Who here has a Betta fish?

[partgypsy]

We have a Beta in our daughter''s room, maybe a 1 or 2 gallon? round tank, alternated with a 1-2 gallon rectangular tank. Honestly I think of betas as being really hardy (the fish version of cactus). Our first beta we got as a wedding favor at a wedding party (they were all in tiny glass bowls on a table). Our lasted I''m sure at least 3 years and we did nothing special (no filter). Like what someone else said, if the oxygen is low they can even take little gulps from the surface so they will live in situations that goldfish cannot tolerate. In each bowl we do have a decoration that serves as a "hiding place" with holes she can swim in and out of. We do try to clean the bowl every week to 2 weeks.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/18/2009 2:59:05 PM
Author: part gypsy
We have a Beta in our daughter''s room, maybe a 1 or 2 gallon? round tank, alternated with a 1-2 gallon rectangular tank. Honestly I think of betas as being really hardy (the fish version of cactus). Our first beta we got as a wedding favor at a wedding party (they were all in tiny glass bowls on a table). Our lasted I''m sure at least 3 years and we did nothing special (no filter). Like what someone else said, if the oxygen is low they can even take little gulps from the surface so they will live in situations that goldfish cannot tolerate. In each bowl we do have a decoration that serves as a ''hiding place'' with holes she can swim in and out of. We do try to clean the bowl every week to 2 weeks.

Thanks for the response. I''ve been looking at decorations, but am trying to find one with smooth edges so there isn''t any problems with fins ripping. There are a few cool little bridge ones (with hiding spots underneath) at Petsmart that I''m thinking of getting. The female doesn''t have anywhere to hide. But, then again, she floats around watching me whenever I am in the kitchen so she seems to have no fear. She''s a funny little fish.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Hopefully this doesn''t turn out too small.

Here is Blue investigating a new strange red object in his bowl! His entire bowl hasn''t been decorated yet. . .still coming up with ideas.

When do those bubbles go away?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Here is Mandarine''s tank. . .still working on decorating his.

Notice the fluffy white stuff. That is blocking the outtake water flow. He LOVES the stuff. . .he hangs out by it all day. Yes, it''s incredibly ugly, but when I tried to adjust it, he flipped out. lol

I also blocked the intake and will put plants around it to block that, as well.

I''d like to replace the plastic plants with real ones, but I''m not sure where to buy healthy plants. All the stores have snails with their plants.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

oops, guess the white stuff isn''t so obvious with the glare in the photo. I''ll take another later on.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

This may have been posted elsewhere. Here is a close up of Mandarin. . .Another glare on the glass. Urgh.

 

[partgypsy]

Here is a picture of our betta. I know the water yuck! Guess what we are doing right after this?

 

[partgypsy]

And this is what Rosie is shortly moving into. The only thing special we do is treat the water with a special betta water conditioner before we put it in the tank.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Rosie new home is really cute! I love all the decorations.

 

[partgypsy]

We just alternate them back and forth. We''ll now clean the round tank and decorations, drying thoroughly, then put it all back together, cover with saran wrap so it is all ready to go for next exchange.

The plants are just plastic. My daughter wants to try real plants, but I dont know how much extra work that is. Does anyone know?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/17/2009 11:45:31 PM
Author: Gailey
Hmmmm!

Well let''s just say that I went from four to thirteen in fairly short order - there''s no hope for you now you know!

I''m down to a respectable 3 up and running right now, but that''s because I''m not adding new fish to any of the tanks. If I did, each community tank (currently 2) would have a dedicated quarantine tank.

I''ll wager you''ll be up to 35 gallons and have a python by Christmas.

Thirteen is a lot of tanks! You must be relieved to have cut back. It''s quite time consuming tending to all the fish, isn''t it? lol

There''s no way I could get a 35-gallon. Aside from my husband killing me if he came home with me attempting to set one up, we also don''t have a place to put it unless we move one or both living room bookcases upstairs. Hmmm. . .maybe a 20-gallon would work with a bookcase moved.

Actually, I was thinking a 10-gallon. The only reason I''d hesitate is I like that with only one fish (Betta) per tank, if it gets sick, there isn''t a whole additional fleet of fish contracting the same disease. Experiencing Camallanus so early on kind of put me off to community tanks.

 

[partgypsy]

I want to say Manderine is beautiful. Here is Rosie checking out the new space.

 

[partgypsy]

Here''s what it looks from above. The basic layout is stuff in the back that can one can hide behind, a clear space in front where we feed her, but with enough space she can swim around the periphery and such. They are fun and friendly fish. Whenever we go up to her tank she checks us out. If when we approach she swims back and forth swishing her tail it means she''s hungry!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Looks like a mosaic!

