Whats the Attraction?

[Debo]

Hi,
I see numerous posts that people have lots and lots of Bettas. I have only ever had one Betta, he ended up dying and I never replaced him. he was the most boring fish I have ever had. My daughter has a few and I am wondering what is the attraction to bettas, and why do so many of you have SO MANY BETTAS?
I see them in the store in those itty bitty cuos and feel bad for them. Do you put them in your regular big tanks or do you have little betta cups all over your houses. I am wondering if I am missing out on something and should have a few?
I don;t mean to sound stupid, I just don't know anything about them. maybe you can help me out?
Deb

 

[Dreaded]

Wow! You ARE missing out! haha

I have four betta fish. Two are in a divided hex tank, one is in a one gallon, and the other is in a separate one gallon. My bettas all have very different personalities. Satellite is still settling in, so he hasn't really developed a personality yet, and Victor is way preoccupied with the little girly he shares his divided hex with. But Eddie. Boy, Eddie is the coolest. He knows when he gets fed and if I'm not there right when I wake up, he is staring out the tank straight at my bed waiting for me to throw of the blankets, turn off the alarm and drop in his pellets. He also follows me around the room, watching me as I walk. He loves the dwarf frog he's lived with since I've had him. And one day I switched frogs on him because his was sick, and he HATED the new one. I ended up having to take the frog out and put him in with Satellite so he wouldn't be maimed. You should have seen Eddie when Fink went back in his tank. Woo. He was so happy. He was swimming up and down the side and...I'm rambling haha.

I love my bettas. They're all different and beautiful. On the outside and in their personalities. They're such individuals!

 

[BettaBoyz]

you are definately missing out! the only boring Betta is a sick or bored Betta, so you did something wrong to cause his being boring/death!

Bettas are wonderful, personable fish. if you treat them right, like any pet, they will instantly bond with you. i've got three boys, all different, all the same. some Bettas can learn tricks, like swimming through a hoop or jumping in the air for food. Bettas come in so many colors it's ridiculous, and no one complains because these are natural colors and not man-made!

pet stores take advantage of the Bettas ability to breath air, so put them in tiny cups and sell them off as 'Vicious Fighting Fish' who need no more than one inchs worth of water on the bottom of a cup, or a vase-and-lily combo that is sure to kill. really, these wonderful fish need whatever they want to live in! i've got Bettas in half-gallons, since i always seem to buy the ones who take hissy fits all over bigger tanks! also, they are anything but 'Just Fighters'! some are lovers (there have been stories about the breeding going wrong in a good way, and the male and female end up inseperable friends) some are puppies (who will act and react like any dog would to the outside world) some are Food-a-Holics (who just want that extra bloodworm... and that one...) some are displayers (who hoot and holler and puff up to get attention) and some are just plain lazy (and like to float around making sure everything in their tank is in order)

you are definately missing out Deb. if i were you, i'd march out to a store and buy a Betta. yep, that's right. go to your LPS, into the fish aisle, look at the three most lively fish and pick the one you like most. get a Kritter Keeper, Small Pals Pen, Marina Betta Kit, or Dual Betta Hex. get some Tetra's Delica Bloodworms, some silk plants, and water conditioner. get a 3" net, and if the Bettas don't come with their cups ask for it. then march home, put the gravel in the tank and the plants in the gravel, add conditioned water, add fish (however you want to, i'm against floating, but everyone tells you to!) and put it all under a desklamp. feed him that night at what will soon become your regular feeding time, and watch him blossom.

believe me, Bettas are definately the most therapeutic fish out there. they will make you laugh and baby-talk and love them, and then feel as sad as you do when you're cat or dog passes on when they have to go up to Fishie Heaven.

(i've ranted, excuse me ) but i LOVE BETTAS! )

 

[Cali]

I'll just add my 2 cents....


I LOVE Bettas, too. I currently have 4. Two males and two females. As much as I love male bettas, I have an affinity for females. They both have OH, SO MUCH PERSONALITY! ...the males strut around showing off and flaring at you (or your finger, or the pellets, or their own reflection, LOL) while the females can be SOOO cool and collected.


