Siamese Fighting Fish

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Contributed by: black ghost knife»1

On: August 22, 2006, 3:56 pm

Cheers,

that’s gr8. How long do they live? Get bk to me on kingtiger-benlunn AT hotmail DOT com.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: August 23, 2006, 2:00 am

Bettas’ lifespan varies depending on the temperature and water quality. They usually live from 1.5 up to 2 years. Not a long life. My bettas passed away before they reached age of 2 years.

Contributed by: Tom»3

On: October 16, 2006, 11:24 am

Whats the biggest betta fish recorded? How do I get it to grow to max size?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 16, 2006, 1:27 pm

Betta splendens grows up to 9 centimeters in the aquariums. But usually only 7-8 centimeters. You should start a species tank with only 2-3 Bettas (1 male and 1-2 females) for this purpose.

100 Litres tank (26.4 US Gallons and 21.9 UK Gallons) is required for the maximum size. Feed them with flakes, granules and frozen food. Live food is welcome too. Basically, they’ll need a lot of light if you want them very large. On the other hand, more light = shorter life.

Contributed by: Joseoh»1

On: March 23, 2007, 5:37 pm

Hi, can you please tell me how to breed the siamese fighting fish step by step please? If you have any experience or anything....

I have a male fighting fish and 3 females in a 70L aquarium and one of the larger females (almost the size of the male) has got the white spot near her anal fin and she is quite plump (not alot tho). So the male is chasing her some times and i dont know if they are ready to breed, so i can put them in a separate smaller tank. I also give them alot of dried blood worms, freeze dried brine shrimps, flake food and sometimes i give them live blood worms.

I have also a female siamese fighting fish there, she is pink coloured and she is also big, almost the size of the male but slightly bigger than the other female that she has got the white spot thingy. Anyway she has got quite big belly (not big tho) and it is quite black and i also dont know if she is ready or not.

If you can please help me, thanx.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: March 24, 2007, 4:36 am

Hi Joseoh,

I bred Betta species some time ago, so I can tell you that breeding is quite easy. Here’s how-to in a short step by step guide:

1) Make sure the female has big belly. Once her belly gets full of eggs, she’s ready to spawn.

2) Move both, male and female, into a separated tank which should be at least of 20 litres.

3) The breeding tank should have floating plants or plants which reach top levels of the tank. Plants are necessary in order to make the nest stable.

4) Once the pair starts making love, the male will start building the bubble nest. Larger the nest is, better chance for fry to survive. Sometimes the nest’s diameter is 3 cm, sometimes it’s a square with size 20x20 cm.

5) Then they breed. Don’t forget to increase the temperature to about 28-29 °C. Water chemistry isn’t very important. Anyway, pH level should be neutral and the water hardness values should be about 10-18 dGH.

6) Both, male and female will then take care of eggs and will put them back into nest if they fall down. The male will become aggressive against female in about day or two.

7) The fry hatch in 2-3 days. Feed them Artemia salina or crushed granules.

That’s all folks. I should tell you that before you start breeding the Betta fish you should know what you’ll do with males. They start fighting once they’re 4-5 months old. Let me know if there’s anything what you would like to know.

Contributed by: Claire»3

On: April 22, 2007, 8:01 am

Hi, I have a male betta in a tank around 5L, I change all of the water at least once a week, lately he has developed small red/brown spots on his tail fins. I have found lots of information on white and yellow spots.

Do you know what this is or how to treat it?

Contributed by: Zinister»2

On: May 9, 2007, 11:23 am

I’m guessing your water needs declorifying, and your ph levels adjusted...

Contributed by: Rory»2

On: May 25, 2007, 11:20 pm

What do you do if the females show aggression to the males?

Contributed by: Jan»19

On: May 28, 2007, 1:42 pm

You should be able to separate them anytime. However, males are usually aggressive towards females but they don’t use to beat them to death. This happens in overpopulated or small aquariums only.

Contributed by: Gabby»1

On: May 28, 2007, 8:45 pm

Hi, I have 1 Betta Fish (Male) and 2 Bettas females. They are all separted right now. I tried putting the 2 females together, but they started to fight I think. Both of them chase each other and one of them keeps bumping the other one. They both curl with each other until the other one swims away really fast. The gills spread and that’s when they bump and they keep, how I believe, attacking each other.

Can I still keep them together or keep these girls separated. You could answer me at this email.

Thank you.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: May 29, 2007, 12:33 am

Hello Gabby,

Females fight if there is not enough space for them in the aquarium. I kept Betta females together and they got along very well.

If they don’t beat each other to death (what they shouldn’t!) you can still keep them together. If you see serious injuries made by fights, use a glass divider or move one of them into another tank.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: July 31, 2007, 12:21 am

Hello, I have 3 male fighting fish at the moment. They are quite big males, bigger than the ones I can see in the normal pet shops. I really want to breed them and have been doing some research. Is it right that I put all three males in a large enough tank so they can swim away from each other, then I add a female and leave it up to the female to decide which male she wants, then do I take the other 2 males out that she hasn’t chosen or I put the breeding pair in a seperate aquarium? Also, before I put the males and female together, how is she going to know do start producing eggs before hand? Do I have to introduce them earlier so she knows? And what's the temperatures I need to have the tank at throughout the whole process? What is a bubble nest and is is made from, the plants? I just need to know everything I need and step by step of what I should and shouldn’t do. If you could help me I would REALLY appreciate it =). Thanks (if you want to reply via email which would be more convenient... georgia_rox73 _@_ hotmail _._ com ) TY!

Replace " _@_ " with "@" and " _._ " with "." in email.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: July 31, 2007, 12:52 am

Hi Georgia,

1) No, do NOT put more males into 1 fish tank. They would find each other and would fight to death instead of breeding.

2) Put the male and female into a breeding tank.

3) Female is ready to breed once her belly is full of eggs. How to say that she’s full of eggs? It is simple; Her belly will be bigger than usually. Do not worry about when she is ready to spawn, because she’s usually able to breed every 4-6 weeks. My personal experience.

4) Keep the temperature about 27-28°C. But my Bettas bred inside aquarium with 25°C as well. However, higher temperatures will help the breeding process.

5) If you keep 1 male and 1 female in the tank, they will probably breed. The best age for breeding is 6-14 months.

6) Bubble nest is a nest made of male’s spits. He will create it in two cases. First, when he wants to breed. Second, when he’s happy in the tank. Bettas, Gouramis, etc. build nests from time to time just because they’re happy in the tank. In order to let the male create a quality nest, do not use powerful filtration in the tank. The water current must be as slow as possible.

More questions? Ask me:).

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: August 1, 2007, 11:46 pm

OK, thanks for that. What happens when the eggs hatch? Should I take the pair out once they have hatched or may I leave them? Is there any special food which I can use for the fry? If they don’t breed, should I try another male with her? How will I know that she is interested in mating? How long will it take her to realise she has to produce eggs and how long does it take for her to produce them before spawning? What should the breeding tank include? And if they start to fight or something else, should I seperate them?

Thanks again.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: August 2, 2007, 3:35 am

1) The fry will stay in the nest once they hatch. The male will protect them from anyone except ramshorn snails (beware of snails, they could eat eggs before they hatch!). The male will keep protecting them for about two or three days. If any newborn (or egg) falls down he will pick it and return back to the nest.

2) Not necessarily. If you have large tank with enough hiding places you will not have to remove the female. As I mentioned above, the male is necessary for further fry’ life. Do not remove him unless he becomes aggressive towards the fry.

3) Yes, use Artemia salina if possible. Otherwise about 40%-50% of newborns will die. With Artemia salina you’ll have about 80%-90% survivors. This food is also called "Fry brine shrimp" or similar. Am not native English, so the name could vary. However, every seller should know what "Artemia salina" is.

4) Don’t worry if they don’t breed for the first time. Basically, a female with belly filled with eggs will want to spawn. You can leave them alone for a week or two and they should know what’s going on:). But if you don’t succeed during this period, you can try another male of course.

5) The pair is interested in mating when the male swims near the female a lot. He is interested in mating even the female isn’t! In order to stimulate their breeding activities you can feed them bloodworms.

6) Females are producing eggs all the time. Don’t worry, it’s a natural thing. Females produce eggs even if they aren’t looking for breeding. Put a male into the tank with one or more females and they will produce eggs for sure. Anyway, new eggs can be produced every 30 days since last spawning. It is similar to Guppies even Guppies don’t spawn.

