Monday, May 24, 2010

Betta fish behavoir?

I have a betta fish, he was doing okay until a couple days ago. He has recently taken to not moving much and usually spends his time laying on the bottom of the bowl or resting at the top of a plant. He was a lot more active than he is now, he is for the most part motionless. Anyone know whats wrong?
Answers:
He could be sick. That's how my fish acted before he came down with bacterial septicemia. as a precaution against such an occurance you should do the following.

1. 100% water change. gently.
2. Buy some tetracycline - I found mine at petsmart
3. Dose according to the directions on the box since manufacterers may have it at different strengths.
4. Keep treating him as long as it takes to get him better.
5. feed highly nutritious food and easily chewed foods. Tiny bits of freeze dried blood worms are good for this purpose.
6. NEVER feed live foods while a betta is sick - a compromised immune system cannot handle any bacteria that are normally non-harmful that are on the live food.
7. Change his water every other day or as often as directed by the medication box
8. Keep at it
9. Don't give up in the little guy - they can fight back from the brink of death!
10. Good Luck!
What is the temp of his water? Water that is too cold can make them act lethargic, they like temps around 80 degrees. Also how old is he? They can start to become slower as they age.
My Betas lays around, but come time to eat and they perk up.
Get a double tank, and buy another Beta a female of course that will get him moving.
how old is he? if he is like 2 years old, he could be just getting old. does he have enough room to move around? i have had my betta in a breeder box in my 10 gallon. and she just didnt like it in there. she would always just sit there. once i pit her into her new 1 gallon, she swims around very happly.
He could be sick, maturing or bored. Give him a mirror. If he perks up a bit then hes probably just bored. You should give him a few minutes a day so he can exercise. If he doenst seem to improve and his colour starts to fade then hes sick. Put him in a seperate bowl and treat him with a multi purpose medicine. When they get a bit older they seem to like to take time to chill a bit. If your sure hes not sick then leave him too it. If you think he needs a tank mate then get him a snail. Do not get him a male or even a female betta. Hes probably too old to breed and would just harass the female.

betta fish and their mating habits?

i have a 10 gallon tank with 1silvertip shark,3 tank cleaners,and 2 beta fish(male and femal).The betta fish seem to do okay 2gether,but how do i know when they are ready to mate?will they even mate with the other fish in the tank or will i have to separate them?ps its octobe now,do they have to be inseason?
Answers:
You have been very lucky so far. The shark will eat your bettas. Remove it or them ASAP. I know you think they are fine but it is a ticking bomb waiting to go munch!

Regarding breeding betta's, you have to make sure you have a female and not a male plakat. Has the fish in question shown VERTICAL stripes? If so, that confirms you have a girl. Horizontal stripes are for stressed fish. Vertical is a submissive sign.

I doubt they will breed with the other fish in the tank. You need to feed them up on live foods for about a week or two and then put them in their own tank with a heater set at 26 degrees. A small sponge filter will be needed later so have it in the tank but turned off. The male will need something to anchor his nest under. Use an Indian Almond Leaf if you can buy one from ebay or I use a piece of tinfoil with the edges folded under to form a floating square.

He will build a bubble nest and will guard it daily while she inspects his progress. If he attacks her, put her in a clear tub inside the tank so they can still see each other. I use a plastic coke bottle with the neck part cut off. Cut some holes in it sothe water can get in.

After a few days, she will be fat full of eggs and her stripes will show. When she is ready, she will swim head down near him. Release her every day under supervision to test their readiness.

When they are both reading, he will wrap around her and eggs will fall. They should both gather the eggs in thier mouths and spit them into the bubble nest.

Remove the female when they have finished or she will be attacked. Keep the male in with the fry until they are hatched and can swim to the surface and down to bottom by themselves (usually after 2 days). Remove Dad after that.

It is vital to the fry that you feed them lots and keep them warm.

Visit the UK Betta Forum if you need help.
they'll mate when the conditions are right like water temp, food etc.. I don't think it depends on the time of the year.

yes, they have to be by themselves.
here's a link
http://www.bettysplendens.com/articles/c.
No, they probably won't spawn in that tank. The tank cleaners could get up into the nest and eat the eggs and the shark will make short work of any fry that manage to hatch out. Bettas need their own tank. They will spawn anytime the female is in condition and has eggs to give the male, there is no season for them.

Here's how I have done it in the past and it has worked fine for me on quite a few occasions.

