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Post by fuzzyferretluver on Jul 3, 2005 16:12:05 GMT -5
Hi, I'm new and glad to be here!  I've been very interested in bettas and have been wanting to get one. I've been doing my research, and a friend showed me this website. There's a beautiful crowntail betta at the LFS that I really want, but I have a few questions: 1.) What do you keep your betta in? (I'm asking this to you personally) How big is it? 2.) What do you use as substrate? Is gravel or sand better? 3.) I already have some betta food. How much should you feed and how often? Thanks! |
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Post by amanichen on Jul 3, 2005 17:09:35 GMT -5
Hi, I'm new and glad to be here! I've been very interested in bettas and have been wanting to get one. I've been doing my research, and a friend showed me this website. There's a beautiful crowntail betta at the LFS that I really want, but I have a few questions: It's good that you came to do research first =) 1.) What do you keep your betta in? (I'm asking this to you personally) How big is it?I haven't had any bettas for two years now, but when I did I kept them in a divided 10 gallon tank (planted, filtered and cycled.) 2.) What do you use as substrate? Is gravel or sand better?Initially I used gravel, but sand offers a few advantages over gravel when keeping bettas: easier to clean, doesn't collect buried debris, less damaging to their fins, won't affect water chemistry, and it allows them to find any food that sinks to the bottom. 3.) I already have some betta food. How much should you feed and how often?
Thanks!A single meal should be an "eyefull." This means that match the volume of food to the size of the fish's eyeball. Of course, depending on the water temperature and your fish's activity level this will vary. You should watch your fish's stomach before and after a meal and take note of what it looks like. If your betta looks like it swallowed a pea when you go to feed it, then start giving it a smaller amount of food. For processed foods it's easy to give an amount in number of pellets, etc. With bloodworms and brine shrimp and other non-processed foods, you just have to start with an amount and then tweak it as necessary. Remember to spread the fish's total daily food out over at least two meals per day -- most fish are frequent eaters and digestion is better with more frequent meals. |
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Post by ickyfishywishy on Jul 3, 2005 17:38:58 GMT -5
1.) What do you keep your betta in? (I'm asking this to you personally) How big is it?
i have mine all in those little critter keepers bowls about 1 1/2 G each, and one betta in a 1/2G glass bowl, i too am new to this but i allready have 5 bettas ;D
2.) What do you use as substrate? Is gravel or sand better?
i used sand for a while "same sand used in pool filters" but now im switting to red and light blue gravel with colorfull ornaments
about the food take it from the expert up there!!
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Post by fuzzyferretluver on Jul 3, 2005 18:42:23 GMT -5
I have a 1 gallon home I'll keep mine in. Is that big enough? I have a community tank (I'm new to fish but already addicted to them ;D) but since I have guppies in there, I'm afraid the betta will attack their fins.
Thanks for the tips guys! Oh, and how do you keep a small 1 gallon home heated?
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Hannah
Junior Bubble Nester
Aquila
Posts: 224
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Post by Hannah on Jul 9, 2005 21:16:14 GMT -5
25 watt heater or less usually works pretty well. There are a few other ideas of heating the tank in other posts such as heating pads and lights.
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Post by BlueBetta on Jul 9, 2005 23:06:08 GMT -5
I have mine in a 1 gallon wide vase.
Im wanting to get a 2 to 2 1/2 gallon non filltered tank
I have a little bit of gravel and a few marbels.
I feed mine Tetramin tropical granules but I want to buy some live food as a treat for my betta.
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Flurry
Junior Bubble Nester
Posts: 213
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Post by Flurry on Jul 11, 2005 20:37:20 GMT -5
1.) What do you keep your betta in? (I'm asking this to you personally) How big is it?
2.) What do you use as substrate? Is gravel or sand better?
3.) I already have some betta food. How much should you feed and how often?
1. I have a 1 gallon tank and a 1 1/2 gallon bowl, but in the future I'd like to upgrade to a 5 gallon, because it's easy to heat.
2. I've used a normal sized gravel, a fine gravel and plastic stones. The stones are easy to rinse and the debris always stays on top of the fine gravel making it easy to siphor.
3. I feed mine twice a day. I usually feed pellets in the morning, and freeze dried or frozen food at night. If the pellets are small, they get three, if the pellets are bigger, they get two, and they usually get two or three pieces of frozen or freeze-dried food.
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Post by crazkat on Oct 11, 2005 16:11:07 GMT -5
I'm also new, and since this seems like a good place to post questions i will.
1) I have some distilled water but i've read i'm not supposed to use it. Can i still use it but add water conditioner to it?
2) are there supposed to be bubbles on top of the water?
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Post by accountingchick on Oct 11, 2005 16:36:46 GMT -5
I'm also new, and since this seems like a good place to post questions i will. 1) I have some distilled water but i've read i'm not supposed to use it. Can i still use it but add water conditioner to it? 2) are there supposed to be bubbles on top of the water? The reason that distilled water is not recommended for bettas is because it lacks the minerals that they need. I personally would not use it. I would use spring water or tap water that has been dechlorinated. The bubbles on top of the water means that your betta is building a bubble nest. This is very normal, and sometimes means that your fish is happy.  |
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Post by crazkat on Oct 11, 2005 18:17:01 GMT -5
Thank you for the tip about the distilled water, I won't use it... Another water question, should I condition the spring water I use? I want to use Le-Nature Ice water, but it says that it's got added minerals and I don't know if that's good for my fish or not. Also, I have Betta Bowl Essential Kent Freshwater conditoner- does anyone know if this is a good brand?
And as for the bubbles, I'm going to hope he's happy, he's active enough...
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Post by accountingchick on Oct 11, 2005 18:36:23 GMT -5
You should not have to condition spring water. Spring Water is filtered water that has not been totally stripped of the minerals like distilled water. I have never heard of the brand of water that you have mentioned. I am not the water expert but I would only use one that is labeled spring water or use dechlorinated tap water. I have also never heard of that brand of water conditioner either. If this brand is working for you, then continue to use it. As long as it gets the job done, it does not matter what brand it is. |
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Post by crazkat on Oct 11, 2005 21:31:46 GMT -5
Questions: they still come... Could I mix two different kinds of water conditioners? The one i have gets rid of the amnonia, chlorine, chloramine but my friend gave me one that works on hard water but not amnonia... can I mix them?
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Post by amanichen on Oct 12, 2005 10:27:29 GMT -5
Questions: they still come... Could I mix two different kinds of water conditioners? The one i have gets rid of the amnonia, chlorine, chloramine but my friend gave me one that works on hard water but not amnonia... can I mix them? Are they made by the same company? |
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Post by crazkat on Oct 12, 2005 12:36:07 GMT -5
No, they're by different companies...
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Post by amanichen on Oct 12, 2005 12:44:14 GMT -5
No, they're by different companies... Avoid doing it then. What do you need to condition your water for? |
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