eBetta.com

I just got a email from ThatPetPlace.com saying that if this goes threw then all un-native animals to the U.S. can not be breed. Since Betta fish come from Asia we could no longer be able to bread them and have to import bettas from out of the U.S. Not only does it cause the betta un-needed stress but most would die from starvation and/or stress. This is what the email says “What would the world be like without pets? A new bill proposed in the House could make this a reality. All pet owners should be aware of a pending federal government resolution. House Resolution 669 is designed to change the way the government classifies animals available in the pet trade. If passed into law it will severely impact keeping pets in America and could destroy the pet industry as we know it. HR699 would make it illegal to buy, sell and breed animals not native to the United Sates. This includes most species of tropical fish, ferrets, most reptile and amphibian species, corals, and many others. Though That Fish Place/That Pet Place is in favor of an effective invasive species law, we are convinced this is absolutely not the legislation to accomplish that. Please visit our blog to find out more and learn what you can do to help prevent this legislation from being passed.” A video that came with it.

watch?v=_FPfL212CB8

Hello fellow bloggers,

I have a mystery I need help solving! One of my bettas is turning white. It is slowly spreading from his dorsal fin all around his body. It isn’t a fungus or sickness. Nothing is growing on him. He is active, healthy and eats like a piggy. His tank stays at a reasonable temperature and he gets weekly water changes. Is this from old age? He has been living close to a year.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

K

Well, I have 4 bettas. One is recovering from fin rot and now two more are in the very beginning stages. I put a little aquarium salt in their tanks ever weekly water change and keep the temperature steady. They get wonderful water changes and still get fin rot. Is this because bettas are just really prone to getting it? I thought I was being a good mom and taking care of my babies. But no such luck. I am getting meds today, so they will be on the road to recovery. But blah. Fin rot sucks.

Happy holidays!

K

Edit: found a nice little fish store close to my town that I had no idea was there! Picked up some meds the owner swears by and started treatment yesterday. Keep you posted!

Hey everyone I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on my fish Bo. She is doing pretty well! She still has her tail rot problem (again, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know). A lot of algae was growing on her tank. Her tank was on my dresser that was in front of a window. I heard that you weren’t supposed to keep bettas in direct sunlight, but I had a curtain so I thought it was okay. But I moved her out of the sun and hardly any algae grows now. She still has a tail rot problem but its not as bad. So she is doing better

Okay, I have had enough of the questions about keeping male betta fish and female betta fish together. Just about everyday someone asks me this: “Can I keep my male betta fish with a female betta fish?” or “Why are my male betta fish and my female betta fish always ripping each other fins off?” or any variation of these questions.

From now on everyone he emails me this question is getting sent to this page.

No you CANNOT keep them together. They will kill each other. Don’t worry, they won’t get lonely either – obviously they don’t like to be around other fish.

Almost immediately after I say they can’t be kept together people always ask “Well then how do they breed?” For that answer you need to look at this page: http://www.ehow.com/how_2002252_breed-betta-fish.html

Okay so I was at wallmart and they redid it so I wandered by the fish section then I say Bloodworms Freezed Dried Food by Tertra. So I thought Rain would like it so I got it lol my fish seems to like it. Well now for the update ever sence flare died I took the divider out and the tank stays cleaner rain likes it better makes bubble nest.

Can bettas have tank mates?

This question was asked by Cate in the comments section of my last post.

The answer is: yes, they can. But it may not be the best situation. But that is up to you to decide.

Here is some info and things to keep in mind:

First of all, you have to have a big enough tank to house both a betta and another fish or two or three. How big is your tank? Moreover, you need a filter and heater definitely if you want tank mates. Got those?

The #1 rule is: male bettas cannot go together. But a female and male can… but they may breed and you may have little fry you don’t want. Or if you have a female betta, sometimes 3 or more of them can live together. In addition, I was doing some research on betta tank buddies and you don’t want anything that will be aggressive and nip their beautiful fins—so generally no barbs and no sharks. From personal experience, I have a rainbow shark and he’s territorial and aggressive. Also, do not put your betta with anything brightly colored with big flashy fins. He may think its another betta. Never house a betta with a cool water fish, like goldfish.

In general, coryodras catfish, platies, clouds, danios, plecos, loaches, african dwarf frogs, snails and ghost shrimp are ok pals to have in the tank. Fyi—some people say the betta may eat the snail or shrimp. Just make sure you give the tank mates the specific kind of food they eat too!

Honestly, the temperament of your betta will determine if he gets along with his tank mates. If he is very aggressive, he may not like having friends in the tank. Make sure the tank has sufficient room for friends and plenty of hiding places… like plants and caves… so the fish can go hide if they are being picked on. All my bettas live separately and many people believe that it is best to keep them that way. But all in all, it is completely up to you! Bettas have been known to tolerate a tank mate.