The set up looks like it makes for easy cleaning. I just arranged a bunch of rocks in the two bowls and now realize it''s going to be difficult to vacuum and keep them all arranged as they are now! lol Oh, well.

How big is the rectangle tank you put her into?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/18/2009 7:26:43 PM
Author: part gypsy
I want to say Manderine is beautiful. Here is Rosie checking out the new space.

Thanks. Rosie is a cutie. The two of them would make adorable babies! lol

 

[partgypsy]

I would say it''s maybe close to 2 gallons? The round one is maybe just a tad smaller. I love the fish tank decorations you can buy! Unfortunately unless we got a bigger tank it would be too crowded to have anything more in there.

 

[Lynnie]

Very nice bettas, guys!!

We had a betta when I still lived at my mom''s. We kept him in a fish bowl (like part gypsie''s first pic), high up on top of the mantle on the fireplace. One day, Fishie was gone. Just gone! My mom flipped - she loved that betta to pieces. Turns out our kitteh was more agile than we thought

. It was such a sad day! He was all red... I wish I had a pic.
I''d love to see more photos!

 

[Luckyeshe]

Date: 9/17/2009 9:35:49 PM
Author: MC

Date: 9/17/2009 5:47:40 PM
Author: Luckyeshe
Here''s my crowntail betta, Samson. He''s my second betta and he''s currently living in a bowl with no filter. I live in FL and I keep the temperature around 76-78 degrees in the apartment since I also own a husky and a papillon. I try to change his water about once a week and if not, about once every ten days. He has a live java fern in his bowl. I''m thinking of getting him a ''house'' but I don''t want to overcrowd his 1 gallon bowl. What do your bettas look like, MC?

Amethyst, your bowl is soo cool! And Sushi is very pretty! Boredstiff, I think that''s the prettiest female I''ve seen. The ones at the pet stores around here doesn''t look as nice as yours!

Pretty crowntail! I also like the bigger rocks in Samson''s tank. I''m thinking of getting a bag and scattering some on top of my smaller gravel to create texture of some sort. Try and jazz things up without taking all the attention away from the fish.

I''ll post pictures of my fish tomorrow when my husband isn''t home. He will think I''ve lost my mind if I spend 15 minutes attempting to capture the perfect shots. He already took a double take and a step backward when he saw that I put the girl betta in another bowl again.

Thanks, MC! I found the rocks at the dollar store in my area so all those rocks only cost me $2.

They had bigger ones as well but I went for the smaller stones and I''m sure glad that I did! Your bettas are soo pretty and it got me thinking that I wanted another one!

Here''s another picture of Samson and this is the colors that I normally see when I look at him.

 

[Luckyeshe]

Here''s another one of Samson.

 

[Luckyeshe]

Part Gypsy, Rosie''s so cool and her tank is awesome! Where did you get her rectangular tank from and is it glass? I went looking at a few thrift stores to see if I could get lucky finding another tank, but no cigar.

 

[partgypsy]

luckyeshe Samson a handsome guy! I especially like the second pic where he is hiding behind the plant.

We got the rectangular tank from my mother-in-law; it is glass. We wanted to get a second one like it and realized they are hard to find. I''m not sure where they got it from. However they are originally from West Virginia where (up until recently) there were a number of glass factories. They have a number of other West Virginia glass pieces so it may have been made in West Virginia (but possibly no longer).

 

[mochi]

I have a male and female together in a container. They get along very well, although it was a bit touchie when introducing them. Their names are Bonnie and Clyde. He's blue and she's more red/cream. I should take a picture of them.

ETA: I love the pictures!

 

[Luckyeshe]

Part Gypsy, thanks for the compliment! He loves his plant!! I''m thinking of getting him a little house, but I didn''t want to clutter up his bowl since it''s not that big. I''m still undecided about that! I''m going to go and keep my eyes peeled on Ebay then and hopefully I''ll get lucky finding a tank like yours!

Mochi, so how did it go when you introduced Clyde to Bonnie? How long did it take for them to get use to each other? And how big is the bowl/tank they''re in? Can''t wait to see pictures!

 

[mochi]

Date: 9/19/2009 9:46:04 PM
Author: Luckyeshe
Part Gypsy, thanks for the compliment! He loves his plant!! I''m thinking of getting him a little house, but I didn''t want to clutter up his bowl since it''s not that big. I''m still undecided about that! I''m going to go and keep my eyes peeled on Ebay then and hopefully I''ll get lucky finding a tank like yours!

