New To Bettas

[Johnlenham]

Hi all
Ive just joined so forgive me if im asking questions that have been long since answered.

So I just got back from a random pet shop visit and it re kindled my desire to get some fish of my own.
After looking into tropical ones such as Clown fish I read alot about Bettas so I googled it and wow i was expecting them to be goldfish style fish not amazingly coloured fish.

Ive read various Faqs and such so im just trying to get an overall idea of what I would need to keep Bettas.

Ok so first what sized tank would you recommended for maybe 2-4 Bettas and what Sex's?
Ive read Males fight (fighting fish and all) so how exactly can you keep them if they have no real tank mates? also if so could you provide a link to a cheap tank that would be great.

Are the females generally less "pretty"? and is there a dead certain way to distinguish the two?

What are the basics for the tank? gravel, filter(?) Heater (?) silk plants (I assume real are better but are they more difficult or is it stick them in and let them be?)
I have the filter and heater with (?) because ive read they are "hardy" fish and can live in a bowl of water but that cant be the best life for the poor buggers surely?

Do I need to do a fish less cycle that Ive read about?

Finally any places you can recommend for buying all the parts and are the various species like half moons able to live together?

Thanks very much for any help

 

[groupiekilla06]

If you want to have tank mates in with a male betta you can. You would have to get at least a 10 gallon tank though. Betta's do need a heater and in a 10 gallon tank you will need some kind of filter and you will have to cycle your tank. For a betta and just a few friends then you could probably use a sponge or box filter. Some good betta friends include zebra danios, white cloud mountain minnows, and corydoras catfish. Some people have also been successful in keeping them with neon tetras but I don't recommend them or guppies.

If you want to have the male by himself the bare minimum tank he should have is 2.5 gallons. Then he would still need a cover (they do jump) and a heater but you could still get away with doing weekly or bi-weekly water changes and not have to cycle the tank or have a filter.

If you want multiple males you would have to use dividers. You can either buy them at the pet store or make them yourself by using this link: Tank Dividers- DIY

Never mix male and female bettas!!! Some petstores will tell you that you can but you can't. They will fight and one of them will get hurt or even die.

Female bettas can be just as colorful as the males but also be as mean as them too. In order to keep females you could have a 10 gallon tank sorority with 5-6 females and a lot of hiding places/plants. With plants its always better to use live plants but silk plants are fine too.

The main way to tell the difference between males and females are their fins. Males have longer flowy fins and females have very short fins. There is a variety of males that are called Plakats and they have short fins also and are occasionally mismarked as females. In that case you would look for an eggspot which appears on all female bettas right between the two front fins (ventral fins) on her belly.

There are several species of betta but the domestic kind are called Betta Splendens. They are divided by tail types such as Halfmoon, Plakat, Crowntails, Super Deltas, Veiltail, Double Tail and a few others.
But they are all the same species and males will fight if placed together. They are wild type Species of Bettas that can live together, both males and females. However I don't know much about wilds so i will let someone else direct you there.

 

[Johnlenham]

thanks for the info.
Wow 5 Gallons is 22 litres for some reason I thought it was alot less than that.

So say I get a just 5 gallon tank, would I be better off looking into smaller tropical fish like the Neons rather than Bettas or could two male Bettas with a divider live happily in it?

 

[lilfishie]

if divided then you could have 2 males in there neons need more room than a 5 gal can offer they are shoaling fish so you would need at least 6 and are very active need at least a 10 IMO

 

[blue_betta]

a "sorority" tank of 6 females of different colours and different tail types, with alot of rocks plants roots and mini clay plantpots and sand as a base will look stunning.
most people think that females are generaly dull and uninteresting, but that shows nothing more than lack of knowlage.
if you want to keep multiple fish in one tank, get a bunch of females in a well planted tank with lots of things to explore and hide in. you will not be dissapointed

word of caution tho..... watch out for PK (wild type/short finned) males. they are often sold as females by mistake...

 

[Johnlenham]

a "sorority" tank of 6 females of different colours and different tail types, with alot of rocks plants roots and mini clay plantpots and sand as a base will look stunning.
most people think that females are generaly dull and uninteresting, but that shows nothing more than lack of knowlage.
if you want to keep multiple fish in one tank, get a bunch of females in a well planted tank with lots of things to explore and hide in. you will not be dissapointed

word of caution tho..... watch out for PK (wild type/short finned) males. they are often sold as females by mistake...

Thanks for the advice!
Is it tough to "integrate" new ones in as Id probably only have enough for 2-3 at first (oh and is it better to do it in pairs?)
Also is sand viable? I thought you needed gravel for the helpful bactira to live or do they live in the sand aswell?

Also what plants would you recommended and if your talking real ones is there anything needed like plant feed or something?

 

[blue_betta]

best to start with a minimum of 4, any less and the bickering can be severe. to add new girls i usuly keep them in a breeding trap in the tank with some bits of plants and a little bit of sand so they have a "mini-tank" where they can be safe and secure and get to know everyone and what heirarcy exists.
sand is fine, but id recoment a group of small cory cats (pygmy or panda) to keep it clean. most of the bacteria that filter your water are in the filter its self, but it will be on every surface. if anything sand creates an even greater surface area fo bacteria to grow on.

plants, anything soft and leafy. java moss java fern, comboba + elodea(dont keep the tank to warm for these), horn wort, anubias species, valisneria, amazon sword.

betta are fond of floating plants so water lettuce, duckweed, frogbit, ricca, fairy moss are all good plants. you can also use silk plants and "supa ferns" which come in a variety of colours (i stick to natural looking green ones).

 

[Johnlenham]

Sounds like sand it is

Another question but iv been looking and the biggest tank I can fit (unless i find a real bargin that comes with its own stand) is 55 litre = 12 Imperial gallons
what's going to be the max amount of fish for either a solo male with mates like corys or a group of females?
Ive been trying to find out what bettas get along with but the list is pretty bloody short lol

 

[blue_betta]

the general rule of thumb is 1 litre for every CM of fish so you can have 55 CM of fish in that tank

as for shoaling fish, harlequins are your best bet. ive kept xray tetras with betta before and not had problems but this may not be the rule.
danios and minnows are apparently ok tankmates for betta