Poor Little Bettas - Aquarium Advice

Barnature · 07-02-2009, 07:00 PM

Have you ever seen those poor little bettas in those little bowls? They look awful and they all have ammonia burns. People are so careless about this. It's so inhumane to put male bettas in little bowls and see them flare up from seeing their reflection or even worse, watching two male bettas fight to death. I've decided to set up a tank for a poor little betta. I wanted a 10g but for that I need a stand and then it will be another reasonably sized tank and the result is that my mom would not let me get the big goldfish tank that I'm planning on for my birthday. Anyways, I'm going to buy a Hagen Waterhome Econo 5 (5g). This set up includes a filter, heater lights... I'm going to buy an air pump and air stone later on. So my plan is to get the tank and plants and after a few days the betta. I also want to put some other fish in there, I thought of guppies but I heard that bettas might mistake a fancy guppy as one of their kind, so can I put some fancy guppies in there or another fish for instance, two pygmy cories?

Thanks, Nature

DizzCat · 07-02-2009, 07:04 PM

Cory's should be OK. Another problem with Guppy's is when the female gives birth the Betta will eat all the fry. One or two is OK, but if ihe eats too many (which he would) he can make himself sick. Never experienced this myself but have heard of it happening.

Mystery · 07-02-2009, 07:07 PM

I would suggest getting your betta from a responsible breeder too. I know it is easy to feel sorry for the bulk produced ones, but buying one supports the abuse

Barnature · 07-02-2009, 07:14 PM

I thought about it, I know that buying one supports the abuse but I thought about taking a sick and unhealthy betta and trying to save it and raise a beautiful and healthy betta. It's a good deed. I guess that I will see if there are any breeders close to me.

Thanks

Barnature · 07-02-2009, 07:22 PM

Well there is a betta breeder in my province but it's far away so I'll have to ship and plus, their not selling right now. I will wait and see.

Sicklid · 07-02-2009, 09:05 PM

FWIW, my betta killed the cory cat I put in his 10 gallon instantly... You may not have a problem if you add the betta after the cories are already in there...

HN1 · 07-02-2009, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystery

I would suggest getting your betta from a responsible breeder too. I know it is easy to feel sorry for the bulk produced ones, but buying one supports the abuse

I could not possibly agree more.

The demand for them fuels the supply and the cheapest care pratices that you point out. Don't buy them if they're kept like that!

frshwaterfinatc · 07-02-2009, 11:58 PM

I think saving one from your LFS is very kind. I used to do this. My males never messed with the corys, they corys typically stay near the bottom and your betta will stay near the surface. Make sure you turn your filter settings as low as they will go if you can; bettas have a difficult time moving around in any sort of current because of their long fins. They are acclimated to standing water. You could even use the 5 gallon with no filter and add no other fish. Make regular water changes, and you'll have no issues. The main problem with keeping bettas is the person keeping the betta. You can't become lax with your care.

Also, I don't know if you intended to place a female in the tank, but that is not wise. The male will kill her. A female may only be placed into the tank after the male has built his bubble nest, and the two may NEVER be left unsupervised. As soon as they spawn the female must be removed or she will kill the male.

DragonFish71 · 07-03-2009, 01:24 AM

We've gotten all our Bettas from Petsmart. We just bought 3 more females tonight. Our 20L is divided into 3 sections with a male on either end and 3 girls in the middle. We have an UGF and 2 power filters going on the tank and they seem to love swimming in the current. Our other Betta tank is a 5.5g. That is a divided tank as well with a male and female.

We have had 1 male kill a cory. 1 female that killed her cory and oto friends and another female that shook a neon like a rag doll. Here's what we did to fix the problem with the male in the 20 that killed a cory. We moved him for a week, dropped a new cory into his vacated section then put him back in. Haven't had a problem since. As for the female that killed the cory and otos? We left her alone in her section. We decided not to add anyone else to that tank. It's small and only kept at room temp anyways. The female that tore up the neon? She sadly died when the tank went into another cycle after a water change where I added a bacteria suppliment. (same time the 55 went crappy. Same reason. No more suppliments in established tanks!!!!!!)

One thing, if you add any fish after you get him, move things around just a little. It messes with their sense of territory. Also a partial water change works.

They are very territorial fish. The females can be just as bad as the males. It also has a lot to do with the fish iself. We have one male that doesn't chase after anything. He even left a female alone that swam through the divider and got into his section.

cwt · 07-06-2009, 08:45 PM

I've been leery of pairing my male betta (a big fat plakat that Petco calls a 'King' betta) with anyone... but a female purchased at the same time has been a good tankmate for my rainbowfish; they push past her for food, but she gets her share and everyone is happy. She didn't like my cherry barbs, so there are limits to her patience.

5 gallons should be fine for your betta, but even in a larger container they will see their reflection and flare up a bit. Probably better than if they were bored.