Tomorrow is Betta Day!

[Squirrelbuddies]

I think I'm finally ready to do this.

I brought home a 2.5 gallon rectangular tank tonight with a glass lid/top. I'm going to add some fine gravel and a few plants. I have a very small heater I can use in the tank.

Other than picking out a betta, do I need anything else?

And, wow, what about picking out the betta? There were about 20 to choose from. The lfs I go to keeps them in these plastic containers that hang inside the regular tanks so they get good filtered water.

How do I pick just one? On some of them, you can see the insides of their gills? Is this normal? What about the ones that just kind of stay at the bottom and do not move much? Are they ok but just need a bigger home in order to be active?

They had some very pretty whitish looking ones tonight but you could see their gills...

Any advice in choosing the right one would be appreciated!

 

[BettaMomma]

Yay for you!
I'm so excited.

I'm assuming that you don't want to purposely bring a sick one home. Mostly we nutzos do that.

So... if you're looking for a nice good healthy one, find one that's pretty active in his cup and is very aware of his surroundings - and make sure his fins are in pretty good shape. Their fins aren't a tough thing to fix, but make sure there isn't any major blackness around the edges or major tears in them, or hunks missing.

If there is one flaring at his neighbor, that's probably the one to pick.


Good luck!

 

[bugsy66]

A filter....
Food.... I feed frozen bloodworms, hikari betta pellets

Please don't try and feed you betta flaked food, they usually will not eat it and just starve to death.

Good to see you are keeping your betta when you get one in a heated tank. After breeding these fish in my past years I am a firm beliver that they do much better in a heated, filtered tank.....

When I look for a new betta I always look for good coloring, no signs of illness or bacteria of any kind. I also try to find the bettas with the smaller fins, these are usually the younger males. If their fins are really long I avoid them as they are older.

You want a lively fish. You will be able to see your self when they are all there which ones look better to you. I cannot comment on the gill issue as I don't often buy the light colored bettas. I usually stick to the red, blue or green ones.

At the moment my betta is in my avatar, but his markings on his gills are the same as what is on his body. I cannot see through them. Someone else might be able to help you with this question though.

Good luck and have fun, they are beautiful fish......

 

[Kiarra]

A filter's not needed if you're willing to do regular full water changes. More often than not, people end up with a filter that just stresses their Betta too much, and that results in illness. However, if you wanted a filter, I'm sure someone around here could recommend one. Really, though, it's not needed if you don't mind doing your water changes.

Good for you on tank size and heater, though. You're going to have a very happy boy when he gets settled in.

What do you mean by being able to see through his gills? I keep plenty of light-colored Bettas, and, perhaps if you could explain what you meant, I might be able to tell you whether or not that's something to worry about. They do have an extra flap that sticks out from their gills (some people call it a beard, gill rakers, gill flap, bunch of things), and this is present on all Bettas, no matter what the color. It's just more obvious on light-colored Bettas that have dark-colored flaps. (I wish I had a picture of Narcissus, my peach-bodied Betta that's staring at me right now. He exemplifies what I'm talking about perfectly.)

What to look for....

Smooth scales, healthy fins. Fish should be alert. Frequently it's good if they are flaring at their neighbor, but, if they've been there a long time, they're less likely to flare at their neighbor, even if they're perfectly healthy. Try taking a pen with you and pointing it at them. For some reason, Bettas flare at normal pens. Even ones that don't flare at other Bettas. You could even take a small handheld mirror in and hold it up to them to get them to flare if you'd like. That should help ensure you'd find a healthy one.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

What do you mean by being able to see through his gills? I keep plenty of light-colored Bettas, and, perhaps if you could explain what you meant, I might be able to tell you whether or not that's something to worry about. They do have an extra flap that sticks out from their gills (some people call it a beard, gill rakers, gill flap, bunch of things), and this is present on all Bettas, no matter what the color. It's just more obvious on light-colored Bettas that have dark-colored flaps. (I wish I had a picture of Narcissus, my peach-bodied Betta that's staring at me right now. He exemplifies what I'm talking about perfectly.)

What to look for....

Smooth scales, healthy fins. Fish should be alert. Frequently it's good if they are flaring at their neighbor, but, if they've been there a long time, they're less likely to flare at their neighbor, even if they're perfectly healthy. Try taking a pen with you and pointing it at them. For some reason, Bettas flare at normal pens. Even ones that don't flare at other Bettas. You could even take a small handheld mirror in and hold it up to them to get them to flare if you'd like. That should help ensure you'd find a healthy one.

I didn't mean you could see through his gills I guess I didn't explain that very well did I?!

What I meant is exactly what you described. You can see gill flaps on the outside. I've not ever seen that before and I just wanted to make sure it was ok!!

It will be so hard to just choose one -- I found three that I liked: a red one, a blue one and a whitish one.

Thanks so much for the replies and advise. I can't wait!

 

[Kiarra]

Ah, yes, perfectly fine. It only really sticks out on the males. The females have no "beard" to speak of. But you'll notice that, when the males flare, that extra flap becomes enormous, surrounding their head in a large semi-circle. They really look quite impressive. It's no surprise other fish run in terror.

 

[eudielynn]

It will be so hard to just choose one -- I found three that I liked: a red one, a blue one and a whitish one.

You really don't think you'll be able to stop at just one do you?

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

So, I finally did it... I have a Betta! He is one of the blue ones.

I need to learn more about the different types, etc. (Right now, he's just the "blue one")

But I do know he is a very beautiful fish and I'll try to post a picture later this weekend!

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Here are pictures of my first betta "Picasso"!

He's in a nicely furnished 5 gallon with heater and plants.

Every other Friday I bring home live brine shrimp for the fish in the other tanks - I thought he'd like them too, but he just spits them out....is that normal? Seems like the only thing he'll eat is the "Betta Bites".

 

[BettaMomma]

I thought you got him a 2.5G tank?
Did you upgrade to a 5? lol

It looks like he's got a great home there - rock arch, plants, the whole bit.
He's one lucky boy, and he's very pretty!

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Yeh, I did get him a 2.5 gallon --- but I had an empty 5 gallon sitting around complete with hood and light...I thought he may like the 5 gallon better!

So, now I have an empty 2. 5 gallon tank. Maybe I should get another Betta?!!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Other than picking out a betta, do I need anything else?

Indeede.
Something that would be a grave mistake to forget.


Get one for meeeeeee!

 

[Kiarra]

Picasso's very lovely. He's a Veiltail, by the way, if you still had any question on that.

It's possible he just doesn't like the brine shrimp. Most of them seem to...mine get them frozen, and I don't recall ever seeing any of the 40+ Bettas here rejecting them (except the fry, but that's just because they couldn't quite get them in their mouth yet). Some Bettas are just picky, picky, picky. There are some that will eat flakes...and nothing else. Some love their pellets and won't eat anything else. And then you have one like BettaMomma's Liza, who will ONLY eat bloodworms and peas, and ONLY off a spoon.

Try feeding him a frozen, blanched, shelled pea every few days. That combined with the pellets should be pretty good for him. Just the pellets runs him the risk of getting constipated, but, if he'll eat peas, then that should prevent constipation.

 

[Kara101584]

Congrats! He is stunning! You won't have an empty 2.5 gallon for long, they are very addicting!

 

[Joby]

Lovely boy you have there

Keep persisting with the brine shrimp, it takes time for them to get used to something different