Mochi, so how did it go when you introduced Clyde to Bonnie? How long did it take for them to get use to each other? And how big is the bowl/tank they''re in? Can''t wait to see pictures!

It took a couple of days for the introduction. This is Clyde #2 (the first one we had for a couple of years) and also Bonnie #2. When we first got Clyde#2, he stayed in a plastic bag for a couple of days floating in the bowl for with the plastic open in the top. He was a bit aggresive to Bonnie, charging at her but of course he couldn''t get to her. After a couple of days, he stopped being so aggressive so I placed him into the bowl with Bonnie. He did chase her around but after a bit he stopped. Now they LUV each other and swim together. I love how they get excited when I walk by the bowl!

The bowl that they are in is a little over a gallon big without filter. I change out the water every 1-2 weeks. There is a couple of lucky bamboo growing in it.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/19/2009 3:09:30 PM
Author: Luckyeshe
Thanks, MC! I found the rocks at the dollar store in my area so all those rocks only cost me $2.

They had bigger ones as well but I went for the smaller stones and I''m sure glad that I did! Your bettas are soo pretty and it got me thinking that I wanted another one!

Here''s another picture of Samson and this is the colors that I normally see when I look at him.

Bettas are so addicting because they don''t need much space! I''m beginning the hunt on CL for a 10-gallon tank with a stand, though, because I want another female betta and don''t have anywhere to put her

. The aquarium set-ups aren''t that expensive, but when the stand is added it the costs skyrocket! I''ll put a divider seperating the tank into two 5-gallon parts and have a male betta on one side and the two females on the other. My husband is only okay with this because I''m buying everything second hand. lol

 

[ecf8503]

We currently have 3 bettas - we''ve had as many as 6. They are all in 1/2 gallon tanks with gravel and a small fake plant (they like to hide under the leaves). I use freshwater salt and betta water conditioner in the water, which I mix in gallon jugs and let them sit at room temp; there are no filters or heaters, and they seem to do just fine (although I feel bad that their tanks are so small - maybe if we ever get back to just one I''ll get one larger tank). They eat bloodworms and betta pellets daily, and seem to be pretty darn happy!

 

[kenny]

Who has a betta fish?

Well I think my fish is betta than yours.

 

[Novel]

Kenny, I think the best thing about bettas are the puns. I have a betta in college. He was named... Darth Betta.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/20/2009 3:59:57 PM
Author: ecf8503
We currently have 3 bettas - we''ve had as many as 6. They are all in 1/2 gallon tanks with gravel and a small fake plant (they like to hide under the leaves). I use freshwater salt and betta water conditioner in the water, which I mix in gallon jugs and let them sit at room temp; there are no filters or heaters, and they seem to do just fine (although I feel bad that their tanks are so small - maybe if we ever get back to just one I''ll get one larger tank). They eat bloodworms and betta pellets daily, and seem to be pretty darn happy!

Thanks.

I found an inexpensive used 10-gallon tank/stand that I''m contemplating buying. It would be divided with the girl on one side and the boy on the other. They''ll have lots more room. The only problem is that the cost of the heaters and filters will really pile up, so they may still be stuck in cooler water (unless I go with the cheaper style heaters and don''t bother with filters)! Problem also is my husband and I cannot agree on where to put it! It has to be within reaching room of my outside hose and even though our house is 2,400 sq. feet, the layout isn''t that great! Gotta decide by tonight. I told the guy I''d call him and do not want to keep him waiting.

 

[Gailey]

Date: 9/20/2009 1:54:02 PM
Author: MC

Date: 9/19/2009 3:09:30 PM
Author: Luckyeshe
Thanks, MC! I found the rocks at the dollar store in my area so all those rocks only cost me $2.

They had bigger ones as well but I went for the smaller stones and I''m sure glad that I did! Your bettas are soo pretty and it got me thinking that I wanted another one!

Here''s another picture of Samson and this is the colors that I normally see when I look at him.

Bettas are so addicting because they don''t need much space! I''m beginning the hunt on CL for a 10-gallon tank with a stand, though, because I want another female betta and don''t have anywhere to put her

. The aquarium set-ups aren''t that expensive, but when the stand is added it the costs skyrocket! I''ll put a divider seperating the tank into two 5-gallon parts and have a male betta on one side and the two females on the other. My husband is only okay with this because I''m buying everything second hand. lol

MC, I hope this doesn''t come across as judgemental, but are we talking about the same husband who has just bought a flat screen TV and is now considering a boat?