Betta Fish Dying

[rodriguezpoultry]

I've gone through two betta fish in about a month. I have a vase that contains gravel and a bamboo plant. The water is spring water and the plant and vase are located in the bathroom.

They get the same symptoms, a clinched up tail. They refuse to eat, even though they displayed ridiculously the first two or three days. I have stress coat in there and there are no other symptoms.


I'm wondering if the mirror is causing them to overstress and get the clinched tail. If so, is it possible to put a goldfish (minus other fish) in the bowl and clean it weekly?

 

[chicken+quail=luv]

If there is a mirror that they can see, the beta might get defensive because he thinks it's another male. Have you been watching them? Do they ever try to attack the 'other' male by hitting the glass?

 

[Teach97]

I would get rid of the mirror...goldfish will work

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yes, I sit and watch for long periods. They NEVER have hit the glass, but will pose relentlessly.

 

[keesmom]

How big is the vase? Also, where did you get them from?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

The vase is about the same size as this one, if not bigger:

can't get rid of the mirror...it's the big one just behind the sink. I can move the vase though, but was hoping to have it in there for people to, um, be entertained by?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

The fish came from two different places, one from Wal-Mart, one from PetCo.

 

[Big Chicken Little]

Only thing I can think of is the amount of chlorine in the water. Try bottles water next time. Chlorine takes time to kill fish.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
That may have been your problem (if not one reason) why they are dying so easily. Bettas at those kinds of petstores don't seem to do to well as they are kept in those itty bitty bowls, so their health probably wasn't all that great to begin with, no matter how healthy they looked. Something I just thought of... do they have access to open air above the water? Bettas are Anabantoids and have a special labyrinth organ that allows them to absorb the oxygen we breathe.

 

[EweSheep]

If you are going to put some kind of plants on there, give some space or half of that amount of plants so they can go to surface to breathe.

For me, I use those HUGE glass pickle jars from Mt Olive pickles and clean them out good and put some flake acquarium plants in there and some moss intertwined the surface with enough gaps for them to use air holes. It kept one Betta from store alive for a year.

So for those of us do not want to buy Bettas from a store, would the ones from Ebay work??????????? If so, which ones are reputable?