The best thing you can do is try, but make sure to carefully observe your tank and be ready with an additional tank to bail someone out if things are getting aggressive in there!

Cate, did you have a specific fish in mind?

Hope this helps! If not, let us know what other questions you have and we’ll try to answer them!

K

What a pretty little betta…

This is a type of apple snail… a black mystery snail. I have one and he’s wonderful! He/she runs laps around the tank.

This question comes from Unoe

i jus bought my betta bout a few days ago and today i bought some neon tetra for the tank as well, i got three of them and they seemed fined until i went home a put them in the tank they all seemed to get along my betta left the others alone and no harm done, i went out and when i came back i noticed that i only saw two of the three neon tetras in the tank the third was at the bottom dead, is it possible that it died of disease or jus stress, because it kinda was the runt from the three,and he stayed on the top of the tank, and never went down he jus stayed there gulping, so i jus thought he was jus retarded, im jus concerned bout the other fish are they gone be ok, cuz when i took em out he wasnt stiff, he was jus limp, does that mean he died from something else and not that neon tetra disease i’ve heard about?

No, The neon tetra probably died because the betta killed it. Betta’s can sometimes get along with other fish for a short period of time. But a small fish like neon tetras becomes easy targets. I have seem people feed those kind of fish to betta’s before. It is just not a good mix. The guy at the pet store shouldn’t have told you to do that.

Question From Sue:

I have a male betta who suddenly has been showing some strange behaviour. Taz stays at the top of the bowl, snug to the edge, with no movement other than his mouth. Wont eat. Then every twenty mins he just goes beserk, racing around the bowl on the water top as if he is trying to get out. Litterally out of the water. I did find my cat drinking water from the bowl. Could this be stress, scared or what. His colouring is way off as well. Hope you can give me some advice. I have moved his bowl to a better place where kitties cant get near him.

Since I have had a betta get eaten by a cat I think that it is a big concern for fish. I have also had betta fish jump out of their tank before too, so that can happen also, they can jump very high sometimes. I think he is both scared and stressed, especially with the cat drinking from the water, good idea to move him away.

As for him losing color – it could be nothing.. but it could be what is called “Velvet” check out this page on bettatalk.com for more information on the diesease including treatment.

From bettatalk:

Velvet is hard to spot, but can be best spotted with a flashlight. Shine the light on the betta’s body: if it looks like it is covered with a fine gold or rust mist, then it has velvet. A betta with velvet will act sick, so look for clamped fins, scratching against rocks/gravel/tank, loss of appetite, loss of color etc…

So sorry I haven’t written much. For the past 4 weeks I have been with out electricity. Really long story nothing to do with Beta’s. Needless to say I was quite worried about my Mickey because of his pump. At first things were sooting up a bit without the pump running, and he missed its bubbles. So I hooked up a bicycle pump to it and got some air moving a couple times a day. Then we hooked up battery power to his tank so that he can have his water moving and bubbles. It can’t run all the time but when I do run it, he has been one happy fish. Of course I’m keeping a eye on him while we are working through this situation.

Help! My betta fish Flo died, (don’t know why, I think just because of old age) so I got a new betta. He looks almost exactly the same but a little smaller. His name is Bo. He was fine for a while, but then all of a sudden his tail looked like it was just decreasing, and chunks of it were falling off. It was like a zig zag, it just looked like it was rotting. So I looked it up online and found a thing called tail rot. We thought that was it, so we called the store where I got my betta. The store owner said that she had never heard of tail rot on betta’s before, and she thinks it was because of my plant. So we took the plant out, but it still isn’t getting any better! I clean her tank every two days, and I don’t use soap. Does anyone know what’s wrong?????????

P.S. Sorry I haven’t written in a while. I have been so busy! And I just got a new computer and I lost the betta website. Sorry!

I have been gettting tons of emails and comments about betta fish with lots of interesting questions. I will attempt to answer some of them here.

I am always asked: What is the best store to buy betta fish?
My opionion is the petco is the best corporate/chain pet store for betta fish selection and quality…

Also guys (and gals) you may want to take a look at your local FISH store… the kind that only specialize in fish. Not any kind of chain. That is where you can find the truly spectacular betta fish you see posted here from time to time.

I live in Florida and there are a TON of fish stores around me that have an amazing betta fish selection. I know a couple owners of these shops personally that give me a call when they have something they know I’m loooking for.