Don't leave the female in the tank with the male. He will kill or damage her extensively. The only time a male tolerates a female is when she has been thoroughly conditioned and has eggs for him to fertilize.

You must keep her away from him and feed her high protein food for about 2-3 weeks so she will produce eggs. You will see when she is ready, she will get quite fat. Then float her in a jar in his tank so he can see her. He will build a nest. When he has the nest completed, slowly release her so as not to damage the nest.

Now you need to watch them very closely for the next hour or so to see if they are compatible. Sometimes, no matter what you do, the male just doesn't get it. If that is the case, get another male. If it works out between them, they will embrace, he will fertilize the eggs, pick them up and place them in the nest. When she has no more to give him, you must remove her or he will kill her.

The males tend the nest and the young (fry) until they are free swimming. After that, he may eat them, so remove him and start feeding very fine food.

Do you have a heater in the tank? The babies will not survive if the temp is not around 80 degrees. Bettas are tropical fish from southeast Asia and need temps around 78-82 degrees.

The babies also need very clean water with no film on the surface. If they cannot reach the surface to breath and utilize their anabantoid chamber, they will all die.

BTW, Betta is pronounced bet-tah, not bay-tah!
try this may help
I'm superised the bettas haven't killed each yet, or the shark hasn't eaten them or their fins. If the 2 haven't started fighting, or mating they likely never will. Mating is tied to aggression, and can be rather violent. In my experince the more a pair see each other the less likely they are interested in mating. You need to seperate them for at least a couple of weeks, and put together a spawning tank. See link.


PS- 99% of the time a male in the same tank with a female results in violence, and/or mating. The fact that they haven't mated indicates them may never mate. BEWARE adding another female may spark a death match in your tank. I made the mistake of putting one of my boys in sight of my girl's tank, and they went from peaceful to cage match in under a minute.

Betta Fish acting strange?

I have had my betta for about 2.5 years now and for some reason the past few days he has been freaking out when I walk in the room, almost like he is going to jump out of the bowl and then he just kind of sits at the top of the water. Has anyone seen anything like this before, what is wrong with him?
Answers:
Yup. I hate to say it, but I think you're right. Beta-boy's time is coming. I used to breed them - and on occasion, I have seen some act the way you discribe - and then within the next two weeks or so they would be dead. Sorry.
Maybe he is ready to mate. Are there a bunch of bubbles on top of the water?
Okay, it may sound strange, but it might be that he thinks he's going to get fed.
Have you done a water change on him lately? Did you remember the chlorine remover in the water? I to have a beta and mine did the same thing, well I remembered that I had forgotten the chlorine remover in the water. I added it and now all's well with my fish.
Otherwise he maybe getting old. I dont know what normal life span is for a beta.
Maybe he missed ya and like a puppy he wants attention or maybe some food :)
I donno that's weird. If you have had the same one for 2.5 years that hes not scared of you. Does he have plenty of places to hide in his tank? Did you have anyone over that may have did something to scare him (kids)? I would just keep an eye on him and walk slowly when approaching him.
I'm not sure what your fish is going through, but I had one about 2 yrs ago and I had him for about 2 yrs and any time I use to go near the tank he would just swim up and down kind of fast. Then he would sit there with his gills kind of poking out. I don't know?
A bettas life span in captivity is usually 2 years and at max 4, so it might be because of old age. Mine did the same before he passed away a few days ago, he lived about 3.5 years with me.
I'm having the exact same issue right now and I know that it's because of age and it's most likely going to die soon, it's just a matter of time.

Good Luck with your fish:)



-Jenn
This sounds like age, or diease. Your betta is 3-3.5 years old, and given an average life span of 3-5 years he's pretty old. I'd try treating him with melafix/bettfix, keep his tank warm, and water clean. Also read the link on betta diseases, and have a closer look at him.
it is harder for a fish to swim at the bottom of a tank, so by going by your fish's age his eyesight is going quite bad and is freaking out trying to see what is going on then he is so tired that he just floats to the top and rest. Sorry, but it sounds like he is getting ready to go, take it from me I've been breeding for 12 years now.

betta fish , aka siamese fighting fish?

i recently put my feamle fighter ith my male fighter he built the nest etc and then squeezed the eggs from her within 24 hrs of them being put together my question is when the fry start to hatch how soon do i take the male from the tank (adult male aka the dad )? and what should i start to feed the young fry and how soon after the hatching should i feed the fry
Answers:
The female should be out of the spawning tank. Take the male out of the tank as soon as the fry are free-swimming, which is approxamately 36 hours after the eggs have been laid.

