Bettaz

I'm a bad fish owner...

2008-08-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

All my fish seem to be coming down with weird hybrid diseases! Alexander got what I think was Dropsy, then one day his fins turned completely gray and ragged, then just fell off. All in one day. It was so sad! :'( I had to euthenize him when I saw he wasn't going to get any better.

Napoleon has contracted what seems to be ick, popeye, and fin rot all at the same time! I bought him some medicine, and he's been improving. But I feel like such a bad owner!

If you have a fish that comes down with a disease and you don't know what it is, this page is a big help.

Sushi

2008-05-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

:( About two months after I got Sushi, he caught something. I'm not sure what it was, but he stopped eating and just kind of lingered at the bottom with his fins clamped together. I thought it was some shells I put in his tank, since I found out that they change the chemistry of the water. But after several water changes he didn't get any better, and he died couple of days ago.

Sushi

2008-04-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

I have named my fish, and his name is Sushi. :) He's extremely hard to take pictures of, but I've managed to get some.

Not very good photos, but you get the picture.

New Fishie

2008-03-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

I just bought a new fish. :)' He's a crowntail. And he has a bright purple body with clear fins. He's beautiful! I haven't thought of a name yet though....

I'll see if I can post a picture of him soon..

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

I'm going to catch some minnows for my fish's Thanksgiving dinner. ;)

Myths about Bettas III

2007-11-22T13:52:00.000-08:00

When their fish is sick and suffering, a lot of people go about ending their suffering the wrong ways. Like flushing them down the toilet. The fish won't die quickly and painlessly; it will wallow in chemicals for hours, days, or even weeks!

Another unacceptable method is when some people plunge a fish into freezing cold, or boiling water to kill it. How would you like it if that happened to you? The fish may take up to five minutes to die, and those five minutes will be agony. Be kind!

You can find humane methods of euthanization here.

Myths about Bettas, II

2007-11-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

A lot of people think that bettas are very happy and will stay healthier in small containers than they would in larger ones. This is not true. Though they can live in small cups, bigger is better in this instance because bettas need space to get excercise. Also, less space means the cup gets dirty quicker. This excerpt from my previous May post explains why bettas can live in small containers and not die:

Bettas are anabantoids, also sometimes incorrectly labeled anabantids. An anabantoid is a fish with a labyrinth organ, which is a is an organ which lets fish breath surface air, and live in very small spaces. (Wild bettas live/lived in shallow bodies of water, like flooded rice paddies.)

And on the other side of the spectrum, some people think that it is a horrible cruelty to keep bettas in cups, that they are unhappy, and will die. These people buy many cups of bettas from Walmart and Petsmart in the hopes of stopping the cruelty and giving the bettas a better life. Well, obviously we can't tell whether a betta is unhappy in the human sense of the word; and they won't die in small containers. And buying cups and cups of bettas will only make the store owners stock more of them. ;) But as I have said, it is better for them in larger containers and tanks.

Myths about Bettas

2007-11-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

There is a myth going around in pet stores and stuff that you can create an ecostystem for your betta. You take a peace lily plant and put it in with the fish, and he is supposed to live off its roots, while the plant lives off the fish's poo, and you never have to clean the tank.

This is NOT true! The fish may nibble the roots from extreme hunger, but they will eventually die. Plus, even if the plant did survive on fish poo, Betta fish produce high quantities of ammonia, and if the water is not changed regularly, the fish will get sick or die. So don't do the peace lily thing! ><>

A note of advice.

2007-11-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

If you have a betta, and the water level of the tank is less than three or so inches from the rim of the tank, I would really suggest you put a lid or something on the tank. I cannot tell you how many times I have neglected this, and my betta has jumped out. I've even lost a betta because of this. *R.I.P. Sunny.* So be kind!

Sea Monkeys vs. Brine Shrimp

2007-11-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

I didn't say this before, but in addition to feeding my fish live minnows, I also feed them Sea Monkeys, see picture above. (Sea monkeys are actually a little less than a centimeter long at adult length.)

