I have two questions regarding the care of bettas.
Background: I've succesfully kept a few bettas in filter tanks (Eclipse System Three -- they seem to love it!) But I have one or two bettas in a gallon jar at any time. These bettas give me the most problems. I do a complete water change every week and partial water changes (20%-25%) half way through the week.
My problems:
(1) Somehow the bettas in the jars seem to develop brownish-red coloring on the head and around the front area of the gills. I suspected ammonia/nitrite poisoning, but I always get 0 readings from my test kits. What gives? They also appear healthy, active, and remain eager feeders.
(2) One of my bettas in the jar refused everything but Hikari Bio-Pure freeze-dried bloodworms. But after a few days, he developed a HUGE belly and then died two days thereafter. I see nothing else wrong with him when I examined his corpse -- did he die of constipation? Is it bad to feed freeze-dried worms only?
Answers:
Bettas can change colour slightly; as you've noticed; in changes of environment. It's not nessicarily a conscience thing, just soemthing that happens over time. Also; change in lighting can also affect the colour your bettas look. If they were under a flourescent light in a tank, and you put them in a jar with no lighting, they will appear different. Also, their body will notice a change in the lighting, and can change slightly in accordance to that, as well. It's not a well recorded fact, but one I have noticed in the past, and you are notincing right now.
As you said yourself, they are still .'. healthy, active, and remain eager feeders.' Unless they loose that vigour, they're right.
About your other betta; it could have been a few things. Dropsy is one of them; makes the gut look pretty big; but it's actually all the scales sticking out. If you didn't notice any poos at the bottom of his tank, it could have been constipation, though the chances of that are very slim. It was probably something a bit more complicated than that; internally, if it wasn't dropsy.
Feeding freeze-dried worms a a treat, is fine. As a constant food, it's not the best thing you can give them. Live food, of course, is the best thing for them. Brine shrimp; mosquito wrigglers, black worms, blood worms, etc. They give the fish extra exercise, and is what they would naturally eat in the wild. However, it's not particualrly easy to find these, and when you do, they can be spendy (though for the wrigglers, all you have to do is put a bucket with some water outside, dechlorinate it, and put a handfull of dirt in it). Frozen food is the next best thing, these are easily available at most pet shops. If you can't do either of these; then one of the betta pellets; sparingly (Follow the directions on the pack), and once every other day or so; give them the worms; not all the time.
And one other thing. If you ever have a fish that won't eat something that it should be; it's been spoiled. It's just like people; most people will choose juice or soda over water; or flavoured milk over plain milk. If it tastes better, you'll want that instead. Same with animals, even fish. You offer him what he will be eating, though live or frozen food, I've never had a problem with. But sometimes they don't like the betta pellets. Just keep offering them to him. If they're eaten, and spat out, then remove the remaining pellets. Give him a few days, and he will begin to eat them, if nothing else, because he's realised that's what he's going to get; and he knows he's hungry. But with a fish that doesn't eat them at first, if you're going to feed him the pellets; don't give him the worms for a couple of weeks at least, because he may revert back to not eating them.
Hope this helps!
Betas do the best when you get that plant and then have them live inside the bowl under the plant.then they can feed of it whenever they want
Hun, they are bettas, they are very inexpensive and easy to care for. Why are you putting so much thought into them?
I used to have Betta in my tank but they died after several months. I think it's just their life-span, I could be wrong tho.
I hope they are not in the same tank, otherwise, they are gonna fight until they die. Try to add water conditioner, you know, one of those softener to protect their shield. It is also suppose to heal the fish. I know sea salt worked well too. I tried that when I had my tank and it worked on my fish. You might have overfed the fish. the more they eat, the more waste they have, as result, you increase the ammonia level.
I'm not sure what the deal is with your bettas. Sometimes bettas change color naturally as they get older.I'm not sure if this is the case here, but its possible. The only other time I've had a betta change color is when Harold (my beloved betta from several years ago) got sick, but he got very pale and you could see a stripe running along his side, he got his colors back after I started giving him medication and his health improved. As for your other betta, it is possible that eating only the freeze-dried bloodworms might cause constipation, but I have not had that experience so I can't really make much of a guess on it. I wouldn't recommend just feeding the blood worms as its kind of a 'treat' food, but I have had some picky eaters in my tanks as well, its hard to change habits. For what its worth my fish seem to prefer the frozen blood worms, I don't know that that would have made any difference though.
If you shine a flashlight on this brownish red coloring, does it sort of "sparkle"? If so, your fish are suffering from velvet - which is a common betta condition if they are kept in unfiltered bowls. This can be a deadly parasite if not treated promptly when first seeing symptoms. Try adding aquarium salt to your bowls (or better yet, really consider investing in more filtered tanks - you can get a cheap filter and 10-gallon tank for around $25). But be forewarned, some bettas are sensitive to salt, so you'll have to keep an eye on him. If he shows any signs of distress, do an immediate 75% water change.
Freeze-dried anything commonly causes constipation. Next time that happens, consider not feeding for a couple of days and then try a food designed just for bettas. They cannot survive on bloodworms alone - there are certain vitamins and nutrients in the betta food that aren't found in bloodworms. As it is, you should consider feeding your betta frozen, boiled, shelled peas at least once a week to help clean out their bowels, or consider fasting them for a couple of days. If you do this, you won't ever have to worry about constipation again.
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