Betta fish

[Michie]

How often are you supposed to feed betta fish? I am not having very good luck with my DD's fish. We have to take it to the vet about every 6 months

 

[Pop Daddy]

3 times a day

 

[Michie]

3 times a day

I am thinking you don't have pet fish or you take yours "to the vet" alot as well

 

[DVCLiz]

Good grief, you mean you got yours to live more than six months???

I'll have to say, though, that ours probably wasn't helped any by having the cat scoop it out with her paw and chew it, then leave it on the kitchen floor for me to find in the morning!!!

Sorry - I am on my last little bit of patience with all the small pets my children have collected through the years. We are down to one beta fish, a guinea pig, 2 cats and a dog. I love the dog and the cats (although one cat is 18 and will have to be put to sleep soon, I fear) but I feel like I've done my time with the various fish, reptiles, amphibians and other small creatures my daughter has begged for and then ignored until they died (after being lovingly cared for by me, so no flames about neglect, please!!)

I'll be checking this thread, too - just in case someone knows what it is that beta fish need -hmmmmm, not to suggest that I would EVER neglect to follow that advice!!!

 

[Serena]

How often are you feeding it and how much? they really need very little.

 

[Michie]

How often are you feeding it and how much? they really need very little.

Well...not as often as Pop Daddy, maybe once a week, a couple of flakes at a time.

 

[Serena]

Are you feeding it beta food?

They need just the size of their eye, once a week or so. Maybe even two weeks. I forget we have one sometimes. It's another part of my zoo I call home.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Mines been alive since Feb. or so... I honestly can't recall when we got him. Maybe it was after that.

Anyway, we feed him once a day, just a little bit.

 

[Regina]

DUH! At first I thought that you actually brought a betta fish to the vet.

DD got one last year while at college. Rocky hung in thru most of this summer. When he started to look a bit "off" I went out and bought a new tank with an air pump, rocks, plastic plants, water treatment stuff, etc. It ended being about $50.00 worth of supplies for a $3.00 fish. He still took a "trip to the vet."

She took the tank back to school with her and is getting a new occupant for it. I can't wait.

 

[ElizK]

DD10 has had her beta more than a year!! She feeds it a tiny pinch once a day. Quite a few times I thought he was a goner, but, when I tapped on the bowl, off he swam!

 

[mommytotwo]

We have the Awua Culture Color Enhancing Diet, and give our fishes like four or five pellets each day. Each pellet is really tiny and you can feed it to them one at a time to be sure that it is eatten. If there are ones that are not eatten, they recommend that it be removed so that the water does not cloud up.

 

[Tinkim]

DD10 has had her beta more than a year!! She feeds it a tiny pinch once a day. Quite a few times I thought he was a goner, but, when I tapped on the bowl, off he swam!

That's so funny. My DD8 had a beta fish for almost two years. She or more likely me or her dad fed it once a day just a little bit. I also thought that fish was dead a bunch of times but I would tap the glass and he would wake up and swim off. When he finally did die I did the same thing and he didn't move. DD was very sad but I have to say cleaning out the tank was pretty gross and I had no idea he would live for close to 2 years. Everyone else we knew had a hard time getting their fish to live for 2 weeks!

 

[Cruisin]

We have a beta fish that lives on our kitchen counter. He has been there a year or more by now.

I feed that fish several times a day, several pellets at a time.

When I am at the counter he looks at me and wants to eat, so I feed him

I hardly ever change the water either, maybe about once a month or even longer in between than that.

So far he is hanging in there pretty good.

We secretly think that it is because he lives next to the microwave and is a radioactive fish

 

[Serena]

Hmmm, I think I may need to feed this one a little more often.

 

[Disney Doll]

Good grief, you mean you got yours to live more than six months???

I'll have to say, though, that ours probably wasn't helped any by having the cat scoop it out with her paw and chew it, then leave it on the kitchen floor for me to find in the morning!!!

LOL DVCLiz!!!! As a general rule, it is not helpful for a fish to play with a cat!!!!

