A Fireworks of Colors Take Bettas From Muddy to Magnificent

INTRODUCTION: What are the first things that cross your mind when you think of betta fish? Fighting?  Bubble nests?  Something else? Oh, right! Who could miss the rainbow of bold colors and fancy flowing tails?  Even Stevie Wonder can see that. 

Given the array of finery they come adorned in today, it's hard to believe that they once sported rather boring mud browns and dull grays.  That was before the era of breeding betta fish for flash and sex appeal. Back in the days breeding them for color and fins had not yet become widespread. Aside from dull coloration, in the wild and under constant threat they enjoyed a rather abbreviated betta fish life span at best. While if kept for sport, those guys didn't necessarily live much longer either. 

As you know, the origin of bettas can be traced back to the rice paddies of Asia. Their colors fairly resembled the muddy waters in which they strived to survive - again gray, brown or silver with specks of other colors at best. And their fins were nothing extraordinary either.  Until the Thai people discovered how these fish make great fighters. (That's why they're also called the Siamese fighting fish) And from there people have become more passionate about these weeny water warriors that they developed a wide range of techniques for breeding them. Today, you see them swimming in all colors of the rainbow and then some. While flashing tails and fins that come in many fancy forms.

Maybe this is why bettas are easily and widely recognized.  They do come in a sorts of tail shapes alright.  Males are arrayed in brilliant colors with long flamboyant flowing fins.  Besides any more they come in almost any color you can imagine. Gone are the common grays and browns displayed on limited finnage.  You can get males and females even that are all colors of the rainbow.  Copper.  Copper Mustard.  Lavender.  Pale Cellophone.  Dazzling super reds.  Opaque whites or white platinum.  Metallic. Blue Bi-colored tourquoise/orange.  Black.  Yellow.    Purple.  Royal Blue. Stunning colors that have to be seen to be believed.  And even more indescribable combinations.  Solids.  Patterns.  Butterfly. Bodies one color, fins another.  Truly hues of living jewels. 

Of course as is said, a picture is worth a 1000 words, which makes you wonder what a video like this one is worth?






Gorgeous fish, no?  And actually having colors like those flashing in your tank is just simply a daily personal firework's like display of luminosity that won't quit, don't you think? 

You can't imagine what it feels like to have fish like those.  But if you had to sum that feeling up in one word, well one comes to mind after just a few seconds in the presence of such intense, iridescent coloration.  And unlike contestants on the game show "Wheel of Fortune" you don't even need to buy a vowel.  As that word would be "awesome"!

CONCLUSION:  Wouldn't you love to feel awesome too?  

Betta Boredom Beaters

INTRODUCTION:  From time to time newer betta owners ask on forums or Yahoo Answers about their pet's level of activity.  They are clearly worried they need to do more to keep their fish stimulated.  In other words they are worried that there fish is bored.  Or lonely.  And are looking for things they can do to make its life a bit more exciting. 

Technically there is a term for this. It's called behavioral enrichment.  And without getting all scientific on you, basically it comes down to providing stimuli to enrich the environment pets like bettas find themselves in.  This can come in several forms.  You might do something that involves their senses.  It might mean making feeding more stimulating.  It may involve objects they interact with.  It may involve toys.  As you can see there are various ways you can bring some excitement into their life. 

Of course the first thing to do is make sure you've got suitable housing.  Often times bettas turn into couch potatoes and just lie around because they are freezing cold. Or they are often housed in cramped quarters.  Or both. So make sure you have a large enough tank, not a bowl, that can be safely heated to at least 78 degrees F.  A space where they have plenty of room to roam and swim around.  Because if you think about it, you'd be bored out of your mind too in a cold, pint sized bowl where you can barely turn around.  Not much to look forward to in those conditions. 

Next, castle ruins, shipwrecks, cliffs and caves are all common aquarium ornaments you can place in the tank to offer some visual stimulation for your fish.  Then too some of these, like caves or silk plants even, provide a sanctuary should your fish become frightened.  You can oftentimes find these at garage sales for next to nothing if you keep your eyes open.  Just be sure to clean them in a mild bleach solution, diluted white vinegar or salt water first and leave them out in the sun to sanitize them.

The trick with these is to rotate what ornaments you have in the tank from week to week.  This change of pace can be both visually stimulating and can keep your fish entertained as it explores it's "new" space and adjusts to their new surroundings. 

You can also make feeding time more than merely dropping in two or three pellets and then leaving.  You can train your crowntail to him to take food off your finger or the end of an eye dropper.  Works great with frozen blood worms.  Most bettas will swim a mile for a tasty blood worm.  Which also makes them great rewards for training.

Toys are another way some entertain their fish.  And some find their finny charges respond well to ping pong balls floating on the surface.  Some betas will flare at them.  Others will push them around.  Others still will ignore them entirely.  Which is to say there is no one size fits all solution when it comes to curing betta boredom.  If your guy doesn't respond to white see if neon orange or hot pink grab their attention better.

A simple mirror that allows your betta to see themselves and react by flaring or defending his space, while more controversial, is yet another tool in your behavioral enrichment tool bag.  I even came across a floating "exercise mirror" for sale online that since it moves around gives your fish something to chase, react to, and "exercise" with. Some will circle the intruder.  Others might push it around or nip at it.  It then leaves your betta with something to swim around looking for even after you take it out of the water and even if it was just his own image. 

