Conditioning a betta

[ral]

I have read about how they condition betta's for fighting. It suppedly makes them alert and stronger (I think, loss of fat?). Some of the conditioning requires the use of female betta's as "targets". I was wondering how we can excercies our betta's (like people walk their dogs), but without giving them live targets.

The use of the mirror is okay with me. How long how many times per day/per week? The main thing missing with the mirror is that the betta is not chasing something, like he would if you put him in a tank with 5-6 females. Anyway we can simulate that without using betta's or other fish?

 

[D Chia]

How about the 'plastic bag' method? It lets them get up close and personal (minus the injury).

 

[ral]

Gave me an idea. A circular tank with two partitions. An inner and an out partion. The betta's would be running around their partitions looking for a way in.

 

[D Chia]

How long how many times per day/per week?

My bettas are housed in 4"x4"x8" and 6"x6"x8" tanks. I remove the cards between the tanks and let them flare at each other for 10-15 minutes every morning during feeding time.

I use the plastic bag method once in a while to let them get really close to simulate close quarter combat.

 

[ral]

Actually I want to get the Betta to swim vigorously. To simulate what I think they call the parn (One male chasing 4-5 female betta's).

 

[D Chia]

Do be mindful that the fins of your betta can become ragged if it is subjected to vigorous activity like prolonged flaring or displaying.

According to Walt Maurus (author of Bettas: A Complete Introduction),

"The fins of the betta are only a few cells thick, so tears in the fins from activity can be likened to the fraying of the edges of a flag flapping in the wind."

Edit: So do be careful about letting them flare too much.

 

[ral]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

If you don't mind feeding baby guppies to them once in a while, they have to actually catch them to eat them, and that's not as easy as you'd think...

 

[littlefishie]

VERY true. Thats what I did when I had too many damned baby guppies. I had about 6 bettas at the time, so I'd give them a baby guppy or two as a treat. It was damned funny watch them chase the guppy.. I had one male who would ignore the guppy, and the second it got curious, it got eaten!

 

[ral]

My Betta's eat a guppy