breathe. On the first couple days, you should keep the betta in a dark place, leave him alone, and don't "peek" at him or change the water too often. This may stress the betta out.
3. Maintaining
a. less than 2 gallons
fill up a container with the water from his tank. Net him out carefully as not to tear his fins, and place him into the container with his tank water. Pour the water from his old tank out. Rinse the tank with warm water. If you have gravel or plants, you can dump it into a collander/sive and rise it. Do not use soap or anything that you use in the kitchen with fish. It can be poisonous to fish. After rinsing out the tank or jar, fill it up with treated wter. It would also help to add a little bit of salt. The salt can kill and prevent illness. Do not use table salt. Use just rock salt or aquarium salt. Make sure the water from the 2 containers/tanks/bowls are the same with a thermometre. Net the betta out of the container and put him into his newly cleaned home.
b. 2 gallons or more
Using a siphon, suck out all the uneaten food and the fish wastes. Suck out about half the water and add new treated water in. Make sure the new water you add in is the same temperature as the water in the bowl or tank. In partial water changes, there will still be salt left in the tank from the last time that you added salt, so add salt less often.
4. Food
Bettas eat meat (carnivores), so they will not survive on just a vegetable diet. Try not to feed your betta the food that you feed your other tropical fish. Your betta needs betta food. You can feed your betta:
a. Hikari's Betta Bio-Gold (pellets)
b. Tetra's Bettamin (flake) -your betta may not like this food as much
c. Hikari Micro Pellets (pellet)
Feed your betta about 2-4 pellets 2-3 times a day. Some live, frozen, or freeze dried foods that you can feed your betta are:
a. bloodworms
b. waterfleas
c. daphnia
d. tubifex worms (there are doubts about this one though. I myself prefer not to feed it)
e. brine shrimp
The above foods cannot be fed every day unless you are conditioning your betta. Maybe 1-2 times a week. You can try raising your own wingless fruit flies, blackworms, or white worms for your betta to eat.
5. Fighting
2 Male Bettas put together in the same tank without a tank divider will fight. They will tear and rip each other's fins w/ their mouth. Some will fight until death while some may just run away. Never put 2 males together. Sometimes male bettas and female bettas will fight and flare at each other.
6. Heating
It's best to keep your bettas in heated tanks ranging from 78-82 degrees Fahrenheit. Always have a thermometre for your tank. You'll never know when your heater decides to go off. :p
7. Just for the Betta
It's best for each betta to have his/her own individual net. This way, diseases and germs won't get from one betta to the other. It's also good to have stress coat around. Most water conditioners will come with it, but if not, it's good to have handy for when your betta decides to jump out of the tank or when he gets a cut.
**Please feel free to print the Basic Betta Care Sheet out**
Plants That Go Well With Bettas
Plants That Go Well With Bettas
Thanks to Jared for giving me some information on plants and bettas! Jared is from the Aquamaniacs Message Board (www.aquamaniacs.net)
Some low light plant species go well with bettas. Some of them are:
Hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum
Java Moss Vesicularia dubyana
Java Fern Microsorium pteropus
Cryptocryne Wendtti
Anubias Nana
These are all low light and easily maintained species and go perfect with bettas.
Water Perimeters
Ammonia
toxic to fish. Can be precented by changing water regularly. Ammonia is produced by waste. Ammonia should be kept at 0-2ppm.
Nitrites
Change the water often to keep the Nitrites below 2ppm. You can also add some salt.
Nitrates
Change the water and you can clean the filter. You should start changing the water more often and feeding your fish less.
pH
pH is on a scale of 0-14
below 7 meaning acidic
above 7 meaning alkaline
and 7 meaning neutral
But running it in the aquarium may bring it down to 7
You should change the water regularly to keep a stable pH level
Chlorine
Very toxic to fish. Find a water conditioner that will remove this for you. Chlorine can also be removed