7) The breeding tank should contain floating plants, aerator, small filter (don’t make strong water current because it could damage the nest and will kill the fry - the fry will not be able to stay in the nest). Add heater as well. Light bulbs, some normal plants, rocks and maybe few Catfish who will eat dead newborns.

8) They shouldn’t fight if female can hide. Remove the female in case that the male becomes very aggressive and nips her fins a lot. Actually, I didn’t have this problem because I kept them in 82 L tank and the female was able to hide.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: August 2, 2007, 3:21 pm

Thank-you you’ve been a great help! Just one more thing. Am fairly busy during the week and on weekends, so how much time will I have to set aside to look after the pair and make sure everything is going well? Or can I just leave them and they will sort everything out for themselves?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: August 3, 2007, 1:02 am

Hi Georgia, I am glad that I was able to help you:).

Breeding doesn’t waste too much of your time. It’s just a few minutes every day until they lay eggs. Later you can always remove the female, so you will not need to check anything (from time to time just for sure). But when the eggs hatch you’ll need to pay more atention to the fry. They will require food about 5-6 times a day. 4 times a day is minimum.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: August 18, 2007, 10:51 pm

I have bought a female and I’ve set up a breeding aquarium! Now I just have to wait! She seems very interested in the males and they are interested in her! I hope it all goes well.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: August 20, 2007, 1:19 am

I’m close to the breeding part so I can send you some photos! I've got some really good ones of the three males... Just ask if you want any. Least I can do.

=]

Contributed by: admin»665

On: August 20, 2007, 2:36 am

Hi Georgia, anyone is welcomed to send us photos:). Use email address below the profile picture (top of the page).

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: August 22, 2007, 3:46 am

The female that I got only a few days ago appears to be having some trouble swimming and she is very stiff and can’t move her tail side to side. I don’t know what is wrong with her and a little but of her tail is peeling and the fins underneath are all raggered. She can’t swim properly. Do you know what is wrong with her?

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: August 23, 2007, 5:06 am

My female died! =[ It all happend so quick and I was so careful with the water and washing the stones and everything... She had furry stuff growing off the side and had a couple of white spots on her side and she couldn’t swim in the end and was almost paralised from the back down... I have a theory that she might of came with a disease because she got it so fast and died, and I have only had her for 4 days! It was a clean tank with new equipment and everything, do you know what has happend to her? =( I didn't use any soap or anything. The only thing I put in the water was Tetra Betta Safe water conditioner and a little bit of water ager and I didn’t overdose. I’m really upset because I was looking forward to it. Mum said I can get a new fish and start again. The ony thing I could think of would be that: I turned the corner filter on and it has a bubble stone, that was blowing bubbles out the top and the water above it was going all frothie, I changed the water and it made almost all of it go away. If you could help me and give me some answers I would really appreciate it! Thank you.

Contributed by: Jan»19

On: August 23, 2007, 5:30 am

No doubt that your fish was sick when you bought it. 4 days is too small period for a fish to get sick (it it was healthy before) and die so soon.

In my experience you should do further buying in other shops. Establishing a quarantine tank would be good idea as well.

BTW, it was fungus what killed your Betta (I am nearly sure). This illness develops on fish with nipped fins or fish which was fighting too much and isn’t in good water. Fungus might disappear (if it’s in early stages) if you have hard + alkaline water. Also salt helps to prevent from this disease. Don’t worry about "freshwater" tanks and put few salt spoons there. 1/3 spoon per 60 Litres once a year. Quality filtration is required.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: August 24, 2007, 1:41 am

Alright, thank-you for your help. Should I get a PH test kit just to be sure? And just add a bit of salt to the water, I’m getting a new female fighting fish this weekend hopefully this one will be ok.

Contributed by: Jan»19

On: August 24, 2007, 2:17 am

Yeah, pH test kit is a good decision:). Just buy a reliable one.

Good luck;).

Contributed by: Jeannette»1

On: August 25, 2007, 1:16 pm

I am looking for a betta with a black body and white fins. I've seen pictures of them, how do I go about finding one?

Contributed by: Katrina»1

On: September 23, 2007, 10:23 am

I just put a female betta in a 2L jar with an male betta (which has been in the tank for a few days now). The female keeps hiding under the plant, as the male one keeps flaring at her and chasing her around. I’m not that intrested in breeding but more just for them to be kept together. Is this possible? Is the fact that she is hiding mean that the male is too aggressive for 2 fishes in the same Jar? Is it safe for both fish like this?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: September 25, 2007, 6:41 am

Kartina,

Please, move both of them into some larger tank. 2L is not enough and they must be stressed there. Sooner or later the male will probably kill the female.

I kept Bettas in a 81L tank (1 male with several females) and everything was fine. It’s because every female was able to hide anytime.

Contributed by: Kelly»6

On: September 26, 2007, 10:14 pm

Hi, I have a female Betta here. When we bought her, she was fell of eggs. Later we bought her a male but when we put them together she riped him apart. So we bought her another male, who has built a lovely gig bubble nest.

We put them together but the female keeps hiding and not moving. She comes out sometimes but not much. She is still full of eggs (I can see it). Should we move her to another tank our just leave them for a couple of days. Will she come out and stop hiding when she is ready to spawn?

Contributed by: Kelly»6

On: September 27, 2007, 10:29 pm

Hi,

How can I know when they have bred. Will I see the eggs in the nest? Do they have to be the same colour to breed? Will they breed if they are of two different colours?

I need Help.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: September 28, 2007, 2:00 pm

Hi Kelly,

You didn’t tell me the size of your aquarium. I kept Bettas, and in my experience if they have enough space for both (the male and the female), there should be no specimen trying to hide.

If it continues so the female will probably die. Both fishes must be active and must be able to hide or swim freely.

Regarging your questions, the female will breed when the male builds a nest. Otherwise there is no chance for breeding. Moreover, if the male builds a nest, it doesn’t mean that he’s going to chase the female and try to spawn. Sometimes a nest is built just because the male feels happy in the tank.

I’d recommend you upgrading your aquarium, adding few decorations or plants (the goal is simple, don’t let your fish to see each other all the time).

Maybe I am wrong with this comment, but mention more details about your aquarium, please.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: September 28, 2007, 2:26 pm

Kelly, your second post:

1) Please check the above-mentioned articles. Links to them can be found at the top of this page.

2) You will know that they bred when you spot eggs in the nest. Eggs are big enough to be seen by human.

3) Yes, eggs will be seen in the nest. The male will take care of them and will return them back if they are about to fall down to the bottom.

4) Yes, colours isn’t any problem. They will breed.

Contributed by: Kelly»6

On: September 28, 2007, 4:51 pm

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. The aquarium is a 40L, but I don’t have it full. It has 2 small rocks and live plants in it, so they have lots of places to hide. I had a divider in the tank with the female in the smaller side and one of my other males on the other side.

But he just did not make a nest. She showed a lot of interest to him. She even got in with him and she did all the chasing, ripped his fins and just gave him a hard time.

So I moved him to another tank where his wounds could treat. I put one of my other males in the tank with her, of course with them separated. He built a lovely big nest. So I let them together, and well, she had no interest to him at all. She just went and hide.

Should I put the male in that she showed more interest to and hope he does build a nest? She is still very fat and has white showing at her bottom parts. I am feeding them blood worms and flake food.

The water is at 27°C.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: September 30, 2007, 12:46 am

Hi again, Kelly:).

It seems that your aquarium is large enought for them. Basically everything seems to be OK, just fishes are dainty.

I would wait until the first male gets fully recovered from his injuries and then I’d put him into the tank with that female.

I remember that when I kept Bettas they were breeding every 4-6 weeks, so maybe you just have selected the wrong time to do so.

BTW, some aquarists recommend to use the tank divider in order to make the pair more "horny":). You know, they’re in the same tank, but without any contact due to the divider. Wait a few days and if the male builds a nest again, let them be together.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: October 2, 2007, 1:24 am

I have a small female fighting fish. She is a shade of red with a tinge of light blue on her fins. She is quite small but just recently she has gotten fatter and there is a white spot under her belly near her anal fin. Does this mean she is ready to spawn? She has been with a male before just a day ago, she seemed very interested in him. Do you think she is ready for mating?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 2, 2007, 1:18 pm

Hi Georgia,

I think that she is ready for mating. But take my opinion as an opinion instead of a 100% precise answer, please.

Contributed by: Kelly»6

On: October 3, 2007, 9:41 pm

Hi, thanks for your response about my bettas. I changed the males around and put my other one in the tank with a divider. He made a lovely deep nest, but I am sad to say that after two days together my female died. They did not fight, he had a lot of interest in her but she showed nothing.