My pink female (Pixie) is a trip. I love her! She is so gorgeous and she loves all the attention she gets from her male house mates. I fell in love with her in the store because her coloring is just something you've never seen before. She's solid pink with purple and green accents on her tail fins. Plus, she was an iddy-bitty thing when I got her. Just a month or two old, I'm sure. She was my very first female betta and the reason why I love them so (female bettas).


Baby (my other female betta) is wonderful, too. Her coloring is not as flamboyant as Pixie's....Baby is more gray with green reflections. Pretty, nonetheless. I got her when she was VERY young, too. She is Ms. Cool, too. Nothing phases her. She has an awesome personality. When I first got her, I was doing a water change for all my bettas....all the bettas were in their cups on my counter. Pixie and my two males were flaring at little Baby and just trying so hard to get at her. Baby, was like "Yawn!...whatever." It didn't phase her at all. She's too cool.

Maxie, my big blue/purple male is one of my favorites. His personality is awesome, too (see a trend.. ). He always struts his stuff for Pixie and for me. He loves showing off. I like to put my face up to his bowl and make fishie/kissie faces. *clears throat* Ummmm, nevermind. )

My last male, Whisper, is great, too. He's like a pink/opaque and absolutely stunning! He matches Pixie, no less. Man, they'd make cute babies...LOL! He's fairly new so I don't have a firm grasp on his personality yet....but, I can't stop staring at him because he looks like a little ghost fish swimming in his bowl. The name Whisper suits him well, I think.


So, I love bettas because of the way they look...they are beautiful fish...and because of the variety of their personalities. They are a treat to raise and are as much company as any dog would be. I can't explain the addiction, but I do know it exsists and I have it.

 

[Sinuhe]

I've never had a Betta, either, and they seem slightly boring at fish stores, but I've been occasionally considering getting one.

BettaBoyz, can you clarify what you mean by being "against floating"? Do you mean it's better to dump the fish straight from the plastic bag to the tank without acclimating? Why would you want to do that, when it's a well known fact that the temperature and pH differences, among other things, can really stress the fish out if the change is sudden? Or did I misunderstand what you said?

 

[Cali]

BettaBoyz, can you clarify what you mean by being "against floating"? Do you mean it's better to dump the fish straight from the plastic bag to the tank without acclimating?

Floating them is not acclimating them to the water...just to the temp. Personally, I never float my bettas. I use a drip/turkey baster method to acclimate my new bettas. I don't see a need for floating them (my bettas) because by the time I add them to their bowls, both the bowl water and their old water is room temp.


I did drip AND float when I acclimated my angelfish, though...because their water is heated.

 

[andyt_uk]

i had one he was quite cool
but suddenly turned nasty and killed a load of tank mates
wouldnt get another, dont want to keep one alone, dont want to lose more fish to him
and certainly wouldnt keep one in a tiny bowl/tank/cup

 

[White Whale]

It's like having either a non-chirping parakeet or a tiny little puppy - the only difference is water and size. They also come in many fashionable colors. You can get one to harmonize with the dominant color of a room, or one of opposite color to accent it. They are easy to keep and don't need much of the equipment required to sustain most other fishes. It's needs are simple, but besides clean water and food, it will thrive on undivided attention. Shy or territorial, all bettas, when healthy, show a lot of curiousity - not just at any sign of feeding. It is this curiosity that sets the medium for any response outside the bowl.

Just give one a chance. They are inexpensive, easy to care for, and don't require much room. You will have nothing to lose.

 

[FanOFish]

Hey Debo....I have one betta that I keep in a 2.5gal. hex tank. I find that their mannerisms are very similar to the gouramis I have in my large tank. I'm sure that your gouramis swim to see you when you peer into the tank....mmmmmm food.

I know you are very fond of your gold gourami and as long as you have a betta in a tank where they have room to roam I think you would find them to be very similar. In the stores they are boring because they are in a couple ounces of water and have no room to do anything but sit there.

I think what makes bettas so popular is....once you have found the most beautiful betta in the store and bring him home....you find one with even more amazing colors or if you can find some different tailed like crowntails.....it's just amazing. I would love to be able to have a large tank full but.......not possible.

I am think about buying a 20gal. and trying to divide it into smaller 4 gallon tanks.

