Betta Fish???

[olafthebunny]

Heyyylllooooo! :bunnyhop:
so for christmas this year, ( which is coming up wayyy to fast! the year is zooming by oh my gosh) I want to get a new pet!
I really would like to have the fish experience again, as I had had them when I was really young. I think now that I'm older I might take their care and the responsibility more seriously :lol:
The only fish I've ever had are Betta's, so I would like to get one of those again! One day I might try gold fish, but we'll see.
I was wondering if any of you have any Betta experience and advice? it's been so long since I've had one! I also, of course have a question! :lol:
so, do Bette's need heaters? a couple you tube videos and websites say they do. our Betta's never had heaters, so this is a new idea for me. that was when I was living in Florida though, where it never gets too cold :lol: now I live in South Africa where the winters range from 60 to 40 degrees, so I'm not sure. is that too cold for them or should I get a heater?
I really want to get a dumbo betta- they have very cool bigger fins and are a little larger in general. they attracted me more than the normal betas. I also already have a name in mind if I do end up bringing a little fishy friend into my home- Leonardo Da ' Fishy' :lol: thought since I'm an artist he should have an artist name! and what better name than the one of my favorite artist and art role model?!
anyways, that's all I have for fish today. let me know if you have anything I should know!
also quickly, Is a betta cube okay? they are the cheapest housing option here and are quite popular and easy to get.

 

[SableSteel]

Hello
Bettas do much better with heaters - I kept mine at about 78 degrees. They're native to tropical areas of asia, so they're not designed to do well in the cold (florida is about the right temperature for them). They're pretty resilient, and I've had some without heaters, but they're happier with them.
My favorite of my betta was a halfmoon - I love the big tails.
Bettas don't need a lot of room - breeders often keep them in large mason jars with a heating pad beneath them. In the wild, they tend to fight over and control very small territories. Additionally, they breath air from the surface of the tank, so having a small tank without a filter isnt the worst. HOWEVER if you use a betta cube or a small tank you have to clean the water more often, as it dirties with ammonia quicker. In my slightly larger tanks I did I quarter water change every week - you don't want to change out all their water all at once.
You probably already know this, but male bettas have to live alone, and females do best alone too unless you have a large enough tank to get a large school of them.

Goldfish, I would not recommend; they dirty the water very quickly and grow to sizes that are unsuitable for most tanks, so unless you plan on transferring them to a pond as they older, it's hard to manage them.
Guppies are another common fish if you want something where you can keep more than one - that's what Im looking at getting right now.


This is a picture of the favorite betta I had - a male copper halfmoon

 

[akane]

I've kept several in the past and then I was breeding imported bettas for awhile. I found I didn't really enjoy it as much as setting up more natural large tanks for a species to spawn at will or multiple species. Many of my planted tanks were also balanced to pretty much never need water changes and never needed the bottom cleaned. They had a plant substrate, burrowing cleaners, and enough light and co2 addition to push plant growth until it used up all the ammonia-nitrate.

With my individual bettas I didn't heat hardly any of them despite a 68F (20C) house. It's hard to do with little breeder containers and to change out 100% of the water at the same temp on top of everything else rather than just having it all adjusted to the room temp so only my breeding and fry tanks had heat. Those that warm the individual small betta enclosures in this area just surround the entire shelves they are setting containers on with cloth and heat that space a few degrees. Probably not more than 75F(24C) unless they just heat a whole small room to 80F(26C). If I was doing just one betta tank I'd make it big enough to put in a small heater for somewhere in the mid 70s-80F.

A betta often also does fine in a large community tank of other fish. You have to watch for things with long fins the betta might be triggered to go after, fish that might nip their fins, and the other aggressive species like gouramis and cichlids since bettas are known for their tendency to fight to the death over territory if there is a threat that stands up to them but with less nippy schooling fish, not overdoing the flow rate, and plenty of decor even if it's just rocks to rest behind they are generally peaceful. Initially many have no idea what to do but they learn to move in and out of flowing water after a few months and no longer get shoved around or struggle against the current of a filtered tank. It just takes awhile and plenty of resting places. Shorter finned varieties will handle that better and long fins can also rip on even typical aquarium decor and fake plants. That's another reason they are often kept in plain jars or plastic squares. I have put them in 29gallon, 55gallon, and 90gallon community tanks though. All with live rather than fake plants, driftwood, and a few low rocks.

I never did master taking pictures of fish in aquariums despite having all sorts of tanks from unfiltered betta or tiny sparkling gouramis to fully planted 90gallon community and also one brackish tank and one 20gallon saltwater nano.

My little containers for breeders that had to be changed at least every other day and were individually fed things like frozen bloodworms. I also had a constant source of live brine shrimp and vinegar eels.

2 10gallon breeder tanks with some air driven sponge filters to keep them cycled so the water did not have to be changed like the small containers and you float a leaf or styrofoam object for the male to bubblenest under and next to. The male spits the eggs and newly hatched fry into the bubbles to float at the surface until they can swim up and down themselves.

A pair breeding in a tank

These steel and turquoise halfmoons are the breeder/importers pics of the fish I got from them

I really liked this purple doubletail but lighting really changed how blue, purple, or red he looked. I know have a more purple looking pic somewhere.

I had a few other blue/red/purple combos and then this white with blue in the fins

I mostly stuck to halfmoon tails because crossing the fin types gets a new level of complicated and may just result in short "wild" type fins or various tattered looks despite not being torn on anything.

 

[olafthebunny]

Thanks for all the great advice guys! will keep all this in mind! if we have any half-moons in our area I'll probably get one of those! they're really pretty, enjoyed looking at all your pictures!
I have had a guppy before, but it didnt go all too well :lol: let's just say it went down the toilet the next day, due to reasons I don't know.
My favorite betta I had when I was a kid was probably one named Marble. he was pretty cool and lived for four years! he was white with pink, blue and red spots, hence the name. I also really loved this really cool blue half-moon one I had named Mickey. but I gave him to my sister when she was like five because her betta died :lol: she re named him Nut much to my dismay. she had two Bettas named Nut it was hilarious.
will let you know any updates on if I'm getting one or not!