She was very fat with all the signs she was ready but nothing. If the females don’t spawn do the eggs dissolve? The our one holded them till she is ready I think. Both of my males are doing very well, both making lovely big nests. So now I'm on the look out for another nice female.

Could you please tell me what to look for when buying a new female?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 4, 2007, 1:43 am

Hi Kelly,

I am so sorry to hear it:(. Your Betta female probably died of "hardening". It’s caused by eggs which don’t dissolve, as you asked. If the female doesn’t spawn periodically, eggs will not come away from her and she’ll become very fat. Later the eggs will push on organs and she’ll die just like in your case.

Advice for buying a new female:

1) Buy a 3-4 months old specimen only,
2) Be sure that it is a female (!). Sometimes the "female" turns to male after 3-4 weeks. This is caused by misidentification in shops dealing with aquarium fish.
3) Buy an active one. Active fish tend to be healthy.
4) Never buy too fat female.

I don’t know if I have to mention anything else. Maybe I forgot something, but I always decide upon the above-mentioned rules.

Contributed by: Kelly»6

On: October 4, 2007, 1:55 am

Thank you very much for all your advice you have given me. It has helped alot.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: October 6, 2007, 6:00 pm

I had one of my three males in the tank with a divider, next to my female. He didn’t make a bubble nest or anything so I removed him, shortly after he was growing fungus, I bought some treatment but he died shortly after. =(

I tried another male and he made a small bubble nest and was chasing her but she was just too fast. She seems interested in him, esspecially when I had the tank divider in, but everytime he got close she just swam away really quickly. She is quite fat and has a small white spot under her belly, so why doesn’t she want to breed? Will she die if she doesn’t release the eggs? =(

The male that died had a fungal cotton disease and the other male that I put into the tank with her (after the other didn’t make a bubble nest), got a little bit on his fin, so I took him out just to be on the safe side and I’m treating him now, he seems happy and is moving around quite a bit.

I have one more male which I havn’t tried yet, and he’s making bubble nests. But I think about changing them over from tank to tank might be making them stressed? What is a stress free way to try the males? I’m pretty sure that they are around 1.5 years old but they are still making bubble nests.

I really want them to breed so what should I do?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 7, 2007, 1:02 pm

Hi Georgia,

Yes, the female will die if she doesn’t breed. This can happen in 1 month, but also in 3-4 months as well.

Secondly, when the males are old enough (they’re in your case), they won’t be stressed too much if you move them from tank to tank.

1.5 years old male can breed, you’re right.

I know that you sent me a few pictures of your bettas, but I’d welcome pictures of your fish tank where you’re trying to breed them. Use a digital camera if possible, or just a cell phone. I think that something is missing there.

Contributed by: Johanna»1

On: October 7, 2007, 2:34 pm

Silly question, but I bought my son a betta fish about 3 weeks ago and cleaned his tank. I always wash my hands and disinfect the area.

I just came down with an illness where I lost part of my vision in one eye and am waiting for blood work.

Do these fish transmit diesease to humans?

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: October 8, 2007, 1:52 am

OK, I’ll send you photos.

Another one of my males died from this same disease. It's like a fungus growing really fast all over them really, it turns the tips of their fins grey. 2 of my males died of a result of this, and I’ve also treated them. I only have one male that hasn’t been in the tank with the female, and he is healthy. Why have they gotten sick and died? The female is OK.

Thanks for your help.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 9, 2007, 2:26 pm

Hi Johanna,

If you follow all steps properly (disinfection and so on) then there should be no chance to get sick.

However, some diseases or medicaments may result in allergies or diseases. For example, many people (including me) must be very careful when working with bloodworms because it causes very dirty allergy which lasts about 6-12 hours but it makes a man choking a lot!

So I can’t answer you 100%, however something could go wrong. I recommend you to ask your medic.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 10, 2007, 2:40 pm

Georgia, here are potential diseases and treatment:

1) Costia necatrix (cure: Sear Costapur or similar),
2) Heteropolaria colisarum (cure: as above),
3) Fungus (cure: Sera Ectopur, Sera Mycopur or similar),
4) Fins decomposition (cure: Sera Baktopur or similar).

These are the only ones which fit described symptoms.

Regarding your email, I haven’t heard about using the polystyrene cup yet. Basically, I recommend you to get rid of diseases first and then try breeding.

I will post a link to diseases article which I am going to publish tomorrow. It will contain pictures, so that you will be able to find the problem easily.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: October 11, 2007, 1:16 am

OK, excellent..

Well, the other male is healthy so I might try him in the future.

Contributed by: Mary»5

On: October 19, 2007, 9:51 pm

I have a unique situation!

A month ago, I bought a male and two females. I thought to make a community tank, and ended up with fry! It was amazing! The adults fought and I separated them all to different tanks. The fry didn’t make it past a week, and I think I understand why, and what to do better next time (water too deep, there was gravel, I did everything wrong!)

Anyway, now I am priming the male and one female to mate soon. They are in tanks next to each other, so they can get to know each other better... The male has been building bubble nests and the female has been fat and happy and they are almost ready. She has a big belly and a big white spot underneath.

BUT. The female started building a bubble nest yesterday, and it is HUGE! Today I looked in, and there are EGGS! In the nest! She is alone. She built the nest alone, laid the eggs alone, and is tending them like a male, alone.

Has anyone else seen anything like this before?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 20, 2007, 1:14 pm

Hi Mary,

I kept this species for about 3 years, but I haven’t seen (or heard about) it yet!

Contributed by: Felicia»1

On: October 23, 2007, 10:11 pm

I have two female betta fish. One I got about a month ago and she has doubled in size since I got her. I just got another one and she is half of it's size. I put them together and the smallest one just hides and the bigger one did not have any interest in the other one for 2 mins or so. Then the bigger one kept chasing the smaller one and nipped the small beta's fins. So I separated them. The tank I have is not very big, do I just need a bigger tank or should I separate them?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 24, 2007, 2:15 pm

Hi Felicia,

Yes, separate them. Simple answer, simple solution:).

Contributed by: Mary»5

On: October 25, 2007, 3:52 pm

Oh my goodness, she did it again! I think she is trying to tell me that it’s time for her to have some babies!

Yesterday, I looked in on the female and she had dropped some eggs (not many this time, I think she was just too full!) Later, some of the eggs were up in a nest. Later again, they were gone. I think she ate them because she realized they weren’t viable.

The other female also builds small nests of tiny bubbles, but doesn’t put eggs in them.

Today, the male had a HUGE nest. I put him in the breeding tank. Now he is deciding where to build his next nest. I let him see the female for a while, but he seemed a little distracted from his job, so I put a paper between them. The water is 80 degrees F. I have two plants. I bought a carbon filter, but they didn’t have the air pump in stock the other day. Wildfires in my area interrupted shipments. So today I will go back, buy a pump, and get a snail to keep the bottom clean too.

This is my first official attempt at breeding them on purpose. Wish me luck!

Contributed by: Mary»5

On: October 28, 2007, 10:09 am

I am worried about my snail. Not so much for it's safety, you see, as for that of the eggs.

My fish are spawning! Under half a styrofoam coffee cup. I had to swap out the females; the one who was putting her own eggs in the nest was terrified of the male and played dead under the filter. She was literally lying on her side pretending to be dead. I took her out. I put the other one in yesterday and now there are eggs!

My only concern is that the snail is in the nest. The cup is next to a wall of the tank, and it seems the snail climbed up the side of the tank and up into the cup. I am worried that it will eat all the eggs.

Should I knock it out of the nest after the fish are finished with their spawn? Should I leave it there and stop worrying? I got the snail to keep the tank a little cleaner, but what if it cleans out the nest?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: October 29, 2007, 2:21 pm

Hi Mary,

Move the snail far away from eggs. Snails are eggs-lovers. This is my personal experience.

Return him to the tank later when the fry hatch.

Contributed by: ally»2

On: October 30, 2007, 3:51 am

I've had my betta for 2 weeks and in the last couple of days he has started laying on the bottom of the tank and occassionally swimming to the top to grab some air, then finds a place to sit on the bottom again. I think he is sick... How do I help him? He is still eating normally. He is in a tank with a filter, changing the water has not helped him. There are some plants and a couple of small neon fish in the tank also.

Thanks in advance.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 1, 2007, 3:42 am

Hi Ally,

Try to change the food and test the water with standard NO₂, dKH, dGH and pH tests.

