my new betta

[ChickieBooBoo]

My betta could eat 10 pellets if I let him! Piggy little fish! I have him in an 18 gallon aquarium right now and he loves it, he seems much happier compared to when he lived in a little bowl.

Quick question for the betta experts out there, can I get him a female for company? I'm not interested in breeding them though, would that work?

(Theres usually more water in it, but I haven't had time to get a water jug from the store)

 

[SourRoses]

Sad to say, you can't keep a male and a female together. They tear each other to bits.

In the breeding tank, just a day or two is sufficient time for a male or female (usually the male) to loose a good portion of their finnage. Thats one reason that breeding is difficult. You have to time it right to keep your fish from destroying each other.

I had one female ... wait I still have her

... in the spawning tank, and everything was going well, the female was doing all the running and hiding and the male seemed more interested in his nest... so I made the mistake of leaving the house for a few hours with them both in together.
I left with the male possesing a full and long halfmoon tail... and I came back to a male with absolutely no tail (cadual) at all. He still had his dorsal and ( for the sake of the word censor I can't use the real term) lower fin.. both untouched... but he had no tail left whatsoever. The female was swimming around with a long, thin strip of his tail in her mouth and proceeded to slurp it up like a spaghetti noodle.


Males of course can't be kept with other males... but females can be kept together in sororities, IF they have known each other from a young age. It works really well with sibling sisters if they've been together since they were fry... all the females of a spawn can stay together in a large enough tank. But adult females newly introduced will make snacks of each other.

If you want to keep more than one Betta in a large tank like that... you can if you use a good devider. I must stress the ggod part there.. because Bettas are crafty and they will find their way over, under, through a devider that isen't fitted right.

We have 2 20 gals seperated with acrylic with homemade filter contraptions, as display tanks. The tank in the living room is devided into 6 compartments, and the one in my room is just split down the middle with a small submersible filter on each side for my two favorite girls, Glitter and Shimmer.
I like keeping my fish this way as there is always another one to look at. They have their time flaring at each other and calling the other names through the devider.. and then if they get scared they have plenty of plants to hide behind.

 

[SourRoses]

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No worries

There's little I enjoy more than waffling on (as my mother says) at length

I read something interesting a little while ago... though I'm not entirely certain of the validity of the info, it was presented simply as a theory.
The theory was that Bettas kept at the lower end of their comfortable temperature range.... say 78 or 76... lived longer than those kept at a higher and more natural temperature. In the wild Bettas live maybe 2 - 3 years. Anything below 75 is unhealthy and often fatal for a Betta. But.. they were thinking that slowing the metabolism worked at extending the lifespan.

So if your indoor temperature ranges from 75 and up... those temperatures might even be good for him... but the really important thing to stress is consistency in the temperature. If your place gets warmer at some point of the day and cooler at others, the fluctuation is stressful and can cause illness. If the temperature is constant... you might not need a heater.

Though that doesen't apply to younger fish (such as the OP's, about 3 - 4 months old) as they need a normal metabolism to grow... and fish that will go through a lot of stress, such as breeders. But I still thought it was an interesting theory.

Also take into account what your boy is used to. If he has been happy at a lower temperature for an extended period, and he is getting up there in age, it might be better to keep him close to the temp he is at. If you do get a heater, which is probably for the best for temperature stability, make sure when you turn it on (if it's adjustable) that you take it up in increments from the temp he is at now. I have seen recommended a temperature increase of 1 degree every 24 hours.

ETA: Personally, I'd still keep a pet at 78 or so. But that's just from observing their behaviour as I have, I think warmer tanks have happier Bettas

 

[spish]

chickiebooboo, i love your betta set up

bet your little guy is so happy.


sadly seeing bettas in a vase is a pet hate of mine

it just isnt good for them

petshops advise it (but yeah...they'd sell bettas in espresso cups if they could....!) but they really do need something bigger.

squishy has given some wonderful info, whitecochinlover, do you think you could upgrade from the vase in the future? sure it looks nice (and larenzo is a gorgeous coloured fish btw

) but i bet he'd flourish in a tank even more

this was my bettas set ups ... not super huge as space was an issue at the time..but they were filtered and heated to ensure consistency in the temp and clean water...

sadly i lost one to a large growth on his chest..apparantly bettas can be prone to cancerous growths? (you can just see it in the pics above, that was taken about 6 months before he passed on)

my other betta died during our move across the country, he got too stressed during the move and didnt settle in the harder water of our new home

but he was the good old age of 7

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
Thank you

I'd love to get a 10 gallon aquarium just for my little guy. An 18 gallon tank takes up a lot of space for just one little fish!

I'm so glad I asked about the males and females together part, I'd hate to see him ripped apart by a "friend" fish.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I was at the petstore the other day and it was the day before they got in a new shipment of bettas. All that was left was the ratty looking ones that weren't so colorful. I felt so bad for them in the tiny little bowls. A perfect reason to get another!

 

[LemonDoodles]

I always thought you couldn't put them together no matter what (I guess they have to mate somehow though). They are fighting fish and that is why they are always alone in those bowls. Watch what happens when you dip a mirror in the water!

 

[WhiteCochinLover]

Yupp he is very happy and loves his bowl!!!

 

[WhiteCochinLover]

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Well if you arent breeding them then I wouldnt cause they will deff have babies

 

[tweetyflights]

Quote:
Well if you arent breeding them then I wouldnt cause they will deff have babies

Without being properly introduced, they'll probably kill each other before they'd breed and have babies, which momma would probably eat anyway.