 

[dixaisy930]

Eventhough everyone has covered everything already...I'll add my two cents.

I think the reason why bettas are so popular is because they are all unique, unlike most other fish. All zabra danios look alike, and pretty much act alike....all dwarf puffers look alike and pretty much act alike (don't get me wrong, I have nothing against these fish...I've had some myself ). It's just...bettas have different personalities and come in so many different colors.

What other breed fish do you know could kill off a whole tank of fish, be scared to death of cories, love being by themself, swim in the middle of a school of cories, and develope a crush on a snail? They really have individual personalities and attitudes.

I would have to agree with BettaBoyz is that the only boring betta is an unhealthy one.

I spend just as much time watching/feeding/caring for my tanks as I do my bettas, and the only other fish that would acknowledge me was my dwarf puffer.

All four of my boys have very different personalities. They all have their own idiosyncrisies.

I think bettaitis is just something you have or you don't, and if you don't get it, we can't fully explain it to you. (It's like a secret club :kira: )

 

[Sinuhe]

Oh, I do understand that just floating them is not acclimating them. I guess floating with small Betta bowls would be tricky, so you acclimate them by just adding water from the bowl to the bag without floating?

 

[MAM]

i love my three bettas. i keep them each in separate one gal tanks on a shelf. they look great there. one of my bettas i will admit is boring, he never flares at the other two but he's beautiful. he's passive enough i've considered introducing to my ten gallon community. the other two flare at each other throughout the day, which is fun to watch, and they swim about quite a bit. now that its cooler they are less active though. i could never put my big blue in community tank though, he's crotchety. and my red doesn't like large tanks, stresses him out. i bought mine initally because i thought they were just such pretty fish.

 

[Debo]

Ok,
FanOfish.....you did it.......I am going to go get one next week. So, can I put one in a regular fish tank, like my 15 gallon one or do I need to keep in by itself. Someone said they can be with other fish. Is that true?
The next Question-What kind should I get and how do you know the difference?
I know nothing about them and I keep reading all your posts so I g\figured I was missing out on something.
So tell me what kind should I get, what else do I need for it. If I love it as much as my Gold Gourami then I am in serious trouble...............I am at work now and I just picked up and have in my car a new 35 gallon hex tank for Sunny and some new buddies!!!!!!!! Cab a betta go in that with Gouramis? I do have a bookcase that is built in.............24 feet long............10 feet high with 6 shelves for each section.........HHHMMMMMMMM How many Bettas??
Deb

 

[wuvmybetta]

i had one he was quite cool
but suddenly turned nasty and killed a load of tank mates
wouldnt get another, dont want to keep one alone, dont want to lose more fish to him
and certainly wouldnt keep one in a tiny bowl/tank/cup

Aren't we brave for coming into the betta forum and bringing THAT up again and fyi...if a betta had a choice between a "little bowl" and death I KNOW what the betta would choose,just as any living creature would


Debo~
If you wonder what the attraction is....then your obviously not bitten by the betta bug. The attraction is clear to see,just look at them for crying out loud
Bettas are fabulous, I love them, I have 36 of them (mostly rescues) and each is different from the next . I've kept bettas my entire life and I've never been disappointed by one. They're like little "water puppies" . Mind you that in the store they're not all that intriguing but once they get a home and realize that you're there to feed them daily and tend to their every whim they'll quickly attach themselves to you. Mine recognize me from anybody else,they know who mom is . All of mine are in 1,2 or 2.5 gallon tanks with a male/female/male living arrangement that spreads all over the house. I have some on my kitchen counter,desk,dresser,entertainment center,end tables and a bookshelf FULL of only bettas . They're so easy to become attached to, my niece tried to get me to give her one of my babies once and I couldn't! For so many reasons....1st being how I felt about that particular betta and because I didn't want to break up any groups (not to mention how much I would worry about him in her care)

They handfeed (all of mine do with the exception of one skittish female but even she does occasionaly) They always acknowledge you,my boys are all perfect gentlemen and very chivalrous...they always get up from their "seats" and look when I enter the room

 

[White Whale]

24 feet long............10 feet high with 6 shelves for each section.........HHHMMMMMMMM How many Bettas??
Deb

Go for it! I have and I never looked back and I never regretted it!