You might be thinking, "Sea monkeys versus brine shrimp? What the heck is she talking about?" So I'll explain. The real picture is a brine shrimp. The one above is an illustration of a brine shrimp, fancifully called a Sea Monkey. Sea Monkeys are sold as pets with cute little tanks with castles in them and those whimsical drawings and stuff. Brine shrimp are sold as food for fish, with no tank and mercilessly real photos. I myself raise Sea Monkeys, not Brine Shrimp, because a friend of mine told me that sea monkeys work better. I have no confirmation on this, but Sea Monkeys are what I'm using at the time, and they're working great. So Sea Monkeys work better than Brine Shrimp, even though they're the same thing. Does that make sense? It doesn't to me either. ;)'

So what are brine shrimp? Well, they're these cool little crustaceans in the genus Artemia. I have no clue what the signifigance of that is, but I'll put it up there anyway. Anyway, the thing that makes them so cool is that the brine shrimp eggs aren't like normal eggs, where they hatch over a certain period of time. Brine shrimp eggs can stay in suspended animation for really long periods of time before hatching in the right conditions. And I'm talking decades. I think that's just amazing.
Raising them is just so easy! You just get a kit (sea monkey) and Take out the tank. Then you put *bottled* water in the tank, and add the contents of the first packet, which purifies the water. Then after 24 hours you add the second packet, which has the eggs! After a while you can see these little dots moving around in erratic patterns. Sea Monkey Babies! :)' After about five days, I add a small scoopful of the green packet, (containing food), and a large scoop of the purple/blue packet labeled "Sea Monkey Plasma". This is supposed to make more of the sea monkeys hatch and thrive. Then you add a large scoop of plasma every other week, and a small scoop of the food every couple days. You also squeeze the pump in the kit in the water frequently to oxygenate the sea monkeys. That's about it so far as I know, and for more a detailed version of this, you can just read the instructions. I don't know what exactly is in those packets, but I'm glad it works!

(You may have heard that thing in the Transformers theme song, where they say "Transformers: more than meets the eye! Transformers_ Robots in disguise", well my siblings and I say, "Sea Monkeys: more than meets the eye! Sea monkeys, brine shrimp in disguise!")

Update

2007-11-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

Quite a few things have happened since I've last posted... :(

Sunny hopped out of her tank. It was a while until I found her, and she was way far away from the tank. I put her back in, but she only lived one more day. :( Also, I gave away the juvenile to a friend, but it contracted severe fin rot and died. :(

These little emoticons look indifferent; I didn't know how to make them look more sad. '^o^'

Also, Ollie's swim bladder disorder doesn't seem to have completely gone away. At times she gets all tipsy and floats weird. But she's a kicker, and as long as she keeps eating regularly, she'll be fine. :I

Other than that, my fish are quite healthy.

These are my new fish!

2007-07-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

This is Alexander... (he doesn't take good pictures.)
And this is Sunny!

Erm, sorry people.

2007-07-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

Haven't been on in a while, sorry about that....

About Irwin, he wasn't to be. :( The fish people wanted to charge me 60 bucks for him! No thank you...

Instead, I've gotten a beautiful Super Delta male, and a lovely Super Delta/ Plakat mix. The latter is a juvie I got for free, and I don't seem to be able to tell its gender. The guy I bought it from said it's a female, but it has no egg spot, and it flares up.

I'll post pictures later.

What to feed your betta

2007-06-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

At the time you may be feeding your fish flake food or pellets. These are fine, but without any variation, your betta will almost inevitably suffer malnutrition. Pellets also are known to cause constipation in older or sickly bettas. Here I'll tell you what I feed mine, but I'm a bit obsessed with my bettas, and give them a wide variety, the size of which is very healthy, but not needed to keep the betta alive.

I've trained my fish to eat the kind of pellet food that floats as a main diet. (I use the floating kind because it's easier for them; they're adapted for it. *Notice the mouth is at the top of the head, not halfway down.* The pellets are a brand called Hikari Bettagold. I also feed them freeze dried bloodworms. (They smell like rice krispies. Yum yum!)

Bettas are carnivores, so I also feed them live food. We have a lagoon in the backyard with titchy little minnows,(see photo above.) I catch them, then put them live into my fish's tank. Napoleon gobbles them up whole, but I cut up the fish for the others. (I behead them first, it's a humane form of euthanization.) I don't feel that sorry for them, they're really small and dumb, not at all like bettas. All I do is put a Ziploc baggie in the water, and the fish swarm in. You wouldn't see a betta doing that, or most other fish in the wild for that matter. Plus they look kind of clueless just swimming in place and *gaping like a guppy*. Sorry if you think I'm heartless. ;)

Bubble nests: What are they?

