How to prolong your betta's fins

I have found that Pete's fins have been slowly worn away, from swimming along the glass of his tank repeatedly, Pete was trying to get at his food dish that I keep in front of his tank. After the container was covered with some paper, he almost instantly swam to the middle of his tank. hopefully, this should stop his fin wear and help him grow them longer.

Poor Pete

Poor Pete caught ick, it might have been the water, it might have been some leftover food, who knows. anyhow, I just removed him, put in 8 drops of quICK and put him back in again. The next morning, I walk into the the living room to find a very happy, and hungry Pete looking eager for his breakfast (thank goodness)

Bad idea

You know how in a post I put up earlier, I suggested that you should leave a plant floating in the tank, well make sure that it is a silk plant. The plant that I used ripped up Pete's fins pretty badly. I have since taken the plant out and started looking for some new plants for him.

best tank for your betta

In many pet stores, they show the bettas looking nice in tiny glass or plastic bowls. Many people think that a betta likes being in a small bowl. The thing is, betta fish HATE them, it will aslso shorten their life, with no space to swim, they get fat and die. The best you can do for them is to give them a large TANK over 5 gallons with a lot of decorations. Go with a tank that is wider than it is deep, betta fish require air to live and need to get it every couple minutes (tall tanks would restrict there time swiming on the bottom).

betta fish decorations

so far I have found that if you leave one plant floating in the center of the tank. Pete loves having it floating around his tank and swiming in and out. Another thing he likes is a backdrop I made for him with some bright magazine cutouts. he spends hors looking at it.

betta fish cruelty

I saw the most horrible thing in a large department chain store a couple days ago. In a tank with about 2 inches of water, there where two, tiny little female betta fish, about a month or two old. It took all of my will power not to buy them on the spot. Around them were little male bettas and a few females about the same age in dixie cups. How cruel for an animal to be treated like that. Sure bettas can live in little water, but why wouldn’t you give them the best environment possible to live in?
Here are just a few of the cruel tanks made to make the bettas look like a piece of art

betta fish tricks

Here are some of the things you need

A Betta fish (obviously)
non corrosive metal or plastic
a little time
food
a stick capable of holding food

One of the simplest ways to train your fish is with imprinting which involves an action and a reward. Example, put a ring in the water suspended by some string, then place a small piece of food on the other side. Hopefully the betta will swim through the ring to claim the food, after he has done this, give him the rest of his meal. repeat this for a while until you see that the fish will swim to the ring even with no food, now you just have to place the ring in the water. Only give the fish after he (or she) has gone through the ring.



After the fish can move through the hoop very well, you can stop training for a few days, make shure you still get the fish to swim though the ring every couple days to keep him trained for next time you have dinner guests.

After your fish can swim through the hoop, you can make the entrance smaller and the ring longer, now you have a tunnel! or you could add a row of hoops, you could make an obstacle coarse, the possibility’s are endless! you can also imprint the fish to a stick (no, not one you just find in the park, one made of non degradable plastic or non corrosive metal) by putting food on it and putting it in the water, the beta will see the food, see the stick, grab food from stick. do this for a few weeks until betta will swim to location of stick, ya now you can take your beta for a walk by putting the stick in the water and slowly moving it along so the beta will follow it.

betta sickness

Betta fish, because of there large fins, have a tendency to get fungal infections, this happens to may fish because the owner wasn’t prepared.

The most common sicknesses are cotton fuzz, A kind of fungus that grows on the fish, the early warning signs of this is: the fish flicking itself on decorations on the tank, white stuff starting to grow on the gills, this can normally be treated with quICK a type of antibiotic or an other antibiotic. (NOTE.this is sometimes found with fin rot, see below)

Fin rot eats the fins of the fish. the early warning signs are: little holes in the fin of the fish, the fish seems drowsy and is floating on the surface of the tank. this is normally caused by dirty water or the fish cut itself on something in the tank. changing the water, removing the ornament that cut them, or treating them with jungle fungal treatment should help.



this is an example of fin rot, it has started to heal

Ick is little white spots on a fish, they are hard to see some time, if your fish starts looking drowsy, has a loss of appetite, or is just staying on the surface gulping air, check it for white spots. treat it with quICK and change it water.

pineconeing is when your fish’s scales sort of stick out, making it look like a pine-cone, this is normally a result of over feeding, constipation, or dropsy, to help the beta, if he is overfed just stop feeding it for a wile, the same is true for constipation, another thing you can do for constipation is to cut a pea in half and feed it to the beta, the pea will clean him out.

pop eye is caused by a fungus in the fish’s eye that is causing it to swell, this is caused by dirty water ( wow lots of cause in that sentence ), change the water once every day for a fish that is in a two gallons or smaller, once a week in a larger tank, after the third change, treat water with antibiotics and continue changing water for another week or so.

parasites are small creatures on your fish normally around the gill and eye area, again caused by poor water conditions, change the water and treat with antibiotics or aquarium salt

more on betta fish

Betta fish are interesting fish, they develop personalities, some Betta fish will live in a community tank better than others. No Betta fish will live peacefully with all fish. The kink of fish you can keep all depends on the temperament of your betta fish. Betta fish will live with Cory cats, neon tetras, guppies, cat fish, and other larger, peaceful fish.

Everything you need can be purchased for under 25 dollars (you may want to spend more to get the best for your betta). Many betta’s will live for 5 years if taken care of properly. When feeding betta fish be careful, they can be picky and swallow it, only to spit it out again. Most will be happy with blood worms ( Dried mosquito larva ) and I have never seen a fish that doesn’t eat live Brine Shrimp. make sure to get an emergency fish kit with extra food and many different kinds of medicine. I have one betta (a metallic blue male withe red fins named Pete) fish that is thriving. Betta fish are also very smart and are able to do tricks with proper training. They come in a variety of colors from white to blue to red. The one down side to bettas, is that the water needs regular changes, but if you feed them carefully, the water will only need to be changed 3 times a month in a larger tank. If it is cloudy it should be changed.

Many betta tanks come with food, but always check just in case it doesn’t. Betta fish are interested about everything and love watching things outside of the tank, mainly you, so put the tank in a high traffic area of your house with plenty of things to watch. Put lots of decorations in the tank. Betas love decorations. Be careful where you buy your fish from. Many pet stores have betta fish, but two stores I recommend are Total Pet and Pet land, Pet land requires you to sign a form saying that you will not abuse it, or leave it in a pet shelter and where would it go if you whent away from the house. Betta fish need caves or they will feel lonely and stay at the corners of the tank. Put a small cave made of shells or a pot in the tank. Don’t worry that you may never see your fish again, they will still come out, in fact they will probably come out more because they aren’t nervous from lack of shelter. A warning for beta fish owners: beta fish will kill other fish. Females are not as aggressive as the males but will still kill other fish. Snails in a betta fish tank are a bad idea they may eat waste and uneaten food, but they do have babies wich will over populate the tank and choke the betta for O2 (they get half of there O2 from the water) . I used to have about 50 snails , all from a pair of large pet store variety. If you want a female for any number of reasons, just ask the pet store, but the females have short stubby fins and aren’t as brightly
colored, but are still very pretty, and will cost less than the male.