Male Bettas (Siamese fighting fish or Shining Betta) are kept for their beauty and low maintenance requirements. But you still need care, attention, and money to keep a male betta well. There are many misconceptions about how to care for Bettas, which will be cleared up here.
Bettas can live in small bowls
Chances are your betta is in a pet store, packed into a small round, open top known in the trade as a “betta bowl. The pet store worker probably also told you that the fish can live in that bowl or a slightly larger bowl.
For maximum health, the male betta needs to be placed in a tank or a pot. You don’t need any room to move around and stretch your wings. Although male bettas are not the most aggressive fish, they swim well all the time. It tends to be sharper, and it also improves color and appearance. The true character of a man fish comes out of a tank at least ten gallons large.
It is best to have a lid, as long as there are some ventilation holes. Wandering bettas can jump, almost as if hoping to fly.
Bettas can live with other fish
Unfortunately, many male bettas and other tropical fish have died to prove how false this fallacy is. Although some male bettas will coexist peacefully with other tropical fish, many will not. Bettas also seem to suddenly unleash aggression on other placid species, such as mollies, angels, and swordfish. Bettas and gouramis seem to have a deep hatred for each other.
Bettas also swim more slowly than other fish species and thus become a target for harassment and persecution. They can’t even catch food, since faster swimmers like danes and grouse have wiped out everything.
It used to be there to put the male betta in the hippura. Don’t do this. Aquatic fish not only require cooler temperatures to live, but they swim much faster than your betta and will eat its food. The hippopotamus also sheds a lot more than the betta can handle. Bettas do not survive long in an aquarium tank.
Eat only bloodthirsty bettas
In the 1970s, it was thought that bettas would survive well on a blood diet. But we know that bettas need a bit of mixing in their diet. They still love dried and frozen blood clots, but there are also commercially available “Betta pellets” that they eventually eat. These are usually smaller versions of food pellets for tropical fish. There are also micro pancakes that can tempt betta. This writer currently has a female betta who liked a sample of algae that slipped off the plate for the plecostome.
Bettas also like fresh worms or white worms, but you can only put them in water for a short time. If there are too many of them, the worms will start to bite. There are dried or frozen versions available. There are also worms such as tubifex, brine shrimp and mysis frozen cube shrimp.
Bettas are finicky eaters. If they ignore the new food after ten minutes they won’t eat it, remove it or they will make the water foul and bacterial.
References:
“Aquarium Care Betta.” David E. Boruchowitz. TFH Publications; 2006
“Bettas.” Marshal E. Ostrow. TFH Publications; 1989
First Lake Guide “Betta Care Basics.” http://www.firsttankguide.net/betta.php
The author’s own experience