Currently there are no other symptoms than lethargy, so it is very difficult to tell what’s wrong. You will maybe be wiser after seeing the results of water tests.

Contributed by: Ree»1

On: November 3, 2007, 5:57 am

Hi, I have 1 male and 2 females. The tank they are in is about 3 ft x 1 ft. The male has been in a breeding tank attached to the side of the tank. The 2 females hang around the breeding tank and the male has been making his nest. I put one of the females who was ready and when I came home from work there were eggs so I have seperated them (which is what I thought I am suppose to do is it?) but she still hangs around the male. He continued to look after the nest but when I woke up the next morning all the eggs were gone. This has happened a few times now I just don’t understand why. I have actually seen him eat them too. PLEASE HELP ME!

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 3, 2007, 3:08 pm

@Ree: I would definitely try to keep the female inside of the tank after breeding. It’s a usual scenario that the male eats all the eggs if you separate the breeding pair. You aquarium is big enough to keep them together.

If he eats the eggs anyway, then you should probably find another male for breeding purposes.

Contributed by: Ally»2

On: November 4, 2007, 6:07 pm

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately my fish passed away he got white spots, so we got the white spot remedy but I guess it was too late. I will test the water for all of that before I get a new fish. Thanks again

Contributed by: clare»2

On: November 4, 2007, 11:44 pm

I have had three bettas recently. Firstly I had a male then on the advice of the pet shop got a female. They were fine for 2 months or so but then she bit off all his fins and he drowed in guessing. Then I got another boy who killed her - he bit her fins off and she got the white fuzzy fungus. More recently the 2nd male has developed the white fuzzy fungus which I am treating with melafix but not very successfully. I have a 15 L tank and max one male 1 female at a time with a real plant which I don't think is causing the fungus and a small bubble generater that circulates the water (as I don't want them to breed). I know bettas can live in small amounts of still water but what is best for them? Do you think the water circulation caused the fish stress and thats why it has fungus?

Please help, I dont want to kill anymore.

Contributed by: Alana»1

On: November 7, 2007, 7:37 pm

OK, I have read a lot of websites about breeding bettas, and I still can’t seem to get it right.. My male absolutely loves the female and builds nests, she definitely has eggs in her when I try them together the females get horizontal markings but then she doesn’t seem interested and swims away from him. I don’t have a heater and my tank is rather small would that cause the females to not mate? There are places for her to hide.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 9, 2007, 1:22 pm

@clare: Firstly you need to buy a serious aquarium for Bettas. It’s a myth that they can live in small aquariums happily. I kept them personally, so I know what I am talking about.

A 15 L fish tank is small even for 5 neon tetras.

The fungus develops in a water of poor quality. This is just another reason why you should buy a bigger aquarium; Big aquariums offer water of better quality and the water chemistry is stable.

Do the best what you can; buy them an aquarium of a reasonable size, please.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 10, 2007, 10:08 am

@Alana: I’d use heater for sure. Increase the temperature to about 28°C. Since you didn’t mention the size of your aquarium, I can’t tell you more about potential solutions for you.

I bred this species long time ago and you can read my instructions on this page as well. Feel free to check the conversation between "admin" and Georgia.

BTW, you could also try more specimens. It usually works.

Contributed by: Sabrina»1

On: November 14, 2007, 12:16 pm

Whilst changing my water for my 2 female bettas I placed them in another smaller container using the same water they were in whilst making the water change. When I looked at my blue betta she had changed from blue to a rusty red on top and pale with stripes on her body. Once I placed her back into the tank she changed back to her normal colour. Does this happen normally? I§ve had her for 6 months and this has never happened before.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 14, 2007, 2:29 pm

@2Sabrina: It is a normal reaction to stress. Fish are losing their colours or they are getting new ones when something is happening in the tank (or so).

Contributed by: Jasmin»1

On: November 18, 2007, 12:38 pm

I read all your info on beeding. But I had a male and then bought a female and put them together. 2 days later my male had his fins missing and couldn't swim and sadly died today. Why do you think she might have done that? I bought another male but haven't put him with the female. They are in a divided tank. How long should I wait before putting them together?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 19, 2007, 2:55 am

@Jasmin: Actually, this is very rare. A few possible reasons:

1) The male was old
2) The male was sick
3) The female is not a female at all

Depending on the age of this species, young males can be sold as females by a mistake. It’s because when they’re young, they don’t beat each other to death. But once they’re bigger, they start doing so.

One friend of mine experienced the same thing like you did.

Otherwise I can’t explain it.

Contributed by: Krystal Rembert»1

On: December 4, 2007, 8:14 pm

Well I’ve had my betta for a month now, he was extremely happy and everything. I changed his tank (water) and everything else a week ago and the water is a little dirty again. He began chasing his tail and actually eating it! He has some tears and it's kind of shredded. I’m so nervous.. Why is this happening? What should I do?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: December 5, 2007, 1:28 pm

@Krystal: Actually, I haven’t heard of eating it’s own fins yet (until now).

Firstly you should do basic tests in order to see what quality is the water of. In my opinion your Betta is stressed and this is why the problem exists. I need more information regarding what amount of water did you change, if you have enough plants in the tank, if there are more fish, etc.

I don’t recommend you to change more than 20% of water unless the pH, NO2 and dGH values are acceptable. I also recommend you to keep the water current at slow speed and a lot of plants are necessary for making every Betta happy. If your aquarium doesn’t meet these criteria, try to do your best. If your aquarium is natural as much as possible, then describe the problem in details and send me a few pictures of your fish and your aquarium as well, please.

Contributed by: Yvette»4

On: December 7, 2007, 2:51 pm

Hi
I am having a lot of trouble with my female bettas. All four of them died within a day of purchase for no apparent reason! I have a few males that are in separate cylinders (made of transparency sheets, and with holes at the bottom) (they are perfectly healthy) so that the females can swim around and meet all of them, within a 20 l tank. I was warned by our pet shop that the females die very easily, and most die within a day of being received from the suppliers, so I dont think it has much to do with me. Are they really that sensitive? I think there might not be enough space in my tank, but at the pet shop they have plenty of space and they die within 1 or 2 days there as well. I transferred them very gently after letting the bag warm up in the tank. My temperature stays around 26 °C.

Also, I think one of them might have gotten a fungus. (I can’t seem to figure out how to send you a picture...) she developed a whitish/grey patch on her side, which spread over her back and to the other side very quickly. There wasnt any fuz or anything, so i’m not sure. It has spread to my new guppies that I got after the females died, and they are also dying now. I have separated the affected ones and will treat them as soon as i can go get some medication. (After one of the guppies died, I transferred them to a new clean 30 l tank, leaving all the plants etc in the old tank.)

sorry for the long essay:)
ps, this all started about three days ago.

Am I doing anything wrong? What should I do? I have put in "anti stress" treatment today, along with a "general tonic" from TetraMedica.

regards Yvette

Contributed by: Yvette»4

On: December 7, 2007, 3:11 pm

After some internet research I think the diagnosis for those patches are "saddleback disease" or columnaris. The recommended treatment is Malachite green (except for fry), salt, Melafix, or antibiotics as a last recourse (such as Spectrogram, Furanace, or Sulfa-based products). Is this right? Is this disease fatal? What can I do to prevent this? How much of the abovementioned must I use in my 30 l tank? Thanks!

PS, I figured out how to send you pics if you would still like a few... :)

regards Yvette

Contributed by: admin»665

On: December 10, 2007, 1:22 am

Hi Yvette,

Firstly, in my opinion the shop which claims that most of fish die within 1 or 2 days after being received/transferred, is not a good place for buying your pets. I recommend you to find another one. I personally sold some bettas to shops and my goal was to sell healthy specimens.

You’re not doing anything wrong and who’s doing things wrong is the shop because they’re buying "fast grown" fish. This thing reminds me a lot of "fast money" stories; They are scam.

Regarding your second message:

Each disease can be fatal in general. Since your bettas died immediately, I am sure that they were stressed too much. And what can you do to prevent diseases?

1) Ask other people for their experiences with various shops and choose the one which are aquarists happy with the most.

2) Fish are like humans; Stress causes maybe 95% of diseases. You can help your fishes if the tank is planted enough, if the lighting turns on and off at the same time each day, if you feed them quality food and if you don’t "play" in the aquarium too much.

And regarding your question about amounts of these medicaments... There should be some guide on every product. Just follow these guidelines. Sorry for being too short with this one, but it’s really a matter of products. And products may be different in various countries.

