Betta-Fish

[Maryjl]

I received a Betta fish as a gift. The vase with a plant on top, stones on the bottom and the fish swims around in the water surounding the roots of the plant. So far so good I've had it for almost two weeks and its still alive. Does anybody know about these fish? Have any tips? I'd really like to do one of these things with a little Bluegill. I wonder if it would work?

<><Mary><>

[Guest]

I have one too. Betta's need to live alone. They are fighting fish. Get betta flake food and feed it a pinch every other day. The bluegill would dump up the vase to fast. Remember to add well or bottled water to the vase.

[Maryjl]

D-man, I didn't know you could use well water and here I have been buying water. Thank you you saved me a little bit of money with this info. How long have you had yours?
I'm just a little bit concerned about on the instructions it says to add 25% fresh water every week. I guess I'm wondering about the oxegon that it needs. It doesn't say anything about how often you should clean it out. Thanks <><Mary><>

[fishinphyl]

Hey Mary - I was told to use bottled water - you did not have to feed the fish - you did not have to change the water. Needless to say - mine died! So better find some better information than I have! HA

[Maryjl]

I just got done looking up Betta Fish on the internet which I should of done before I posted this topic. There is a lot of info out there on these fish. The best one I found was
http://www.thepondgarden.homestead.com/Bettainabowl.html

so for the rest of you that have got one of these as a gift latly and are wondering how to take care of it here you go and yes you need to feed them and change the water once in awhile.

[Guest]

Mary J I have aquariums as a hobby and a friend of mine has owned a pet shop for 20 years. I dont agree with that HSOforum on cleaning the vase once a week. The vase needs to grow healty bacteria to decompose the fish droppings. The bacteria grows on the rocks. Next, by changing the water once a week you are fluctuating the PH level too much possibly causing the fish to go into shock. My suggestion is to add water when needed only changing it or cleaning the vase when the bacteria makes the water turn dark. This will increase if using well water that contains lots of iron. If your using bottled water use distilled its PH level is 7 which is neutral and thats what your looking for. Next feeding every other day is fine this will cut down on waste and regulate the fish's motabolizm. And try to keep the vase out of direct sunlight which causes unwanted algae growth.

[Maryjl]

D-man, I was told not to use distilled water to only use regular bottled water that the distilled would kill it. I'm getting confussed. I read yesterday that these fish were (labybirth)??? They don't get their oxegon from the water??? They get it from the air above the water??? Well so far its still alive and I want to keep it that way. I would like to get a few more (yes seperate vases of course) if this one works out and I'd also like to give some for gifts to my daughters. The person that gave this one to me gave this same gift to 20 people and so far only mine and another ladys is still alive. So any info you got on these fish would be great. Thanks <><Mary><>

[Guest]

The problem i see in my area with these gift's are the people puttting them together are craft and flower hobbist. They have little knowledge about fish. Distilled water is simply water that contains no mineral or detergents like bottle water does. Distilled is the "purest" water avalible. Good Luck

[Guest]

Betta are in the "Labyrinth" family of South American fish along with all the Gourami's. This is because of there long protruding pectoral fins and because all these fish build bubble nests to lay there eggs in. They with do fine in water that is acidic, neutral, or alkaline, their not super picky unless you are trying to breed them. Hope this helps!

~firstchoice