Please consider searching for a fish hobbiest store in your area before going to the chain pet store for betta fish.

ok tomorrow I’m going to get two bettas, 1 female and 1 male. I have two separate 1.75 gal. tanks w/ two plastic plants and a cave. They will each have a filter and I put the chemical in that you need one drop of for tap water. I have the right food, too. I keep reading that you need a lot of space for bettas, but a couple of years ago we had bettas in the same conditions, but they didn’t last long, I’m not sure if it’s because the store I got them from just had them in l a cup of water in plastic bags…. or am I doing something wrong please help!

Also, I was wondering if there’s enough room for a different fish or something to put into the females tank? help!

1.75 gallons is enough rooms for betta fish… I have seem them kept for a very long time in very some jars/containers (not that they were happy).

Also, are you sure you have the right food? Some pet store sell those betta flakes that betta just seem to hate. Try pellets if you can.

As for keeping different fish with females – I would not suggest it. They are still pretty agressive and could potentially kill the other fish.

O also I know what you mean about the people and what they tell you!
1.They told us that guppies were very hardy and did not need the special chemical for tap water or could be put in the tank right away!
2. They told us to wash the tanks with soap, but luckily we knew better.
3. They told us you could a male betta in with different fish….We got him out in time.
That has been a few years ago and I want my bettas to be happy and healthy

4. Also do I really need a heater?

1. Correct! Guppies are not that hardy.
2. Correct! Don’t use soap ever.
3. Correct again! Male bettas are extremely aggressive.
4. Nope, Not unless you keep your house cold. They enjoy temperatures in the upper 70’s and 80’s. I suggested this to someone who kept there house at 70-72 f.

I also read that you should not put rocks in for bettas, because a tank like mine should be cleaned often and the rocks make the tank dirty or something Maybe I’m just thinking to hard idk!

You can keep rocks with you betta. Just be sure to clean them from time to time. I personally don’t because I don’t like to spend a lot of time cleaning the betta tanks. Rocks are good though.

o i read that i need to clean the tank 2-3 times a week, is that true?

Well.. if you have a filter that often is not necessary. I clean my tanks once a week with no filter. But some people prefer more often.

This is the best website I’ve found so far and want to make sure I’m doing everything right! I read somewhere, it might have been wikipedia that said black bettas don’t live nearly as long as the others is that true?

Never heard that before. I have had a black betta fish for a very long time. Also… it may be kind of hard for you to find a black betta fish as they are somewhat rare to see in stores.

Yes, thats doesn’t seem like a lot but considering that my other two betas didn’t make it past that point its a big deal to me. My fishy has been quite happy even with some of the hot days we have had. As far as the suggestions for his water habitat I’ve been trying to find the best balance. Some have suggested tap water, however I’ve found that my tap water allows things to get cloudier more often. With the purified water it stays quite clear. I also have a additive that decreases nitrous and brings up the good levels of bacteria. With my newest fish things have stayed very clean and I found if I clean it too often it affects him. So I’ve been going a bit longer and he’s quite happy. So I just thought I’d update ya. Hopefully more stories to come.

Recently one of my fish began to show great discoloration, a purple-ish gray fish normally, was turning a gray color on his face. I thought at first it might be ick, and gave it a few drops of a treatment. nothing. so I got online a learned about how to “detox” your fish. Sometimes no matter what you do to your water there are still minerals left in it, this may not hurt your fish physically, but may cause some discoloration to it, therefore you need to give your little guy some “beauty rest”.

Now how to detox your fish.

1. Get a medium sized container (gladware, butter bowl, etc.) Big enough for you little guy to swim in.

2. Rinse bowl out with hot water.

3. Add spring water into the bowl. Not tap or purified, too many chemicals.

4. Place fish in the bowl.

5. Add NO CHEMICALS to the water!

6. Let him set for 24-48 hours and feed as usual.

7. After the time passes put him back in his normal tank, after a fresh water change and he will look great!

After the issues with the last fish I’ve been trying my hardest to make things right by Mickey. We recently went away for a few days and I had my bro in law watch the fish. I showed him how much to feed the fish, but needless to say I came back to a little overweight fishy. After a few days of less food, he is back to normal.

I also changed his water for the first time. I took into consideration some of you suggestions for the water. I used half tap water and half purified water. I used the de-chlorine drops. Well after one week that water is very cloudy all over again. No change in fish behavior but I have reason to believe that maybe my tap water isn’t the best thing. I asked my mother in law who as I said before used to breed fish. She told me I’m not keeping the water too clean, because I keep at least 25% of the same water in when I’m doing water changes. So when I clean the tank again tomorrow we shall see how long it stays nice. I must say I’ve had much stress because I don’t want to kill my fish again.