Contributed by: Yvette»4

On: December 10, 2007, 10:21 am

Thank you very much. Sadly all the fish died, and now the male fighters are also dying. The one died of fin rot, the one of saddleback disease. One now has fungus growing on his side.

We are feeding them special betta pellets and frozen bbs in alternating sessions. Our light is monitored and timed. We have plastic plants in the tank, and we try to disturb the tank only when absolutely neccessary.

We treated the fish with what a few petshops recommended that worked best for them (general tonic) and now out of desperation started salt dipping them. The one with the fungus seems to be doing ok. He isn’t getting better yet, but he isnt getting worse since we started with the salt.

I fear that saddleback disease is a rapid killer. Once signs started to show, it took less than 2 days before the affected died (with or without treatment). It also seems quite contagious. The best lesson I learned is to CHECK ALL FISH before buying them, and keep them separated for at least a week before adding them to your tank! We lost over 15 fish due to one fish that we bought that had the infection. Very expensive and sad lesson to learn this way! Hopefully my next post will be one filled with good news.

Thank you again!
Regards
Yvette

Contributed by: Jason»2

On: December 10, 2007, 2:24 pm

Hello,

Our female betta used to be agressive towards our community tank and took the eye out of one of our Rasbora which infact is still alive and the best comunity fish we have ever had, anyway we moved the Female Betta to her own tank and got her a male, they have never gotten on so have always seperated them by a netting, the female this week has become very lethargic and is sitting on the bottom of the tank, she is very fat and has lost some of her scales on one side of her body, we have decided to add the male to be with her, do you advise this and does her condition sound fine or should we be worried.

Many Thanks

Jason

Contributed by: Yvette»4

On: December 13, 2007, 8:58 am

I am very happy to report that the four fighters that are left are still alive, and blowing happy bubbles! :) the one lost half his tail due to finrot, but he seems well now:)

Glad I couldbring some good news for a change!
Regards
Yvette

Contributed by: admin»665

On: December 14, 2007, 12:25 pm

Hi Jason,

This is probably caused by eggs which filled up her and now she will probably die. You must let females breed at least once each three months, otherwise their lifes are in danger.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: January 16, 2008, 7:28 pm

Hi its Georgia, again. About 4 months ago I managed to get my fighting fish to breed and they had babies. The babies were about 2 - 3 months old and they just all died one by one, I don't know why. They were around a cm long at the time, the female was there with them but she was never interested in eating them. So that batch all died unfortunately.

I tried again a few days ago (months after the last spawn), everything went well, they spawned and he did everything he was supposed to. He became aggressive towards her about a few hours after the spawn so I separated them. Later on the female laid more eggs without the male being there? Confusing...

Anyway meanwhile the male seemed to be looking after the eggs but the next morning they were all gone.

Yesterday they did another spawn and I think he has eaten these eggs once again. Why is he doing this? He also won’t eat any food that I put in there... The usual food that I always give him...?

Hopefully you can help me again, thanks.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: January 18, 2008, 1:07 pm

Hi Georgia, I am glad to hear from you again btw;). I suppose that those 2-3 months old specimens were a cross-breed between siblings (direct or non-direct, it does not matter) or they were degenerated somehow. I experienced this kind of problem with other species myself.

Secondly, the breeding process is not predictable and sometimes it must be repeated in order to succeed. The male might be eating eggs if he’s old or if he doesn’t feel comfortable in the tank. This depends on the male’s personality completely.

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: January 19, 2008, 3:53 pm

What do you mean by cross-breed? I don’t really understand how that can effect the babies. Anyway, thanks for your help.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: January 20, 2008, 12:22 am

@Georgia: Sorry for misunderstanding. "cross-breed between siblings" was meant to be a situation when brother and sister (fishes of course) breed. Their babies can be genetically degenerated and even such newborns look well, they can die for no apparent reason (without suffering any well-known disease).

Contributed by: renee»1

On: January 20, 2008, 8:33 am

I have a female and a male and want to breed them but my female keeps running away from my male. What does that mean?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: January 20, 2008, 1:10 pm

A male is aggressive towards females by nature. You should be patient because mating requires time and the right conditions. It is very hard to answer your question; It can be a long-term problem but it can be also a temporary problem. This is my own experience.

Contributed by: Shinn»1

On: January 29, 2008, 3:41 pm

Hey I have a 20L tank with one male Betta and want to add a female in, if I do so then will I need a divider or will it be big enough to hold both of them providing I add a lot of plants a a few decorations? Thanks in advance.
Regards
Shinn

(the second message was attached into this comment by admin)

Hey its me again I'm so sorry but I meant 30L instead of 20L on the previous post. Does this mean it big enough for one male and one female Betta to be placed together without a divider providing its got a lot of plant and a few decorations?
P.S: I forgot to ask when you measure your Betta do you include its tail or is it just the body because I want to know if my Betta is big or not?
Thanks,
Shinn

Contributed by: admin»665

On: February 1, 2008, 8:59 am

@Shinn:

A 30G aquarium is big enough for 1 male and 1 female. I personally kept a pair in a 41L aquarium (11 US Gallons). Naturally, plants are necessary.

Regarding your second question: When you measure the fish, the length starts at it’s head and ends as the tail begins. So lengths are without tails.

Contributed by: Sharon»3

On: February 7, 2008, 12:26 am

I have a betta blue and red betta and he is named Spector. I have had him for about 6 weeks and have him on my desk at work. Over the past couple of days I have noticed he was chasing and biting away at his tail so I called and was advised to use Melafix. I put a teaspoon as directed in his very small tank of about 1-2 litres of water and then when I came to work this morning the water was all cloudy and he was gasping for air (I put it in about 15 hours prior) I cleaned his tank as soon as I noticed and now he is very inactive on the bottom of the vase I have him in and almost burrowing into the rocks. I fear I have poisoned him? He hasn't eaten and when he does try to swim to the top he sort of fades back down to the bottom. Can you help?

Contributed by: pops»2

On: February 14, 2008, 11:17 pm

I have 2 male bettas who were fighting. I just want to know how long does it take for the fins to grow back.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: February 17, 2008, 1:50 pm

@pops: It completely depends on what you feed your fish. Foods based on meat = fast regeneration.

In my experience it takes up to 6 weeks until fins grow back.

Contributed by: caz»1

On: February 17, 2008, 3:23 pm

I have just started with fighting fish and my male fighter keeps stretching out its fins and opening its opercula to the females and chasing them. I'm worried that it will fight with them, please can you help me?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: February 20, 2008, 2:16 am

@caz: This is normal behaviour. It’s how males try to attract females. If the male is very aggressive towards the female, you should separate them with a divider or keep them in different aquariums. Or you can put a lot of plants there in order to give the female enough places where she’s not seen by the male.

Contributed by: Worried Parent»1

On: March 23, 2008, 10:06 pm

I can’t get any photos of my sick betta because I don’t have a working camera, but please try to help as much as you can, I’m very worried about my baby.

For about a month now, my baby’s tummy has been swollen up like a balloon. I’ve tried everything from regular water changes to diet changes. It has crossed my mind that maybe the poor thing is constipated, but I can’t find any information about how to fix this problem.

Please help, as his belly does seem to be getting bigger as the weeks go by!!!

Contributed by: deborah»4

On: March 24, 2008, 7:42 am

Hi there, I hope you can help. My son was given a red betta on friday and it was moving around about 3 hours ago, we had to bring the tank home in the car, so today I filled up the tank with some more water not too much and put the water stuff in. My son went into look at the fish and it was dead with like black fluffy bits from its mouth and eyes, what happened. Also do the betta’s not move much, do they lie around a lot, my niece works at a pet shop and she said that is what they are supposed to do, my boy is 9 and very upset.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: March 25, 2008, 10:06 am

@Worried Parent: It can be caused by: dropsy disease or by high concentration of ammonia/NO₂. Otherwise such disease can be caused by genes and thus can’t be cured.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: March 25, 2008, 10:33 am

@deborah: Actually it looks like a fungus. It is very difficult to say what happened as you didn’t provide us with detailed information. A lot of things could went wrong; a shock from the temperature change, a shock from the transport, very different types of water, and so on.

Bettas are lazy fish and they prefer laying on plants. They are moving especially during the feeding time and during breeding.

Contributed by: deborah»4

On: April 1, 2008, 8:17 am

Thanks for your answer, we figured out what happened, I filled up the tank to the top, it has a lid on it and the poor little fish couldn't breathe, I didn't know that they needed air until I read all the info on your sight.

I bought my son a new betta and there have been no problems.

Thanks for your help, this is great website loads of info.

