Getting a betta fish! 🐠

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

Not all killies are annuals. (snip)

Thanks for the information Subrosa. If I ever set up my tanks I will take another look at them. They are beautiful fish.

[NYCorchidman]

I like your tank set up. It looks clean and pretty!
can't wait to see what kind of betta you have coming.
I LOVE betta fish.
I only have two at the moment, but I had about 6 at one point, most of which died over the winter. They really did not like the winter although it was not that cold in the apartment.
I could have used heat mat, but the instruction said the tank has to be at least 5 gallon or the water will be overheated. My bettas are each housed in container that is about 1 gallon or less. so I could not use the heat mat, unfortunately.

Now I'm left with 2 strong survivors.
One is very dark as if it was bred from King variety, probably so, with beautiful blue and red fins, quite common color form but tough fat little thing nonetheless. hehe
The other one is rather skinny fish with gorgeous long fins that look like water color paint. Beautiful cobalt blue.

I really miss one that was particularly pretty, whom I called Diva. hahaha
The others were white and purple, which I can easily replace.

Anyways, you are correct in that Bettas are found in rice field or other still water setting with a territory of about 1m, so big water is not a problem, but smaller tank is also not a problem. Since they fight with other bettas even in fairly a large tank, unless you want to house just one betta, it does not make much sense for people like me where space is golden.

What does bother these fish I find, is that they do not like strong water current. so small tank with water filter that circulate water strongly tend to stress them.

There are many things written online about how to grow bettas and I find many of them are not true or at least not necessary.
For example, tank size and water change frequency...
My tank is way too small according to their standard and need to change water therefore nearly everyday.
Well, I try to change water at least once a week, but sometimes I would go for weeks.
Other than occasional death during the winter due to cold stress, I have grown bettas for a couple of years which I think is about their life span.

The 2 I have now, one is about three years old and the other one is new from last fall.
I visit Pet shop often and they always have something pretty. I would buy them like crazy.
but due to space issue, I have to keep just one or two to best take care of them.
It would be my dream to have a large room full of betta and even breed my own.

Anyways, I rambled too much.

Congrats on your new hobby and I hope your first fish do well for you.

BTW, I didn't know there were such expensive goldfish. I thought they were about the cheapest pet fish out there. lol

---------- Post added at 01:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 PM ----------

Regarding betta fish living in a small patch or puddle of water is indeed incorrect and is a marketing scheme to justify the way they are sold. in a tiny container. That's convenient to transport them but I don't think they should not be kept that way or advertised as such. money money money. oh, well...

[Leafmite]

You don't want to breed them. For the fry to survive, it takes quite a bit of effort. We did it once, with a particularly beautiful pair. Months before we put the pair together, we asked a bunch of places if they would save one gallon jars for us. We set up the breeding tank a few weeks ahead, adding a little water from the pond to begin the growth of organisms for the fry to eat (as well as added a food for egg-laying fry). We bought the underwater heater, live plants, etc and set it all up and then let the tank sit. Finally, when everything was ready, we let the pair breed. Then we covered the tank to keep humidity, opening it a few times a day to give the male air to breathe (the male cares for the eggs until the fry hatch).
When the fry were large enough, we began raising the brine shrimp for them to eat. Cleaning out the tank was a nightmare as the fish were so tiny and the tank would get dirty so fast. When they began to fight, we began removing the aggressive ones to the gallon jars. Eventually, we had jars in every room of the house. These jars needed water changes twice a week. When the babies were finally large enough, we began finding the homes for them. Close to three hundred Betta fish? They were still not large enough that the fish stores would take them. But, we did find homes for all but the ones we kept.
We gave the jars away to a man who made squirrel feeders and not only will I never again breed Bettas, I have no interest in ever buying a flask with tons of little baby orchids. :|

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 PM ----------

Mature goldfish cost more as do the rarer types that are not available in stores, the show quality goldfish for the serious ponder (and goldfish breeders). I bought my shubunkins for about seven dollars when I was very into the pond thing. They were young fish but very nice. They even had quite a bit of blue and nice bold markings...and very long, flowing tails. Good quality but probably not show quality. They were young fish but goldfish grow quickly in a pond.
If you are going to buy the expensive goldfish, make certain you ask around to find an honest breeder who has won awards with the fish.

