Friday, July 31, 2009

Anyone have a Betta for a pet?

I saw so many peeps with these Japanese Fighters as pets on desks, in stores, on counters in restraunts etc. and keep them in tiny little containers and say they are fine. How do they know? Put them in a tiny jar and see if they are just fine! Anyway, I got one, beautiful dark blue with a spec of pale white on his head, I had him in a one gal. aquarium with bubbles, then I got three African water frogs to keep him company and a friend gave me a 5 gal. aq. so I put them in there and added a filter along with some plants, rocks , etc. Now I have noticed that Betta is swimming more actively and the frogs are bouncing up and down and thru the bubbles like they are having all kinds of fun when before they didn't move much at all. I'm so proud I wish I could put more male Bettas together, but how about a female and do some breeding, thats my question, anyone experience and have success with mating? I am really interested.
Answers:
Generally you can't keep males with females other than for mating. Some people may claim different, but it really depends on the bettas in question. (It's a bad idea unless you've raised them from birth.) I've had a female who beat up my males. (Of course she also bullied my community tank's sailfin molly male who out massed her by x4.) Females on the other hand can live together, but it's going to depend on their temperment. Generally they fight on and off for a week until they figure out a pecking order. You can keep about 1 per 5-10 gallons. (More if they were all raised together from birth.) Note that I find putting your girl's tank within sight of a male results in renewed fighting.

Mating is rather complex task, and results in 100+ offspring. So 1st consider what you'd do with 50 males who'll fight with each other, and their sisters. See bettatalk if your interested in details on mating.
I've mated a few times before
I always heard that you are not suppose to put male betas together. One will end up killing the other one.
I have two, proly gettin another
dont put them in tiny containers they dont like it i have one
The larger tank is fine, but get him out of the bubbles now! The fins are fairly delicate and can be damaged in the bubbles.
I just got a betta last week, his colors range form a midnight blue to a scarlett. I keep him in a "betta garden".It's a large almost 1 gallon sized bowl with silk plants "growing" out of it. I may change them to real plants but I'm not sure yet. He seems really happy:)
bettas are territorial, they will fight eachother to the death, and even fight themselves. a heathly exercise that will entertain you and your betta is to put a mirror up to the tank and have your betta see his reflection. you'll see that he flares up and defends his territory. when you take the mirror away, he will think he made the "other betta" flee. he will feel a sense of pride and will want to mate. a good indication that your male betta wants a partner if there are an abundance of bubbles "decorating" plants and whatever else you have in there.

also, bettas are a type of lungfish, which is why they can live in water that's not filtrated like traditional aquariums. they are ok in little jars. just not the plant kinds that are really popular bc pet stores tell people that the betta will eat the root of the plant-- however, bettas are carnivores and need food like, mealworms.

good luck, i love bettas :)
http://www.bettatalk.com
wat da heck is a betta
Hi jae, My family has always had a "Betta". They do NOT need filtration systems! They can live in a tablespoon of water. There origin is in the "Rice Fields" of Japan. During the growing season (rice) the fish live in and amongst these patty's/fields. When the summer/hot season begin's, and the fields become dry, the fish survive in the smallest amount of water. Do NOT put males together! Hence their name, "Siamese Fighting Fish". I believe the frog's can co-habitate with these fish. However, in California I believe you need a "permit" of some sort to become a "Breeder"? I may be wrong? Please do some more research IE; on-line, library, local fish/pet stores etc. Good Luck! XOXO Moonpie
My question at the pet shop was,
"If Bettas kill each other, how do they reproduce?". The answer they gave me was, "As along as it is a receptive female, the male will not kill her." I guess the next question is, "how do you know if she is a receptive female?" I wonder how many females you have to go thru to find out?

And, did you know it is the male Beta who cares for the offspring? It's true!
breeding bettas are quite easy but you may lose some bettas too. sometimes you have to sacrafise, remember put two female bettas and one male, pretty soon the male will choose one and sometimes not even one, so you have to get other females, i suggest to wait a month to see if they like each other, then once then wrap them selves around each other there starting to breed. If you see like alot alot alot of bubbles then they are breeding, and just wait. Good Luck!
they are not called Japanese Fighters, it's Siamese Fighters(from Thailand). Good job for putting it into a bigger tank! but. you cannot put a female with the male other than 4 breeding because after breeding, the male will become more agressive to the female. if you are a beginner, then maybe you should start breeding guppies or zebra danios first since betta are harder to breed and the fry(baby fish) are tiny and hard to c. however if you still want to try, feed the fry inforsia, micro algae or ask the fish store for baby betta food. good luck!
I have my betta in a 5.5 gallon tank, I don't get why people keep them in things so small they can't even turn around. Unlike what so many people say they don't live in tiny rice paddies, have they ever even seen rice paddies? A lot live in open streams and lakes too.

I wanted to breed them before but after reading all that you have to buy and all the time you have to put into it I decided not to. Then after the babies are born and even if you have hundreds of tanks to put all the males into you will have to find homes for them cause there's no way 1 person can take care of all those fish and still have a life. If they are just plain veil tails then they are even harder to get rid of too.

Here's a link to what a rice paddie looks like, http://www.bettadreams.com/ricepaddies.h.
Does that look like a cup of water?
the whole betts breeding is a hard process. the whole breeding isnt hard, it's the care it takes to grow them.

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