Contributed by: Anonymous»70

On: April 1, 2008, 3:04 pm

My male is guarding the bubble nest but I don’t know if she has released her eggs ye,t but he keeps chasing her away from the nest. So should I move the female into another tank?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: April 1, 2008, 11:54 pm

@Anonymous: Eggs can be seen easily. Check the nest from the bottom view, please. If there is nothing else than bubbles, then the eggs haven’t been released yet.

Moving the female to another tank can help breeding as the male will be interested in breeding much more after some spending the time alone;).

Contributed by: Anonymous»70

On: April 29, 2008, 9:40 am

Hi, can someone help me to choose which aquarium plants best suit for fighting fish?

Contributed by: gary»5

On: April 29, 2008, 12:12 pm

I have shortfin males and I'm looking for a mate for my fish. Do know what size of the tank I could use to start off with?

Answer this question also if my males are not building nest, do you know a solution that would make them start building their nest?

Contributed by: Georgia»15

On: May 5, 2008, 2:15 am

My female fighting fish hasn’t been looking very well for a while. It starts with what I thought might of been flukes around her gills a bit but she seemed fine she was swimming around like usual and eating and was normal. Over time some white spots appeared that are a bit bigger than the ones you get with white spot, but only on one side of her body around the top half. She still seemed fine but recently she seems to be having trouble swimming and she seems a bit stiff and she gets exhausted from just swimming to the surface so she stays on the bottom almost all the time. I have also noticed some little white kind of worm things, hundreds of them about 1mm long on the glass and swimming around, there are lots of them. Still they don’t seem to be attacking her or anything but I don’t know what they are. If you could give me a diagnosis so I can get rid of the disease, that would be great. I tried to get rid of the disease by putting the multi-cure (malachite green, methylene blue, acriflavine) but that did nothing... so after a few weeks with that it... I did a 95% water change to get rid of it and I put some salt in the water because the bacteria and fungus can’t handle the salt. But this seems to have done nothing either. I did just recently try stress coat which is meant to be good for fish but I don’t think it has don’t much. Thanks

Contributed by: admin»665

On: May 6, 2008, 5:48 am

@Anonymous: These plants are appreciated by Bettas:

Anubias species as fish can lay on them all day long, Pistia Stratiotes as this plant helps them building nests, Cryptocoryne species as these offer a lot of hiding places, Egeria Densa, and Echinodorus.

@gary: Use the largest aquarium which you can. Bettas like open spaces and a lot of plants. Basically a lot of plants require a lot of space. Regarding your second question, you could feed them bloodworms or other live food. Frozen food should help too.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: May 7, 2008, 4:36 am

@Georgia: White spots can be caused by more diseases. Let’s go through them (which I know):

1) Chilodonella
2) Tetrahymena
3) Trichodina
4) Miscellaneous infection
5) Bacterial infection

I’d say that the first and second options are what’s going on in your Betta’s case. Both diseases can be cured by Sera products (costapur and ectopur). Of course, you may buy some other product. I hope that the diagnosis is right. It’s hard to be 100% right without seeing pictures (if you decide to send me pictures, the email address can be found at the top - under the main picture of the fish).

Contributed by: Elise»1

On: August 4, 2008, 1:19 pm

Hello,

I hope you can help me... I have one female beta and one male, and I’ve recently become interested in breeding them. I’ve been keeping my male in a breeding tank and he’s been building bubble nests more and more often... So I showed him the female with a chimney glass, and she teased him after being terrified for a while.I woke up yesterday to find a huge bubble nest... The largest I’ve seen so far, really. So I let the female go...and I’ve been observing their actions.

She just avoids him and swims away really fast... She hides in the plants and stays away from him best she can... Yet, my female has a white spot around her anal fin and has vertical stripes. Do you think that maybe I should try and use a different male? Or a different female, maybe?

Help would be nice... I have about a 40L tank for them, so there is plenty of room. Or too much room? Well, I hope someone gets back to me on this. That’d be so helpful.

Contributed by: Thiago»1

On: August 13, 2008, 12:52 pm

Hi, I bought a beautiful Betta fish a few weeks ago and I hve enjoyed the experience so much that I would like to buy another one. A friend of mine has two male Bettas side by side in different tanks. So that once in while when they notice each other they will open up and look really pretty ready to fight. But since they are not in the same tank they never get to hurt each other and go their own ways after a while. I was wondering.... Is that too stressful for the fish or is it ok to do it? I have a very spacious tank with a blue crowntail male and was thinking of buying the exact same tank to put a red crwontail right beside it. Is it ok you think? Thank you very much!

Contributed by: admin»665

On: August 16, 2008, 5:59 pm

@Elise: A 40L aquarium is not big enough for them in my experience. I kept 2 (male+female) Bettas in my 42L aquarium and the female was always "under pressure".

When I moved them to another bigger tank, aggression disappeared and they bred.

The female doesn’t feel comfortable - this is the problem in your case. You could try another female, however I’d go another way; Moving them to a bigger aquarium.

Contributed by: Momo`s mom»1

On: August 21, 2008, 3:18 am

Hi, I have had my betta, Momo, for nine months. He lives in a 4 gallon Biorb alone. With undergravel filter, water specs are great, and aquarium salt at all times. Water temp at 82 degrees. About a week ago he started acting really lethargic and not eating. Then I noticed some blood red spots on his fins (he is all white). I started treating him with Pimafix and the Jungle fungus eliminator. He continued to get worse although his fins were looking better. Yesterday I noticed he was laying on the bottom of the tank breathing really heavy. I pulled him out and put him in a one gallon bowl figuring that he didn’t have the energy to swim to the top for air. I was right. He floated at the top of the bowl breathing. But this morning I woke up and he had passed away and I noticed his belly (on the inside) was all black. Any idea what this is? Also, What do I need to do to my aquarium before adding more fish?
Thanks!

Contributed by: admin»665

On: August 21, 2008, 5:33 am

@Momo’s mom:

Well, there could be more reasons, however it looks like skin worms. This fits problems with skin. Breathing problems can be caused by gill worms for instance. It is very difficult to be accurate in this case. Anyway, there is one disease resulting from high levels of Ammonia and it has the same symptoms as you mentioned. The best treatment is changing water and improving oxygenation. But you’re saying that all parameters are fine.

The fish has died, so something must have been wrong. I am sure that changing all water would be the best thing you can do before adding new fish.

Contributed by: Gloria»1

On: August 28, 2008, 1:51 pm

Hi, I have 3 betta’s in separate bowls. each bowl is approx 2.5 Lt. I normally change the water 1 or twice a week.

I went on vacations for a week and left them with the 7 day feeding "fish" which I’ve done in the past w/o a problem. This time, one of them (Clifford) was not looking too happy and began to change colour from "beet red" to pale orange. He looks weak and swollen. He sinks very easily and is only active when he needs to bread and goes back to the bottom and lays wherever his weight takes him.

I changed the water last night as I regularly do and add the pH drops as well as Betta fix remedy and he seems the same. I feed him 3 to 4 small dry blood worms every 2 to 3 days. I feed him last night and he ate well but still weak and I decided not to feed him for a few days until I know for sure what else to do. Please, Please, is there anything else I could do?

Thanks!

Contributed by: admin»665

On: August 31, 2008, 11:19 pm

@Gloria: Loss of colour can be caused by more diseases and it’s not primary symptom of a disease. The same applies to being weak.

If I were you I’d use some strong antibacterial medicaments to try to cure him. Also bear in mind that there are diseases such as cancer which fish can suffer. These diseases have extraordinary symptoms. From what you wrote, all symptoms of your sick fish can be considered extraordinary; They don’t fall into any usual disease’s symptoms.

Contributed by: Nikki»1

On: September 3, 2008, 12:09 am

I just bought a male betta about a week ago and kept him in a 1/2 gallon tank. He seemed happy when I bought him, but upon further inspection I noticed he had fin rot. I put the right amount of medicine in the tank, and his tail is getting longer. Today I noticed he started building a bubble nest (Which he hasn’t done since I bought him) so I’m guessing he’s healing, right?

P.S. I’ve heard some people saying that a 1/2 gallon tank is too small, but I’ve kept a betta in there before who was always making bubble nests and swimming around at the sight of me so I figured it was alright.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: September 3, 2008, 6:59 am

@nikki: Yes, the fish should be not sick any longer. Regarding 1/2 G tanks: They are really small. It’s like living in a 3x4m room for a human. Give fish enough space.

