Betta fun!

[mr86mister]

pretty much, i once had a ghost shrimp and my red betta tore him up and ate him....so no more for that betta but my purple betta doesnt mind them at all

 

[An t-iasg]

My bettas may flare at me sometimes if I startle them. I don't do it on purpose! I've had two 5 gallon tanks beside each other for a few years, with different bettas over the years. They can see each other from the corner of their tanks. They may flare at each other for a second but they pretty much ignore each other by now.

You could hold a mirror up to the betta, but don't leave the mirror, or picture, up constantly or you'll just stress the betta.

Also, like others have mentioned, if you think the betta is "boring", try setting up a 5 or 10 gallon tank for the betta, with live plants, and you'll see a different betta than you're used to in the bowl!

 

[megladonsharky]

I play hide and seek with mine bettas for a few minutes every day 8)

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Mine just pretty much hangs out all day. Not doing anything. He will lay in the greenery for a while, then just kind of float around. Never really too active. Is this typical betta behavior? When I open the lid for feeding he will swim to the opening and wait for me to feed him, but that's about as much excitement as I see from him.

 

[mr86mister]

have you tried to get him excited by doing the things we have said....its a form to keep them happy and give them exercise, is he in your 5 or 10

 

[DirgeDevil]

Give him some mirror exercise, and he'll thrash around for awhile. And i had a question open to anybody about my betta. He's building a bubble nest. does that mean he wants to breed, or is just really happy? I read somewhere that they do it when they're happy.

 

[mr86mister]

YAY! for your betta!!!!! he is happy and he's showing to you that he's enjoying where he is or in technical terms.....

He is building a bubble nest because he feels comfortable enough and conditions are right for him to want to breed....lol

or he is just happy and wants to let you know

 

[DirgeDevil]

Awww ^_^ I feel like a good parent.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

He's the sole fish in my 5 gal. I haven't been able to do anything that you guys suggested. My printer is out of color ink and I don't know how much a black and white betta would do for him. And, we don't have a small hand mirror. He's never made a bubble nest before, but his tank conditions are perfect. 0 Ammonia and Nitrites. Nitrates are barely detectable. I have a pretty live plant in there for him. The current is almost non-existant. It's one of those tanks with the filter built into the top. But I have the water line up to the output line of the filter. That way there isn't a current in the tank. I used to have a bubbler in the tank but I don't think he liked that too much so I removed it. What else would make him happy to build bubble nests and flare?

 

[DirgeDevil]

If you want a mirror, run out to a drugstore and buy a pressed powder compact. Those mirrors pop out easily, and are a good size. I don't worry about tank conditions, but my betta seems to prefer no filter at all. He's in a 2.5 gal with no air stone/filter ect. I jsut change the water out once a week. It could be that he's just a laid back lazy fish, and enjoys being that way. ^_^

 

[greenmaji]

I thought you mentioned that you had quite a few live plants in your betta tank DirgeDevil... that would be pretty good filtration in itself..

 

[DirgeDevil]

nope, they're all fake fabric plants, I'd love to have real plants though, but I'm worried about all the things that might go wrong. i.e. fungus, plants dying, ect.

 

[greenmaji]

fungus? or are you speaking of some type of algae? there are alot of low-light plants but thats only if you wanted to try it...

 

[DirgeDevil]

I don't really know, my friend said that sometimes plants will slowly die and develop this fungus/algae that's harmful to the water.

 

[greenmaji]

Maybe a quetion about live plants for your application might be in order? It sounds like you could use more information about it... thats all..

That would be in the planted aquarium section of the forum that is..

 

[DirgeDevil]

well you can thank cheesysquirrelz for my plant info. i'm still not dedicated enough to take care of live plants, for now at least. The only live plant I have is in my frog terrarium, and that's hard enough to deal with by itself. x_x;

 

[Fishyfanatic]

If you're not all that excited about it, don't bother with it. Maybe sometime down the line it will be of some interest to you. I've planted my 10 and 5 gal tank and it's not all I thought it would be. The 5 gal is doing fine. The 10 gal isn't doing so good and just from the look of it I'm wanting to just take them out and not replant.

 

[greenmaji]

If you're not all that excited about it, don't bother with it. Maybe sometime down the line it will be of some interest to you. I've planted my 10 and 5 gal tank and it's not all I thought it would be. The 5 gal is doing fine. The 10 gal isn't doing so good and just from the look of it I'm wanting to just take them out and not replant.

Thats a definite.. Im not wanting to get someone to try something that they dont want to do or just not ready to try.. I was trying to convey that with my advise but now that I read it again.. It did need clarified.. And I do remember your problems with that 10 gallon.. 8O