Saw To Most Awesome Betta

[matchstickman47]

i saw a white male betta today and i have enought to buy a 30 - 40 litre tank for him.
he seemed quite lively but showed a good temperment to the neons he was kept with, (i dont plan on putting any other fish in with him)
is there anything i need to know about bettas?
preffered temps?
planted, or not?
special food?
that sorta stuffs
(excited)

 

[Vengeful Silence]

The care for bettas is about the same as any other tropical fish. While they will withstand lower temperatures, they prefer warmer tropical temperatures. I have always kept my bettas at 78F. Water movement is not a bad thing, but they need to have a place to escape the faster moving water. This can be accomplished by using any type of decor to diffuse the water movement.

Food is one thing that may be a little difficult, depending upon what the betta is being fed at the store. If they are feeding exclusively live worms, it may take some work to get him off of that food, but I've found that the pellets specifically designed for bettas, Hikari Betta Bio Gold in particular, are usually fairly readily accepted. He may have to get pretty hungry, but he will eventually give in. If they aren't feeding exclusively blackworms, then a high quality tropical fish food should work fine.

Tank decor is entirely up to you. As long as the betta has places to hide and explore, he will be happy. Whether the tank is decorated with live plants and driftwood or pink plastic plants and neon rocks is more important to you than the fish.

Good luck with your new fish. Please keep us updated and post back if you have any further questions.

 

[tibby25731]

Oh I love pure white bettas Heat the tank to around 79f, or a bit higher if you prefer - I keep mine at around 81F. Make sure to have plenty of plants, real or fake, as he will like to rest on them a lot. The more decor the better, as they are very inquisitive and like to explore. Try to get a filter which you can turn down, or turn the filter towards a tank wall to deflect flow. Hikari Betta Bio Gold is great, as are any other small pellets designed for Bettas, there are several on Ebay. He may well take flake food too. Be aware that they tend to sulk for a while after being brought home and refuse to eat - as long as he is otherwise in good health, don't worry - just fish out the food if he refuses it and keep trying until he stops sulking! Could take a week, or even longer sometimes!

 

[matchstickman47]

thanks. Thats alot of help

 

[Galanta]

Just to clarify - you want to get SILK plants, not plastic and I would suggest to stick to decor that is smooth with no sharp edges. Their fins are very delicate. And if you are getting anything with holes makes sure that they are big enough for them to get in and out without messing up their fins. On the ones like veiltails and plackats it is probably not a big thing, but I new somebody who put a little fake tree trunk in with her crowntail and it had a little 1/2-3/4 inch hole on top. We didn't even realize the hole was there until the fish "vanished" one day. He had no other place to go hide, so he kept going in and out. He was a crowntail and broke a lot of his fin tips... : (

 

[backtotropical]

There is also a lot of good info in our pinned FAQs topic.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=101587

Cheers

BTT

 

[loraxchick]

get real plants if you can...the fish love them and they help with water stability! its also nice to see a tank "progress".
cheers