My DNiece has a Betta Fish (aptly named Gil!!!) who is 2 years old!!! Gil was actually playing with a cat once too, but was saved before succumbing to his injuries, being out of the bowl etc.

Anyhow, she gives him a pinch of Betta Fish food every day. Gil travels a lot between Vermont (college) and Connecticut(home) in a Tupperware container and does very well most of the time...it did spill once, but "Gil Of The Thousand Lives" lived to tell about that too!!!!!

He's quite a lot of excitement for a little fish.

 

[Chatter Box]

I have 2 Betta Fish. One eats the small pellets and gets 3 pellets a day. I was even told they can eat every other day or 2 days. I have had him for about 2 and 1/2 years. The other one is new, I won him at the Boardwalk and I think they fed him flake food because that is all it eats. He won't eat the pellets I use Tropical Fish Flakes and crunch them really small and feed him once a day.

 

[minkydog]

We have two bettas--Warren Betta and Tinkerbell. DH feeds them a tiny amount of flakes every day and they have been with us about 2-3 yrs. Much of the day they look like they're dead, but they do a little dance when they see DH approach.

 

[aprilgail2]

Mine eats one time a day and 3 little pellets each time. The water should be changed once a week and all the gravel and plants rinsed out too- and I usually fill a jug with water 3-4 days prior to Sunday (which is bowl changing day) so the chemicals get out of it prior to putting the fish in it....my friend uses distilled water for hers-she has had hers for over 2 years now-I don't use plastic plants, I have a real plant in the borl with our fish-its not one of those tiny bowls, its like one of the goldfish type bowls...
Hermione Granger seems to be doing well with this system so I will keep with the recommended system.

"The beauty about betta fish is that they don’t need a large tank to survive, they can cope quite well in a small bowl or those hexagonal fish tanks with no requirement for a filtration/aeration system running. This is because betta fish can live in water with low oxygen content after all, they did originate from the rice paddies of Thailand and Malaya. Keep them in a warm area – they are tropical fish! Whilst I did keep my betas in little jam jars, now that I am older and wiser, I find it rather cruel to keep them in anything smaller than a small gold fish bowl

The advantage of keeping your bettas in a tank rather than a bowl is that you can now decorate his surroundings and the likelihood of him getting sick from you neglecting to change his water often enough is smaller. And there are some betta owners who will swear that having a tank system with a full on filtration system running does seem to make for a happier fish. Contrary to popular belief, you can keep betta fish with other fish, just not another betta! That way you can really see the full splendor of your beta when it’s ‘flaring’ his fins and carrying on! And yes, as in most species in the animal world, it’s the males that are the dressier gender – all the betta fish you would find in pet stores would undoubtedly be male, the female beta is a bit on the dull side. Generally, the smaller the container for your betta fish, the more likely you need to do frequent water changes. They aren’t particularly fussy about food, you can feed them once a day or twice if you feel the urge to. There is even specially formulated betta fish food now available! Don’t overfeed because it would foul up the water and whilst betas aren’t too fussed about a bit of organic matter in the tank, it would be advisable to change the water at least once a week. Just remember to use pre-aged water (not straight from the tap) – preferably left for at least 24 hours to let the chlorine dissipate or use one of the water agers on the market if you want to speed up the process.


What about those funny bubbles on the top of the tank that the betta fish seem to be making continually? Well, that’s just his way of making a ‘nest’. You see, in the wild, male betta fish make these lovely bubble nests and then when a female comes along, there’s a tribal dance routine with a lot of flashing of his fins and when she’s suitably impressed, she will spawn and he will fertilise the eggs as they are laid. Then, the loving daddy that he is, he will pick up those eggs in his mouth and place them in his bubble nest. That’s the end of their brief interlude together and just as the black widow spider will turn on the male after relations, so will the male betta turn on the female if she doesn’t turn tail and make herself scarce! The male beta fish will then care for the eggs till they hatch…after which he may choose to devour some of his young…so much for paternal love hey? Read on about breeding betta fish."