As for feeding the fry, unfortunately there is nothing you can do now.
Fry should be fed infusoria and microworms, both of which take two weeks to cutlvate. Betta fry will not eat commercial fry foods.

Good job on doing your homework before you bred your fish! You just killed 300 baby fish. Congrats.

The fish you bred were probably petstore veiltails too. -rolls eyes-
These are things you probably should have known before you did that.
this is only my opinion i think as soon as the female has a the eggs you should take the male out
I am not a betta expert on betta breeding but I do know where excellent info can be found.
www.bettatalk.com
check it out. It should answer your questions.
.you remove the female becouse she will kill the babies,and the male will kill her to prevent her from doing so.
I suggest you join fishindex.com so we can better help you out,the fish section here on PetQnA.com is a joke.

http://forums.fishindex.com/index.php?.
You take the FEMALE out, not the male..the male protects and feeds the fry, not the female. He will try to kill her if she gets around the nest.
bettachris on http://www.forumsvibe.com/betta/index.ph.

has been breeding bettas for 11 years, and knows about everything about fish, please checkk the site out and ask him anything, more than happy to help.
once you see the babies swimming take the male out he wont eat them but also hes hungry so he might. Put the nestlings in a ten gallon tank with some plants they'll eat the fungus and bacterial growing on the plants also feed brine shrimp

betta fish help?

i have 2 male bettas in one tank with divider i have another 1 gallon tank and want to have 2 fish in it without a divider i would like bettas but female how many could i put in the 1 gallon 2? or any other fish that do not need an filter or anything thanks.
Answers:
Bettas (even females) can be very aggressive even with each other. They will constantly fight. You will need more then two in an aquarium with more room so that the strong one will not constantly beat up the same fish. You may want to consider a pair of killifish, which will do well with the same diet/care as bettas
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scate.
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Bettas are fighting fish. I would not put them in a tank together at all. They will eventually kill each other. I tried that and learned the hard way. Call a pet store and maybe they can help you better than me. Good luck
I won't put the 2 betta fish together, they will eventually kill eachother. They are fighting fish. I believe the males are worse than females. but ask a pet store just in case.
You can put as many females as you'd like together with each other. The nature of Beta males are to fight with others who get into their territories. The female may or may not kill a male if he approachs her to mate and she's not interested in him. Also, I once dated a guy who was an animal freak and he told me that you can put Betas together (he did) as long as the tank is large enough for each of them to have their own areas. Then they won't bother with each other. And just so that you know (if you don't already), the female Betas are very plain. I once had one I named Rainy Day Woman #12. Good luck!
u can put goldfish in there or tetras which u could probaqbly put more as they are very small, but remember u have to change the water at least once a week and why cant u buy a small filter with an airstone so they have some air. they r not that expensive better yet why dont u try to make friends with the fish people at ur local pet store and they can guide u in the right direction
Female bettas can go in the same tank without a problem. Bettas can live in the tank without air stones as they go to the top for oxygen so purchase two female fighting bettas. Or you could just have the one female and use that tank for breeding bettas. You cannot use air stones and the water level has to be much less. They are not live bearers -- they hatch from eggs and the male takes care of the eggs.
just dont put 2 bettas of the same gender in.
1 inch of fish per gallon of water
Note that males can't be kept with any betta male or female. Females can be kept 1 per 5-10 gallons. My females are moderately agressive toward each other. After the 1st they tend to start getting along. (Assuming there was enough space for the losers to hide out.) Also beware of putting the males in sight of a female tank. This will result in the females fighting it out. I discovered this after a move last week. After a minute of the boys flaring the girls were staging a cage match.

betta eat dry blood worms?

i heard live foods can give bettas diseases.but what about dried blood worms??
Answers:
Bettas love freeze dried bloom worms and brine shrimp. Freeze dried foods are sterile unlike frozen foods. Just be sure not to over feed, and to feed a varied diet.

PS- Some bettas won't eat blood worms if they've never seen them before. If he doesn't eat them at 1st let him fast for 1-2 days. When he's hungry he'll try them. Once he has tried them he'll eat them.
They love freeze-dried bloodworms, which are actually very tiny mosquito larva. Bettas are carnivores. I do avoid live worms because of the risk of parasitic infestation.
BettaMin鈩?Floating Flake Food and Delecta鈩?Freeze Dried Blood Worms both made by Tetra鈩?and available in most pet stores and Wal-Mart Stores. We also feed the fish in our fish bowls a few live Black Worms three days a week and occasionally some live or frozen brine shrimp. A little bit of live food is very good, but too much seems to cause problems.