Contributed by: Buddy`s Owner»1

On: September 18, 2008, 2:33 am

Hello. I have a dark blue betta. (well he’s mostly dark blue... he has a touch of red here and there as well).

I’ve had my betta for 2 years and about 4 months. I don’t know how long my friend had him before me. So I guess he’s getting kinda old.

He usually seems to do well... But lately he’s been sick and I don’t know what’s wrong with him. The first sign of him being sick was... he started changing color. He got this very light green patch going down his back. Then his fins started looking green. His top fin is almost completely green now. Its a very light pastel type green.. Almost a blueish color. His fins seem to be a bit clumped together too. And kinda jagged on the ends.

I’ve also noticed... He likes to stay at the bottom of the bowl now. And it seems to be a bit of a struggle trying to come up to the top to eat.

He used to eat the blood worms... but now he won’t touch them. He still eats the pellets though.

I’m very concerned about buddy. I keep reading about white stuff growing on them... but this looks more green, so i’m very confused.

Can you help buddy?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: September 25, 2008, 2:39 am

@Buddy’s Owner: This is the age. These fish usually don’t live more than 3 years and it’s very rare to see a such specimen (it’s actually rare to see a 2 years and 4 months old specimen too!). You cannot do anything, sorry.

I kept Bettas too and it was the same with them once they reached more than 2 years of age. I couldn’t help them.

One can try adding more vitamins into the water or you can try to use better food (if possible), but the end will come one day surely.

Contributed by: Rony»1

On: October 2, 2008, 10:19 am

Hi, I have a Siamese fighter fish.. I'm not sure it's a female or male... I bought it during an exhibition in Qatar.. I have had it since mid-July. I change water almost regularly because water gets cloudy pretty quick within 24 hours.. If it's hungry I can notice air bubbles stuck to top surface of water. Now when I feed him, he sinks down and his weight pulls it down. There is no discolouration, I haven't added any pH contents into water neither salt. I really need to know what's wrong with my fish. I like it to live longer... What can I do to make it survive longer with healthy life?

Contributed by: Sharon»3

On: November 1, 2008, 7:08 pm

Hi, I bought a male siamese fighting fish about 6 months ago & placed it in a community tank. He seemed to be loving it in there until one morning I noticed that half of his tail was gone - it was missing right up to the fleshy part. There was also a tinge of red. I thought that perhaps another fish had attacked him (although this hadn’t happened before & I hadn’t added any new fish). When I returned from work that afternoon a section of scales on his body were wrecked and the rest of his tail was missing. Overnight more parts of his body had this weird thing attack sections. It appeared to paralyse that part of the body. I removed him & put him in a smaller container so he could swim & breathe easier. But then his gills and fins became paralysed. He eventually died on me. All this happened within 36 hours. Is this a disease or is it just old age?? He didn’t change colour, stop swimming around the tank or go off his food. Is this normal ??

Contributed by: jess»4

On: November 8, 2008, 10:25 am

Hi, I would like to ask how long should the introduction of male and female bettas be? I have them separated by a divider. And may I/should I feed them while they are in the same tank together when breeding them? tnx..=)

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 14, 2008, 5:19 am

@Rony: In fact you answered the question; The problem is water. A well-cycled aquarium doesn’t need daily changes! I kept these beautiful fish in a tank without water changes for months.

I suppose that it’s maybe a dropsy disease, or gill worms, or some digestion-related disease. Antibiotics usually help, but always ask in the shop for more details about particular medicaments.

@Sharon: In fact, this is not normal. But without pictures or autopsy it is hard to tell you the reason why your fish died :( .

@jess: Introduction or feeding aren't related to breeding. When I bred these species, I kept them in one tank (without having a divider) and they lived/reproduced happily and easily.

Contributed by: Lauren»2

On: November 14, 2008, 10:06 am

I've just bought a red/black/blue Beta Crowntail and am feeling guilty about his living in a 2.5L fishbowl! I don't have much space and was wondering what is the smallest larger sized tank I should get for my Juno. I don't want to breed him or anything but I love his personality and want him round as long as possible! He has a few shells and a fake plant but I heard live plants are best. My mum is saying she had beta’s when we were younger in similar conditions that lived for a long time and died only when we were away in extremely cold weather, and is against my buying a bigger tank. On advice of the pet store assistant, I'm feeding him freeze dried bloodworms everyday, about 10 of them... Is this right?
Thanks for your help, I need it!

Contributed by: admin»665

On: November 14, 2008, 6:50 pm

@Lauren: Such a fish bowl is too small, we all know this. I recommend you at least a 40 litres aquarium. This is my personal experience.

Regarding bloodworms: This food is cool, fish love it. But don’t overfeed the fish and also feed him other types of foods. For example, flakes or Sera granules are very good. Using different food does make a sense since bloodworms can sometimes contain diseases (although any frozen food that I gave to my fish was OK), but changing food is also important due to vitamins and minerals that get into fish via food. Bloodworms cannot be considered 100% satisfying food as they don’t offer full spectrum of dietary needs.

Live plants are perfect for Bettas! My Bettas used to lay on plants all days (their long fins make it harder to swim, thus Bettas need slowly moving waters and plenty of plants).

Contributed by: Lauren»2

On: November 15, 2008, 8:27 pm

Ok then thanks for your help! Was much appreciated!

Contributed by: Michael»4

On: December 1, 2008, 8:27 am

Hi, I have a comunity fish tank. My fish are: 3 penguin tetra,1 plecostomus, 7 black neon tetra, 4 albino cory, 2 other black eyed cory, 2 angel fish, 5 glowlights,1 molly, 2 skirt tetras, 2 kulhi loach and 4 otocinclus. (ouf!)

My tank is a 32 gallon. CAN I PUT A MALE OR FEMALE BETTA INSIDE?

Which one is the least agressive? Crown betta...etc.

PS: Do you think my O₂ bubble maker could be too stressful for them?

Please help me!
(I know,I know... They might attack my angel...)

Contributed by: jahmali»1

On: December 2, 2008, 2:02 pm

Hi, I am thinking of breeding fighting fish in a cement outdoor pond I just made from cement bricks. It can carry around 2,5 meters long, 1 meter high and 70cm wide. I will put a lot of plants and rock in it. Can I breed normal like in the nature, so leaving the female and put the baby fish in another thank when they can swim?

P.S. I live in Aruba D.W.I. tropical island, 32 Celcius during the day, 27 at night.

Let me know please. Thanks in advance.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: December 3, 2008, 8:45 pm

@Michael: In my opinion you keep enough specimens in your aquarium already. Bettas need slow water stream and they also prefer species tanks instead of community aquariums.

I definitely recommend you to avoid adding a Betta into your current fish tank.

Contributed by: Michael»4

On: December 4, 2008, 1:11 pm

Thank you for answering my question Admin. I really apreciate your opinion. I’ve decided to not add one(which sux!).

Thanks again and that’s all for me... Oh! And I am adding 10 more! This sunday.

Can a 32 gallon fit 44 fish if I keep them stressless and clean? You don’t have to answer this one... ^_^ ...I already got a negitive respond out of a aquarium blog. I am sure there is a positive opinion that exists. There has got to be a way... héhéhé!

Contributed by: admin»665

On: December 14, 2008, 6:59 am

@Michael: In fact, a 32 Gallon tank is not sufficient for 44 fish by any guide. If you were going to listen to all guides, then you’d find out that some things just don’t work.

But... I have personally kept more than 100 fish in a 81 L tank and they all survived, experienced no problems and they even bred. How did I achieve it? 2 strong internal filters, cleaned at least two times a week. A lot of plants and a lot of food. On the other hand, I am going to move these fish (there are less than 100 specimens in the tank currently as I sold many) to a bigger aquarium. Ammonia can’t be good in such conditions.

So... It’s possible. But you have to be very careful.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: December 16, 2008, 6:17 am

@jahmali: Yes, you can breed them normally in such conditions. In fact, babies can be kept along with parents until they become 3cm long. Then it’s recommended to separate males as they tend to fight.

Contributed by: morgan»3

On: February 5, 2009, 10:47 am

Hello,

I have a male and a female in the same tank and nothing has happened to the male, but the female is losing her colour. I feed them a tropican medley food from bettamin and it says it has enhances colours... Why is my female losing her colour?

Contributed by: LUKE H»1

On: February 9, 2009, 1:03 am

Hi, I have had a male for about 3 weeks and wanted to put some females in! I got 3 females and put the in, now all the females stay at the bottom of the tank and don't move a lot! Is the normal?

They are in a 20l tank with heater set to 80 and a working filter! I feed them flack food but the females aren't interested in it much! This has been just over 24 hours since I put them in....

