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How hardy are Bettas?


NoGi

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I'm babysitting one at the moment and bowl looks like it needs a clean. Never kept one before but considering how most are kept in guessing they are fairly hardy?

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Yes mate, they are very hardy. I kept some once and one of them jumped out of his tank and I found him about 4m away on the floor. His body was just damp and I saw him breathing still so I put him back in the tank. He lived. They breath air directly as we do and that's why they can be kept in jars

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yeah they're hardy but just because they can be kept in jars doesnt mean they should be...  

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yeah they're hardy but just because they can be kept in jars doesnt mean they should be...  

I agree with this, i used to keep bettas many a year ago and its a common misconception that they will live a long life in a jar.

I was naive at first and kept 3 in a betta barracks all ended up getting diseases even with constant water changes. 

 

Once i started keeping them like normal fish in a filtered tank they thrived like nothing else. Just dont put two males together cause they will fight to the death.

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yeah they're hardy but just because they can be kept in jars doesnt mean they should be...  

 

Agreed! Seeing a Betta in a jar to me is just wrong! Apparently love being in larger tanks with little flow and plenty of swimming room.

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I had mine in an Aquaone AR 850 which i miraculously managed to divide lol  they loved it. Had 2 males in 2 sectiosn and a herum of girls in the 3rd.

 

The boys names were Petey and Mr Bojangles. One day my daughter was holding a female on the way home and dropped her on the floor of the car and she survived the rest of the way home in like 1cm of water so she got the name lucky.

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Yes mate, they are very hardy. I kept some once and one of them jumped out of his tank and I found him about 4m away on the floor. His body was just damp and I saw him breathing still so I put him back in the tank. He lived. They breath air directly as we do and that's why they can be kept in jars

Please people, I don't agree with keeping them in jars either. I only said that because that is how some pet shops house them (until they are sold)

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If their lucky they get a jar in most pet shops i have seen. I have seen them predominently in stacked round take thin take away containers.

A while ago i remember reading about them being kept in like martini glasses and all stacked up to look pretty

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This one is in a fish bowl and not mine [emoji4] all my live stock are serviced by a eheim 2217 and 2 x otto filters.

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Biggest problem I had with mine was they are just as addictive as Shrimp -well almost- I had a few females together in 1 tank and several boys in other tanks but then I saw them chasing my shrimp ! No more Bettas now! BUT I do have some spare tanks! I keep thinking I wouldn't mind a couple again!

 

I also hate that the poor things are sold without heaters in most petshops- although a lot of the shops are now getting in the little mat heaters which are better than nothing.

 

Nogi if there isn't a filter  in the bowl then it's water changes several times a week.Pretty sure they prefer slightly acidic water and if you can hide an IAL in there that's great for them too! They like live food but have adapted to dry foods. They love blood worms. I also used to catch mosquito wrigglers and garden worms for mine. 

 

Squiggs and Chi have a wealth of knowledge on Bettas so they might be able to give you a better idea of their care needs.

 

They have real personalities too!

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It makes me livid to see how bettas are kept in pet shops, it's just wicked. Humans can survive in a box the size of a coffin for years on end, but no one would argue that it's not inhumane.  :unhappy:

 

With regard to cleaning the bowl, just remember that there's not many surfaces in there for bacteria to live on, and even without a filter that small amount would help a bit between water changes, so don't clean it too much. I don't suppose you have a spare clump of moss lying around for the bowl? Even that can make a surprising difference to water quality and happiness for bettas.

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Ineke I have a funny story about bettas and shrimp. Last time I had tanks I had a few bettas and some cherries. I was under the impression that bettas would definitely eat shrimp, so I kept them separated. (They certainly chowed down on my ramshorns!). Anyway, I was trying to breed my cherries for stronger colour and reluctantly decided that culling the cherries that were clear would best be done by feeding them to the bettas. I know a lot of breeders feed their fish culls to oscars etc.

 

So I braced myself and put the clearest in with one of my betta males, and hurried away so I didn't have to watch the horrifying scene unfold. When I was doing my nightly check on my tanks, I saw the cherry happily feeding on the moss and the betta ignoring it completely. They lived together after that. So much for culling! The whole process was so distressing I decided I didn't have the heart for that type of culling anyway.

 

I used to feed mine wrigglers and daphnia, they loved it. You're right about their personalities, they do learn to recognise different humans and they can be so engaging.

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I was lulled into thinking my shrimp were safe with my Bettas too and kept them together for a few months but I noticed they liked the babies the adult shrimp were quite safe. I was very new to shrimp and so proud of my babies and back then only had a few tanks so the shrimp won!

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Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll give it a good clean out this week. Would you keep say a third of the water?

 

I also don't like how they are stacked up in stores. I've been to a couple in brissie and they just looked unhappy. Put into coffin sized glass tanks.

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Like all labyrinth fish they can take oxygen directly from air and thus are more tolerant to bad water quality.

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Change 100% of the water, only need to keep water when there's filtration. Bettas are tough little buggers & very hardy, about 4L is the smallest volume you'd want to comfortable keep one in(mainly when breeding) but 8L is the smallest I would keep them in. I know that the small jars are cruel & I don't like it, but when you have 500-600 fry from each spawn to grow out to a saleable size, sometimes it's the only option space wise.

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Change 100% of the water, only need to keep water when there's filtration. Bettas are tough little buggers & very hardy, about 4L is the smallest volume you'd want to comfortable keep one in(mainly when breeding) but 8L is the smallest I would keep them in. I know that the small jars are cruel & I don't like it, but when you have 500-600 fry from each spawn to grow out to a saleable size, sometimes it's the only option space wise.

How long since you used to breed bettas?

 

Did you ever buy any of the nice imports from fishchick aquatics? Lovd her stock so even went in there one day whilst i was in queensland :)

 

I want to get another betta once i move from here and have a permanent place to live lol

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I've still got some but I haven't bred for about 12mths

Yes but never again. Also, she doesn't own the shop anymore.

Plenty of others with way better fish these days

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Yeah well i wasnt as impressed after i went there lol. What type of bettas are you keeping, crown tails are my favourite cause of the spikeyness looking tail?

 

Any chance you can take some photos of your best ones, do you name them?

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Hahaha, yeah a lot of people say that. I breed full red Halfmoons cause they are one of the hardest to get perfect with no iridescence. This is a couple of my boys. :thumbsu:

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Nice...I'll take one next time you breed....

Do you find they tail bite with a current from a filter ?

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No prob dude, not sure when that will be though & I usually try to show & sell them before 3-5mths so I haven't experienced it much.

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No, the Beanie Boxes are for showing, I've custome made tanks 25cm x 25cm x 15cm for breeding. I like to keep them in 4L jars but sometimes, with hundreds of fry, it's impossible due to space.

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Bettas were one of the first fish i ever kept and wanted to breed, spent ages researching and researching and joined a betta forum. Ultimately i dont think i could deal with all the fry lol 

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