2007-06-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

You may have seen your betta, (if you have one), swimming in his tank with a large mass of bubbles overhead, and thought, "What in heaven's name is that gunk?" I know I did. When I first saw it, I immediately whisked away the tank and cleaned it thoroughly. Later I found out, however that these bubbles are not the product of harmful water conditions, etc., but rather the sign of a happy, healthy betta. Male bettas make these bubble nests to keep the little baby bettas in when they're fry. Males make these by breathing air in, then exhaling with saliva. Like when you make spitbubbles! Except these are more durable. I've heard that it's fine if your betta doesn't make these, but I recently read that no bubble nests may be a sign of bad water conditions. Either way, it's good if your betta makes these.
Bettas also will make these when spawning. Say, when you put a female in front of a male in his tank, but out of his reach. I have yet to see my male doing this.

P.s. My female Ollie sometimes has suspicious little bubbles lacing the surface of her tank. ???

P.p.s. Click the bubble nest photo to enlarge.

New fishie

2007-06-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a new betta! If all goes well and he gets here safely, that is. Isn't he a beauty? He's a halfmoon plakat. I'm thinking of naming him Irwin, but I'm not sure.

My bettas

2007-05-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ollie and Napoleon. Napoleon's flaring. :)

I have two bettas, and they're the best! I have a boy and a girl. Their names are Napoleon and Olivia. I've had Napoleon since I got him last Christmas, and Olivia I think I've had since April.

Napoleon is a veiltail betta. He's a pretty normal fish, he flares, makes bubble nests, and acts happy. He's very active. :) I just love him to death. Once he had fin rot, so some of these pictures will show him quite ratty. But I gave him some medication for that, and it worked wonders. He doesn't have perfect fins now, but they're a lot better than before.

Olivia, (or Ollie, as I'm inclined to call her) is a very interesting betta. She's quite a tomboy.Unlike most females, she flares. A lot. She also attempts to make her own tiny bubble nests., It's very strange. She's very active, and hops around in the water when she sees me. :)' She always stays very close to the surface, also.

Once she had a swim bladder disease, a disease which makes it hard or impossible for the fish to remain upright. She would just float at the surface or float vertically with her nose on the botton of the tank. She wouldn't eat for around a week, even though I still consistently put food in her tank. Then I went into my room and I could have sworn all the food was gone! Her appetite came back, she started swimming normally, and now it's like it never happened. :D

What's a betta?

2007-05-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

First and formost, I'd like to explain what a betta fish is, and why they're unique. You can skip it if it bores you. ;)
Bettas are anabantoids, also sometimes incorrectly labeled anabantids. An anabantoid is a fish with a labyrinth organ, which is a is an organ which lets fish breath surface air, and live in very small spaces. (Wild bettas live/lived in shallow bodies of water, like flooded rice paddies.) This organ makes them ideal pets to keep in small bowls and cups.
Bettas are also famous for their long flowing fins. These fins were originally quite small, but genetical engineering has changed that. There are still bettas with small fins though. There are several kinds of bettas. There are "plakats" and "halfmoon plakats", the shortfinned variety. (I prefer this kind.)
Secondly, there are "halfmoons", a type with erect tail fins that span 180 degrees, thus the name "halfmoon". There are also "crowntail" bettas, with fins that look like the rim of Batman's cape, only much more so.
Thirdly, there are "veiltail bettas", which is the kind most people find in petshops. Veiltail bettas have long drooping fins. Fourthly, there are bettas known as "deltas" or "super-deltas". I don't see much difference between them and a halfmoon. (Any knowledge on this? Please comment.)There are also some miscellaneous types.
Bettas are also well known for their fighting urge. For some reason bettas are apathetic to other fish, but like to beat up their own kind. Males will try to kill other males, and behave brutally to females, unless they are in breeding condition. Even then, they will be pretty mean.
As anyone who has kept a betta can tell you, male bettas love to flare their gill covers. (I'll post a picture of this soon.) They will flare at other bettas, bright colors, foreign objects, and just about anything. Females may do this, but rarely.
As you can see, the betta is a very interesting fish, with a lot of personality. Also, you may have noticed I've left some stuff out, like bubble nests. I'll tell more about this stuff in posts to come. :)

Welcome to Bettaz!

2007-05-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Bettaz! This is a blog where I'll share my knowledge of the beloved betta fish. I'll tell you information I know, give links to sites I've found especially helpful, etc. :)'