Contributed by: admin»665

On: February 11, 2009, 12:01 am

@morgan: The female may be losing her colour because of a few reasons. Firstly, the male could be harassing her. This reason is actually the most common.

Otherwise your fish could feel uncomfortable in the aquarium because of other reasons that the male’s presence. Inadequate water conditions (the male can react differently, or he could have grown in different aquariums), water flow or so. But I’d say it’s the male who’s causing your fish’ behaviour problems.

@LUKE H: See the answer above. You cannot expect these fish to live happily in a 20L aquarium. Upgrade to 120L or even 200L and you should see a difference in their behaviour.

Contributed by: LUKE+H»1

On: February 12, 2009, 3:19 am

OK, I might just do that. Now they are eating and moving around more but we will See how it goes. Thanks for your help!

Contributed by: Anonymous»70

On: February 25, 2009, 1:36 pm

We have had a fighting fish for 2 months who was happy until this week. He sits at the bottom of the tank, won’t eat and looks ’sad’. Tank is as recommended by the pet shop. We feed him flakes. Help?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: March 2, 2009, 6:37 am

@Anonymous: In fact you described nothing. Size of the aquarium, pH, dGH, average temperature, water flow, tank mates? These things are necessary to help you. In addition, are there any other symptoms? Describe the problem in depth and someone can help you. Otherwise it won’t work.

Contributed by: Jimmy»2

On: March 6, 2009, 4:22 pm

Hello, I have a male in the 10L round tank with a live plant in it. Today I bought him 2 females. However, when I introduced the females in, 1 of the females suddenly changed the colour from Dark blue to white. Can anyone tell me what is going on? When I am writing this, she is changing a "little bit" ( very little ) back to blue.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: March 10, 2009, 11:04 pm

@Jimmy: It’s stress. Nothing less, nothing more. However, I am unsure about keeping 2 females and 1 male in a 10L aquarium. You will very likely need a bigger one, otherwise at least one female is going to die soon (this is based on my experience).

Contributed by: Audrey»1

On: March 21, 2009, 7:24 am

I have a question that might be rather silly, but I’m still new to this! Are there any other types of fish/creatures I can place in the same tank as a betta male?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: March 24, 2009, 6:26 am

@Audrey: Naturally, there are such fish. Dwarf gouramis for instance. However, you should always bear in mind that Bettas don’t like companion; Not because of aggression or so. Instead, it’s because of their social feelings.They (Bettas) don’t like to be disturbed. I kept Bettas in the past and everything went well until I added tankmates (Tetras).

However, Bristlenose catfish should get along with Bettas very well. You may keep a pair of these beautiful fishes if your aquarium is big enough. They would breed which is good not only in terms of selling the juveniles.

Contributed by: Mil»1

On: March 26, 2009, 9:30 pm

I have successfully bred a pair of Blue Crown Tail Fighters and the baby fish are 10 days old. When will the pair be ready to breed again and how often can I breed them? Does breeding the pair often shorten their life span?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: March 31, 2009, 7:13 pm

@Mil: It usually takes between 1 and 2 months until the female is ready to spawn again. It is always very difficult to say, because they don’t release all eggs sometimes. It practically means that sometimes the female can breed just on another day.

Also the food determines when they’re ready again. Bloodworms and basically any food with high nutrient value helps this process.

Breeding doesn’t shorten their lifespan. In fact, it helps the female to release eggs which is very important for life. If they don’t release eggs, they can die (and will sooner or later!).

Contributed by: :Dbub:D»1

On: April 16, 2009, 8:21 pm

Hello. I have a female betta and a male betta in a tank around 2 and a half L.It was designed for two males (so they went colourful). It has a divider piece od plastic down the middle. I put a male in one side and a female in the other, but the female jumped into the other side overnight. The female keeps hiding down the bottom. What will happen if I leave her there?
Thanks.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: April 22, 2009, 9:25 pm

@:Dbub:D: The female will probably die. Even though there’s no guarantee of this scenario, it is very likely that it’ll happen.

Contributed by: Anonymous»70

On: April 27, 2009, 2:45 pm

Hi, I have two female bettas, one red and one blue, that I had recently bought, and set them in a tank with a blue tinted divider in the middle and ever since they got home, both of them have been flaring at each other, for hours and hours, when they started to calm down, I removed the divider and at first one of the females was chasing at the other (I thought this was normal behaviour), and the next day I found out that the one that was being chased (red) had some fins torn not bad at all. The red female has not eaten for 3 days now, but she has so much strength. So my question is, do you think this is normal behaviour between 2 females? I isolated the blue one that was doing the attacking and now the red one just flares and taunts at the blue one.

Contributed by: admin»665

On: May 1, 2009, 10:39 pm

@Anonymous: It is normal behaviour if the tank isn’t big enough for all of them. For instance, in a 40 L aquarium they will behave this way more likely than in a 400 L aquarium. In the past I’ve kept Bettas and some level of aggression between females was seen.

Adding a male should fix the problem. However, I wouldn’t do it in a tank which is smaller than 100 litres (or in a heavily planted 50+ L aquarium), otherwise the male can kill the females easily.

Contributed by: Brandi»1

On: May 10, 2009, 4:37 pm

My betta has a huge white lump on the side of his head. I’ve been reading copiously and can’t find any mention of what it could be. It’s not pop-eye and I don’t think it’s a fungus. He lives in half of a 10 gallon tank with a bunch of spiral snails. The other side has half a dozen glow fish and a goldfish who all seem happy and well. I’ve been putting melafix in his side, and changing the water more, but he doesn’t seem to be getting better =/. He’s lived for a good month with it, but he’s getting sluggish, and I’m afraid the end is near. I’ll upload a picture so you can see.

Contributed by: Darlene»1

On: May 14, 2009, 8:32 am

Hi, I just began caring for my betta fish and I love him. He makes a bubble nest one after the other, but I want to know if I should give him a female or if he is just happy. The temperature is 77 degrees and the hardness of the water is good too. I think the tank is about 1.5 or 2.0 gallons. He is all by himself, with gravel and a plant. He has not been changing color, only that his scales are much brighter, which I think is the tank adjuster, which puts a coating on the betta to protect against fin damage. I really want to know because he has made the nests on the sides of the tank and on the plant. I really want to know because I need an excuse to get another betta! ;D

Contributed by: admin»665

On: May 14, 2009, 3:18 pm

@Brandi: Firstly, you had to verify the upload by email. This didn’t happen (maybe the email was automatically moved to the junk folder or so), but anyway I checked the picture.

It seems to me that it’s some kind of skin infection, but it can be also tumour or abscess. One of my fish has the same thing on it’s mouth and it lives this way maybe a month or two. It doesn’t grow any more last 2-3 weeks.

Contributed by: Rob M.»1

On: May 31, 2009, 8:50 am

I would like to know more about the black and yellow bettas. I know they are rare and I would love to know where I can find one. I came across 1 yellow many years ago at a pet store. Had it on hold but someone else sold it by accident. Since then have never seen them again. Thank you for your time.

Contributed by: Nicoletta»1

On: June 5, 2009, 2:27 pm

The other day I was at my local pet shop and I noticed that one of their bettas looked very sick, it was in a tiny jar about the size of my fist and was pale and had very small fins that looked like they had been torn. I have brought a fish from there once (a betta) and it died shortly after I brought it. Before it died it barely moved around and always hid at the back of it’s tank. It was also very dirty (as in it made it’s tank dirty). I cleaned the tank and it died the next day after I changed it’s water. I think I may have accidentally killed it by stressing it out too much when I changed its water.

Contributed by: anomynos»1

On: June 27, 2009, 9:13 pm

Um, my fish keeps hanging at the top of the tank perfectly fine and everything but it won't eat anything!

Contributed by: Lindsey»1

On: July 25, 2009, 11:38 am

I have one big healthy male and two females. Would a 10 US. Gallon tank be big enough to keep them in with lots of places for the females to hide?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: July 25, 2009, 3:28 pm

@Lindsey: Yes, it will be big enough. I kept a pair of Bettas in a similar aquarium in the past and succeeded in breeding them.

Contributed by: shannon»2

On: July 26, 2009, 7:55 am

What does it mean if my male betta fish is fat and has tiny bubbles floating on top of aquarium, but no female is present in the tank?

Contributed by: admin»665

On: July 26, 2009, 3:33 pm

@shannon: He’s just making a nest as he feels fine. If he’s fat, then you’re most likely overfeeding him.

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