Bettas !

[carefresh]

Sorry i have been not posting for a LONG time ! I have been very busy with one of my new obsessions, BETTAS ! I am still waitng for my hamster, but for now i will have to be content wiht my bettas. I have two bettas :



Snoopy ~



















Skye Bloo ~



















I love them so much. Surprisingly they have ALOT of personality and are actually quite intelligent. I divided a 10 gallon tank into three divisons (i am getting another one) and i am saving up to buy another tank to divide into three. Here is a pic of their home:



Snoopy is on the left & Skye Bloo is on the right ~













And while Snoopy had fin rot (it was cured in a couple of days) i made his tank seem a bit more comfy for a sick fishy ~







So there you go. I am really excited with them. I have trained Skye Bloo to go round in circles and I have trained Snoopy to jump out of the water. I LOVE my bettas !

[babyboos]

Oh wow Carefrsh I love Bettas too - or Siamese Fighting Fish as they are more commonly called here in the UK. It is amazing that in USA many people can keep them in a plain tank with no heat source here we need a filter and a heater sadly. Your guys are gorgeous - I love the bubble nest they make for their babies

[carefresh]

I know, the bubblenests are SO cute ! Its also interesting how the male is the one who raises the fry. Doany one else here own bettas? I am thinking about setting up a ten gallon and having various colorful females in there, it looks quite nice, and they sort of form a heirarchy (probably misspelled). I am thinking about breeding them, but they can have over 100 babies at a time, so i would need to get permission from my parents to use the empty sauna room in the basement... They are great to watch and are SO much fun to feed, they are so unafraid of anything that goes near the tank. I had to put my arm in the tank to shift an ornament and Snoopy began to attack me ! It didn't hurt though. Did you know that they have teeth..remind me of pirahnas now ? I am probably getting a red male for my third betta.

[hamster]

They are very cute!!

[SnuggleHam]

OH very nice fish! some of the betas can have such beautiful tails and colors! I like what you have done with your tank, its a good set up! I like that they have more room too. I always feel bad when I see them in little clear plastic cups lines up in a row just sitting there. But yours are lovely

[Emma]

Originally Posted by babyboos

Oh wow Carefrsh I love Bettas too - or Siamese Fighting Fish as they are more commonly called here in the UK.

Thanks for that babyboos I've always wondered what sort of fish Bettas were, I've seen americans refer to them on the web loads!



They're beautiful fish. Do they have to be kept singly though?

[carefresh]

The females can be kept together, but the males will fight to the death if put together, that's how they got the name of Siamese Fighting Fish.

[carefresh]

I just got a new one today, he is kind of peachy red on his body, and has nice red fins. I haven't named him yet though, I will post a picture of him soon...

[babyboos]

It can be confusing with them being called Siamese Fighting Fish in UK (Betta Splendens) but for some reason people in USA call them just Bettas which is technically wrong in biological nomenclature terms - sorry but I am a marine biologist and there are actually quite a few variants - Betta Bellica, Betta Pugnax, Betta Edithea, Betta Akarensis, Betta Albimarginata, Betta Anabatoides, Betta Balunga, Betta Brownorum, Betta Coccina, Betta Burdigala, Betta Dimidiata, Betta Fusca, Betta Foersche, Betta Macrostoma, Betta Livida, Betta Picta, Betta Persephone, Betta Rutilans, Betta Smarargdina, Betta Simorum, Betta Tussyae, Betta Taeniata, Betta Imbellis, Betta Unimaculata, and Betta Strohi.. You can buy Siamese Fighting Fish on eBay in the UK - K.G. Bettas sells them online there and from a dedicated website.



Family: Belontiidae - If you are interested this is the Gourami family...

Origin: Cambodia, Thailand

Adult Size: 3 inches (7 cm)

Social: Males cannot be kept together

Lifespan: 2-3 years

Tank Level: Top dweller

Minimum Tank Size: 3 gallon

Diet: Live foods preferable, will eat flakes and frozen foods

Breeding: Egglayer - bubblenest

Care: Easy to Intermediate

pH: 6.8 - 7.4

Hardenss: up to 20 dGH

Temperature: 75-86 F (24-30 C)





Description: The brilliant coloration, and long flowing fins of the Siamese Fighting Fish make it one of the most well known of aquarium fish. Colors range from red to blue to white. Females are not as highly colored, and have much shorter fins. A well conditioned breeding female will often display horizontal stripes.



Habitat/Care: Siamese Fighting Fish are one of the most recognized, most colorful, and often most controversial fish in the freshwater hobby. Debates range on about the appropriateness of keeping them in small bowls. To fully understand their needs it is important to become familiar with their native habitat. Siamese Fighting Fish originate in the shallow waters in Thailand (formerly called Siam, hence their name), Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and parts of China. They proliferate rice paddies, shallow ponds, and even slow moving streams.



Although many fish keepers are aware that Siamese Fighting Fish come from shallow waters, a key factor that is often overlooked is the water temperature. These countries are tropical, which means the water temperature is quite warm - often reaching into the 80's. Siamese Fighting Fish thrive on heat, and will become increasingly listless when the water temperature falls below 75 degrees F. Water temperature is perhaps the biggest argument against keeping a Siamese Fighting Fish in a tiny bowl (which cannot readily be heat controlled).



Even though Siamese Fighting Fish do well in waters low in dissolved oxygen, that does not mean they require less oxygen than other fish. Siamese Fighting Fish have a special respiratory organ that allows them to breath air directly from the surface. In fact they inherently must do so. In experiments where the labyrinth organ was removed, the fish died from suffocation even though the water was saturated with oxygen. For this reason, Siamese Fighting Fish must have access to the water surface to breath air directly from the atmosphere.



Optimally the water for keeping healthy Siamese Fighting Fish should be soft, warm, with a neutral to slightly acidic pH. Water movement should be kept to a minimum, which means that power filters and powerheads are not suitable. Siamese Fighting Fish may be kept in a community tank as long as the water conditions are met, and if no aggressive or fin-nipping fish are present. However, only one male may be kept in each aquarium, unless they are separated by a barrier.



The use of plastic boxes that hang inside the aquarium is a popular though restrictive option in my opinion for keeping more than one Siamese Fighting Fish in a tank, or for keeping them in a tank with fish that might nip their fins. Females will generally not fight with each other, and may be kept in the same tank.



Diet: In nature Siamese Fighting Fish subsist almost exclusively on insects and insect larvae. They are built with an upturned mouth that is well suited to snatching any hapless insect that might fall into the water. Internally their digestive system is geared for meat, having a much shorter alimentary track than vegetarian fish. For this reason, live foods are the ideal diet for the Siamese Fighting Fish, however they will adapt to eating flake foods and frozen and freeze dried foods.



Brine shrimp, Daphnia, plankton, tubifex, glassworms, and beef heart, are all excellent options that may be found frozen or freeze dried. If flake food is fed, it should be supplemented with frozen and freeze-dried foods, and if possible live foods.

[carefresh]

I think the reason that they are called bettas, is because of the Betta part in betta splendens, because it is alot easier than calling them siamese fighting fish.



Oh ya, i ahve named my new guy Crimson.