I Have A Few Betta Keeping Questions...

Hello everyone,

I get my first betta on thursday morning, I've had my tank ready and cycling for the past two weeks.
Tomorrow im gonna do another water change ready for the arrival of my new betta.
First of all, What ph range do bettas prefer? I know it varys from fish to fish, and my large community tank is always a steady 7.0 but is it different for bettas?

Also, i've noticed most people seem to keep their bettas in small tanks, with few plants and ornaments, is there a reason for this? I have 3/4 live plants in my new betta tank (which is a 8gal) They fill the tank really nicely, and are all thriving under the light conditions in the small tank. Will this benefit / bother the betta in any way?

Also, I have fish flakes, algae wafers and the ocassional live bloodworm which i feed to my community tank. Are there any other foods i should have ready to feed my betta? It's arriving by mail order, so i'd like to feed it something to perk it up after the journey and hopefully keep its strength up!

I'm sorry for the long post, i just want to get everything right. I've done alot of research already, i just had a few additional questions. )

I guess a pH of 6.8-7.2 would be best for bettas, as long as it is steady. Your tank seems to be very ideal for a betta. People generally have no ornaments or plants because they have many bettas, i guess

But a planted tank would definitely look really good. Let us know when you get it, and do post some pics

Each betta is different, and what one likes, another may dislike. Your tank set up will probably be great for a betta, although some folks have had bettas who did better in smaller spaces. I am trying to upgrade my 1 gallon tanks to larger sizes--George is in a six gallon and seems to like it very much. My bettaas like the betta pellets in addition to frozen bloodworms. I'm sure others here will share the benefit of their experience to help ensure everything is just right. Good luck, and enjoy!

Thanks for the quick reply, I'm pleased to hear about the ph levels, i've just ran a ph test and the results were between 7.0 - 7.2
so thats good news I've also just ordered a new digital camera so i'll deffinetly be posting pics of my set up, there'll be a few panda corys living with the betta too, of course if that doesnt work out, they can move to my community tank, that wont be a problem.

Thanks for the advice, does anyone have any ideas on what i can feed him though? given the long journey and all, im sure he'd appreciate something to perk him up a bit?

Hikari Betta Bio Gold is a great pellet food. I think most (not all) of the people on here tend to use that brand because there is not a fish who won't eat it!

Naughtygirlrlw said:

Hikari Betta Bio Gold is a great pellet food. I think most (not all) of the people on here tend to use that brand because there is not a fish who won't eat it!

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I have that food. It works pretty well with my bettas except for Yoshi. He doesnt like it. So it sinks to the bottom of the tank and then I clean it up every sunday. But It stills works like a charm with my other 2 bettas. I even named my Female after the brand Hikari.

Okay thats great, i shall order some straight away How many pellets are you supposed give them per day? I know with plecs, its one algae tablet a day.. is it different with betta?

Thanks alot for the advice, i shall be a responsible betta keeper in no time..

I think you'll get a variety of answers to that one! I give each of my bettas 3-4 in the morning and 3-4 at night. I usually give them some bloodworms or BBS every other night instead of the pellets. It kind of depends on the individual fish...some get constipated more easily than others, in which case I would cut it down to 2 and 2. I guess my babies are just little piggies!

Yeah. I would give them 2-4 also twice a day.every other day. then switch to bloodworms for the other days that you skip... Maybe 2-6 bloodworms.

Great, thanks alot for that I think thats all my questions answered.

Follow up: I'm afraid i cant find anywhere that sells hikari betta pellets, the one online shop i have found costs over £4.95 for shipping? which seems really excessive to me for fish food?

Is tetra betta food okay? has anyone used it before?

Tetra betta should also work fine. I've used it earlier.

Food is not really abig issue. As long as you have a backup of bloodworms, there should me no problem.

!Gina said:

Follow up: I'm afraid i cant find anywhere that sells hikari betta pellets, the one online shop i have found costs over £4.95 for shipping? which seems really excessive to me for fish food?

Is tetra betta food okay? has anyone used it before?

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Tried Aquatics Online? I ordered 3 packs of hikari, a bit mat of filter floss stuff and 3 fake (weighted) plants and including postage it was just over £10.

!Gina said:

Follow up: I'm afraid i cant find anywhere that sells hikari betta pellets, the one online shop i have found costs over £4.95 for shipping? which seems really excessive to me for fish food?

Is tetra betta food okay? has anyone used it before?

Click to expand...

Mine eat Tetra Betta and are seemingly doing very well on it. They also get some other bits of flake food now and again. Also some thawed frozen bloodworm, or when I can get it, live bloodworm - variety is the spice of life !

Try WalMart for the pellets they have 'em where I live.