Hey guys new to the fourm..

[Mista Young]

hey guys ima newbe to this fourm..i had a betta b4 but it died..im planning to get another one soon...but i dont know much about them..where can you get a decent one at? will petsmart or petco wal-mart do? how big does the fish tank gotta be? does it have to have a filter and light and heater? how do i pick my betta? thanks

 

[Bettabelieveit]

Welcome to the sickness of betta adiction

Firstly, betta from any major chain can be a risk, because you don't know how old they are -- however, some of the best fish can be found in walmarts/petsmart/petco's you just have to be able to pick the good ones, the ones you want are going to be the most lively ones, moving around, maybe the one who's flaring at the other guys in the cup the most.

If you want some of the more fancy type of betta (Crown Tail, Half Moon, Delta, Super Delta, Plakat) check the yellow pages and call around to some local pet/fish shops and ask what kind of betta they have, sometimes you luck out and have a decent store around

Tank size... the bigger the better, contrary to what the big chains and evil evil tank makers will tell you, betta actualy like space, and like to swim! one gallon is the minimum, but feel free to go beyond that, they will thank you!

Heaters are good if you have a tank to suit it, bettas like to be warm, they will be the most active, and build the best bubble nests when they are warm and comfy

Also, silk plants, not plastic plants, betta have very fragile fins and will rip them up good on plastic plants. so go silk

Good luck and welcome to the world of bettas

 

[Synirr]

Hey, welcome to the forum
You can get a betta from any of the places you listed as long as you're not interested in breeding it. The tank needs to be one gallon or larger, doesn't need a filter as long as you do frequent (at least weekly) large water changes, but it does need a heater unless the temperature in your home stays between 75 and 80 degrees F. The light is pretty much up to you, just as long as you don't keep the fish in complete darkness all the time, lol. One important thing to know is that you should get a tank WITH A LID, because bettas just looooove to jump out.

 

[Mista Young]

is it good to breed them? my cousin has a couple of bettas..he has this crazy looking crowntail..its a red one and when it flares its hott hahaha..he said he got it in downtown somewhere..i live in la..is it easy to breed them or not? wont the filter suck the fish in? cause i have a 60 gallon tank with one of those super sucking filters? haha..and yea i had kois in there before and it would like suck them up and they would die..i dont want that to happen..i was thinking about getting a 2.5 gallon one with the filter..so the places that i listed dont have bettas that i could breed? how can you tell if there female or male? and how could u tell if their lively lol..i went the other day and i checked out all of them..none of em seemed to be moving..when i put my finger to the cup it would like move back. thanks

 

[Synirr]

Whether or not you want to breed them is your decision, but it is a lot of work and you're definitely have to do a great deal of research and planning beforehand. Maybe you could read up on it and decide if you want to try it or not before purchasing your betta? That could help you decide if one from the places you listed would be ok with you
The bettas from places like Petsmart, Petco, Walmart etc. are almost always veiltails, which are to bettas what mutts are to dogs. There isn't a very high demand for them, so if you spawn them, you'll get 100+ bettas that you'll have a really hard time finding homes for.

The filter won't suck them in if you get a very gentle filter... there are also ways to slow filter flow if the current is too strong for your betta. Betta don't like a lot of current in their tanks. A 2.5 gallon sounds just perfect
Usually males have long fins and females have short ones, but there are exceptions. A short-finned male is called plakat. A very good way to tell a female from a male is to check for an ovipositor, which is an egg tube that looks like a little white dot located on the fish's stomach right behind the ventral fins, which are the ones that hang down almost directly under their gills. If it has an ovipositor, it's almost surely female. Females also have rather plump stomachs when they are full of eggs, but I wouldn't go by that as a definite guide because sometimes males overeat and have plump stomachs and sometimes females aren't carrying eggs and look thin