[astrid]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

You don't want to breed them. For the fry to survive, it takes quite a bit of effort. We did it once, with a particularly beautiful pair. Months before we put the pair together, we asked a bunch of places if they would save one gallon jars for us. We set up the breeding tank a few weeks ahead, adding a little water from the pond to begin the growth of organisms for the fry to eat (as well as added a food for egg-laying fry). We bought the underwater heater, live plants, etc and set it all up and then let the tank sit. Finally, when everything was ready, we let the pair breed. Then we covered the tank to keep humidity, opening it a few times a day to give the male air to breathe (the male cares for the eggs until the fry hatch).
When the fry were large enough, we began raising the brine shrimp for them to eat. Cleaning out the tank was a nightmare as the fish were so tiny and the tank would get dirty so fast. When they began to fight, we began removing the aggressive ones to the gallon jars. Eventually, we had jars in every room of the house. These jars needed water changes twice a week. When the babies were finally large enough, we began finding the homes for them. Close to three hundred Betta fish? They were still not large enough that the fish stores would take them. But, we did find homes for all but the ones we kept.
We gave the jars away to a man who made squirrel feeders and not only will I never again breed Bettas, I have no interest in ever buying a flask with tons of little baby orchids. :|

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 PM ----------

Mature goldfish cost more as do the rarer types that are not available in stores, the show quality goldfish for the serious ponder (and goldfish breeders). I bought my shubunkins for about seven dollars when I was very into the pond thing. They were young fish but very nice. They even had quite a bit of blue and nice bold markings...and very long, flowing tails. Good quality but probably not show quality. They were young fish but goldfish grow quickly in a pond.
If you are going to buy the expensive goldfish, make certain you ask around to find an honest breeder who has won awards with the fish.

That issue of having 300 baby betta frys is probably a reason so many breeders cull a lot of the frys. It isn't feasible to raise that many bettas unless you are a big operation, and at any rate, culling seems very common among fish breeders for various reasons including quality of the fish, health issues, and even superficial things!

[Leafmite]

They don't get their colors or even look like much until after you need to separate them. I doubt I could have culled them, anyway, as I haven't the heart for that. It was just fortunate we had many people willing to help us (saving jars, offering to take a fish).

[jmmehler]

Ok, so are we agreed? Killies are a better choice?

[NYCorchidman]

I used to do that as a kid. I was crazy about fish, frogs, turtle, and bugs before jumping on to plants. lol

I never saw my baby bettas grow because there were just so many and I did not have all the space to individually house them nor did I have enough friends who wanted to take a tiny little fish.
What did I do?
I fed them to my other fish. may sound cruel to some, but it was rather fun to watch Angel Fish run after them and just suck them into their mouth.
Only if you grow Angel Fish and have seen them eat smaller fish, you would appreciate the fun. hahaha

Now, I am so happy to have a pet store in the city where they always have so many pretty mature or near mature sized ones to choose from.
I have to stay away from them because I want to buy all the ones that I see and want. lol

Has your fish arrived yet?

[astrid]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I used to do that as a kid. I was crazy about fish, frogs, turtle, and bugs before jumping on to plants. lol

I never saw my baby bettas grow because there were just so many and I did not have all the space to individually house them nor did I have enough friends who wanted to take a tiny little fish.
What did I do?
I fed them to my other fish. may sound cruel to some, but it was rather fun to watch Angel Fish run after them and just suck them into their mouth.
Only if you grow Angel Fish and have seen them eat smaller fish, you would appreciate the fun. hahaha

Now, I am so happy to have a pet store in the city where they always have so many pretty mature or near mature sized ones to choose from.
I have to stay away from them because I want to buy all the ones that I see and want. lol

Has your fish arrived yet?

My lil fish?
No, not yet. I am trying to cycle my tank now, and have yet to even see a drop in ammonia!!

But I really can't wait! I got some marimos and took the grass out, and I think it is looking classy.

I ordered a betta leaf hammock, too, so the little fish will have somewhere to rest.

Your story of watching a bigger thing eat a smaller thing reminded me of my childhood. We had a horse pasture and a creek running through it, so I would run out to the creek and play with the frogs all day and watch tadpoles go through metamorphosis and things like that. One time, there was a cluster of bullfrog tadpoles in a muddy dried up part of the creek and I rescued them all by throwing them into some deeper water.

But one day I was playing with a frog that was maybe an inch long and I decided to let if go, and I wanted it to be safe, so I let it go into the big 3' pipe ...
Then I saw the eyes. The eyes! There were little bullfrog eyes peering just above the water!

The bullfrog got bigger and bigger and rose up and the little frog I let go was too deep in the pipe for me to grab, so I stood by, hanging my head upside-down to watch, and the bullfrog lunged up and devoured him in a single bite!

I was mortified lol.

I was also kicked in the chest by a bullfrog as a child. I had much better luck with snakes! They're a lot nicer creatures...
I also loved lil wild animals as a kid!

[Wolfrott]

Nice set up! Great to see a big tank!

[phalnoob]

I love bettas iv had loads growing up. Fish are awesome!
Wow goldfish are cheap as buttons here, common goldfish are like 3-5 pounds and some of the fancies are maybe upto 10pounds for a small to medium size. But yeah they messy and need a big tank. I loved my orandas they just bobbed about so gracefully lol