If he prefers the flakes that's fine. Just be sure it is a complete basic diet food with vitamins. Fish are fine being fed once a day. Feed no more than the size of his eyeball every day. His stomach is about that big and it helps keep from overfeeding him. You can split up the feedings to 3 times a day, but no more than you would feed if he ate once per day. Crumble a little food just to look at how big is really is and you can compare it to him.

Below are some great web pages with info on bettas and their care. If there were other bettas given away maybe you could pass on some of this info to the other parents, or print up a care sheet to help them know how to care for their little fish too;
NO ! I HAVE A BETTA GREAT FISH GO TO THE PET STORE AND ASK THE GUY WHO WORKS THERE OK
Of course!! they love blood worms. the more of varity of food you have the brighter there collor will be and the healthier and more active they will be!

Betta Diseases, & How To Cure Them?

Does anyone know a good cure for Bettas who have red ulcers, ich, or pop-eye?? I have been using this product from PetsMart, and it is worthless, its called, Splendid Betta: BettaFix Remedy. It is suppose to clear up everything I listed about, but I have lost one male, and three females in five days. And having four males, and two females left, I would like to keep them around a lot longer. And my oldest male betta is about 2 1/2 now and just in case he gets sick, i want to have the treatment ready. Anyone have any ideas??
Answers:
Melafix and aquarium salt will work well to heal the ulcers, clean water and raising the temperature to 80 degrees (as well as the salt) will help with the ich, and read the source article for information on pop-eye.

Good luck!
ich and ulcers can be fixed up real easy by adding some aquarium salt and by using melafix. water changes can help prevent them, you can also add some stress coat. in most cases pop eye is just a bacterial infection that eventually will go away with better water and maybe some sort of antibiotics. but for the most part all of these ailments are due to water quality or the addition of other fish that may have brought the sickness. i would use RO water to do water changes until you see improvement in your fishes health. good luck.
Melafix or FungusClear. FungusClear cures pop eye, ich, ulcers, fungus, dropsy, fin rot, and just about everything else.
Virbac Animal Health has a line of products called Mardel. I'd recommend Maracyn-2 for anything from Popeye to Septicemia, and Maracide Concentrate for the Ich (along with Evaporated Sea Salt and warmer water).

All About Ich
http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/ich.

Virbac Animal Health (click on the Mardel logo and look up those products)
http://www.virbacpets.com/

Good luck!
Bettafix contains melacu which is great for fin rot, and other minor aliments. Red ulcers could be bacteria, or even TB. Ich needs a spefic treatment, and just adding 1 teaspoon of salt per 2.5 gallons will keep it at bay. Pop-eye is generally bacteria.

Honestly I recommend trisulfa if you want something that's a cure all, but it's not going to cure ich, velvet, some fungus, or TB. (Nothing cures TB.) Also over use may render it useless. I tend to use melafix, primafix, an anti-ich med, and salt in my quantine tank. And reserve the big guns for later.

Read betta talk. Faith's not a biologist so she's not the trisulfa fan I am, but her advice is good.
BettaFix is a mild natural antibiotic made from tea tree oil (which is why it smells so loverly) so it's a pretty nice preventative and fin-fixer, but it's not strong enough for a lot of things and it won't treat the parasites that cause ich. Melafix is made from the same stuff but it's stronger so it might be some help in treating the pop-eye and ulcers. If things are as bad as you say, though, they'll probably need something stronger. Ampicillin is great for pop-eye, but it's hard to find. What you need is a good antibiotic.

Ich is caused by a parasite so none of the anti-bacterial medicines are gonna work for that. Keep their water very clean and use aquarium salt and Aquarisol. Petsmart (or any pet store, really) also carries a standard ich medication. I've never had to use it, but you should probably try.

The most important thing with all of these diseases is to keep your tanks clean. Use aquarium salt with every cleaning because that will prevent a lot of disease from infecting your betta's water. Also be sure anytime you use a medication to use it for the full recommended course of treatment, not just until the betta starts looking better. If your girls are in a group tank you'd better seperate them until everybody's got a clean bill of health. Same goes if you're using a divided tank for the guys.

Best of luck treating your fish. It sounds like you've got a lovely little community and I'm sorry you've already lost so many. Treat them, be extra vigilant keeping them clean, and don't give up on them!