My new Beta

[Eric From Cincinnati]

Okay. Got a beta that lives in a vase with a plant and roots down in the water for christmas. Don't know anything about them. Can anybody give me a quickie on care for it?

[Yungair23]

Feed it once a day. Change the water Once a month or when needed. Use a dechlorinizer for the water. Thats about it they are easier than a goldfish i think.

[mpgt]

They're also called Siamese fighting fish. In Thailand, they put males together to fight, and bet on them. Two males in a tank will certainly fight. One betta (spelling?) will get along fine in most community tanks though, and is not very agressive.

They're easy to breed. I put a female in with a male, and if memory serves me, the male built a bubble nest, spawned with the female and stuck the eggs in the nest; all in about 36 hours. You have to remove the female right after spawning. The male tends to the nest.

Those little glass bowls are not ideal. You certainly need to watch the room temp if there's no heater in the tank. He'll do better in a fish tank.

[JuliusSqueezer]

I have a new Beta too sorta...Beta version of the new Windows Vista...any body know how bad of trouble I'm going to be in finding drivers if I actually load this OS? I'm skeered Not really but I think the snakeroom computer will be the guinea pig...Not my main box.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Oh about the fish. If they start looking sickly...a pinch of plain old table salt in the water very often perks them right back up. Just don't overdo it.

[Heidi]

I use Melafix in every water change, just a small dose of it. Do water changes every week for 1 gallon of water. When you do water changes don't rinse off the rocks or decorations. They will hold enough of the good bacteria to help keep the water cycled. They are hardy fish and tollerate the water cycling better then most. Make sure you treat the water with Aquasafe or something similar before doing changes. If you don't have 1 gallon of water minimum then I'd get a new vase (they do come in 1 gallon). I'd suggest getting rid of the plant. Looks nice, but not idel. If you can go with a 5 gallon tank (no bubbles). For temp you can put a human heating pad on low and cover with towel and put the tank on it. This will keep the water warmer the way they like it. They also sell small tank heaters you can use that have always worked fine for mine.

We've had really good luck with these and really bad luck with them before. It probably depends on where the fish comes from and how long it was at the store so I usually order them online now. It's been a while though. Actually Lara only has one now where we used to have one in every room of the house. Her's is going on almost a year in Feb. Usually if they make it past the first couple months you've got a keeper. She had one live 3 1/2 years and that is basically their expectancy.

[tehbookwyrm]

I love my bettas. They are some the the easiest fish to take care of, and they are simply gorgeous! We have one named Maliki that lets you pet him, he is a deep royal blue and pink. Congrats on the present!
When it comes to care, the previous advice is excellent. Clean water, and plenty of food. Bettas can survive in small tanks, like the ones they keep them in in the pet stores... but they won't be that happy.

[Adrya]

Originally Posted by Heidi

I use Melafix in every water change.

I use Melafix also with my ponds and such.... it smells good. lol