Honestly this is a polarizing type idea.  Some love it.  Others hate it.  Very few are in the middle.  I'm not saying to let your betta see and react to his image in a mirror constantly.  But for a few minutes it can give him something to get excited about, that's for sure. Besides it fires up natural betta behavior which I personally feel is a good thing.

CONCLUSION: Being naturally clever and curious, bettas can get into stuff like this.  So that with just a bit of effort you easily can keep your halfmoon entertained and doing more than just laying around all day.  Good for them. Entertaining for you.  What's not to like?

The New Betta Feeding Rules

INTRODUCTION: Keeping a betta fish for the first time? Then you should know their feeding habits to make sure you don't end up overfeeding or underfeeding them. Either of which can have a negative impact on the life expectancy you may be hoping will be a good long time.  To that end these new rules of feeding bettas presented here in Q&A format will hopefully help.

Question: What do bettas feed on?
Answer: They feed on a large variety of finny delicacies. Turns out the wider range of foods you give them the better they like it and healthier they will be. These guys can feed on foods like mosquito larvae, bloodworms, and brine shrimp. You can also feed them commercial betta pellets which usually contain a large variety of essential ingredients.  Hopefully this gives you a better idea as to what bettafish eat or can eat. 

Question: How often am I really supposed to feed my betta?
Answer: Yeah I know.  You can get all sorts of advice when it comes to the how often question.  The instructions on the fish food itself tell you one thing.  What you read in forums suggests another.  What you might read on a web site might suggest something else.

Truth is bettas can get along just fine eating once or at most twice a day. Often less is best. Problem is if you over feed them there's a chance they won't eat all the pellets, bloodworms or whatever and the leftovers will foul their water. Leading to disease or worse the death of your fish.

Question: My guy just loves his blood worms.  But ever since his first taste he now turns up his nose to pellets.  He'll take one in and instantly spit it out.  I'm worried he's not going to get a balanced diet from blood worms alone.  What's a concerned betta owner to do?  I don't want him to starve.  Nor do I want to be a mean mom.
Answer:  Good question.  As you suspect bettas cannot live well on blood worms alone.  But some just won't take to pelletized food after they've gotten their lips around something more to their liking. So you may have to resort to a mixture of frozen brine shrimp, daphnia and the like to insure your guy gets the vitamins and minerals he needs to be healthy.

Question: Should I feed my blue fantail differently from the other fish in the tank?
Answer: Other fish in the tank?  How many fish you housing with your betta who typically prefers to be alone?  That issue aside, you can actually feed them the same type of food. But it's also good to feed them different varieties so they can choose what they like to eat. The more options the happier for everyone in the tank.

Back to the first point.  As you know bettas are naturally aggressive and territorial. But don't worry that your other fish may not be able to share food with your betta as long as you've got enough food for everyone. A bigger concern would be if they are all getting along.  And sometimes the concern is that another fish is harassing your beloved betta.

Question: I'm worried about over feeding.  How can I tell if I'm feeding my half-moon too much?
Answer: This is a good point given most in the US eat too much themselves.  Actually fish like this need less than you might think.  Think three to five pellets, three to five bloodworms and they're good.  Overfeeding does your pet no good at all.  It can lead to constipation and bad water from uneaten food going bad.

CONCLUSION:  How you go about feeding your betta, what you feed and how often you feed comes down to one point.  It doesn't matter as long as you don't over feed.  Stuffing them to the gills isn't an act of kindness though either.  Because you may be setting stage for bad water conditions which is the leading cause of betta disease and death.

Moving Your Betta Fish With You

INTRODUCTION:  Bettas are portable pets.  Just follow a few common sense rules and they should adjust to their new home fairly quickly.  Even if it is hundreds of miles away.

Question: I'm from the Gulf Coast and will soon be relocating to North Dakota for my new job assignment. I'm planning to bring my true confidant with me. Nope it's not a girl or furry friend as you might have first thought, but a two and three quarters-inch dynamo.  Who's got an unbelievable amount of chutzpah and more machismo crammed into the shimmering body of his than you could ever imagine.  Which makes it hard not to admire him.  Him being Prince, a stunning half-moon betta, who has been with me through thick and thin in the oil exploration business.  Which is a good name for such a regal fish, don't you think?

Now I have to tell you that I kind of tend to kill everything - plants, hamsters, even sea monkeys.  But not my buddy Prince.  Still he has somewhat defied the odds as he unexpectedly found himself in the garbage disposal once when I was cleaning his bowel and he tried to jump for cover. My bad.  But he shook that off and has enjoyed quite a robust and otherwise healthy life under my care. 

Problem is it's going to be a really long drive. And I'm not sure if it's even safe to transport him for such long distance. Or if it is even reasonable to think I can and end up with him being alive and kicking at the other end.  And if so, what do I have to do to make sure everything goes well. Should I feed him before we leave? Should I bring gallons of this water he's used to with us? Or will he die in a matter of hours inside the plastic bag?  I don't want to lose Prince, but ready or not I'm leaving in a few weeks now.  Help! 

Answer: Wow that's quite a story of survival.  With some good questions.  So let's get you some answers.  Because getting your little buddy ready for the long drive doesn't have to be massively stressful on Prince provided you take a few precautionary steps.

First, you don't have to over feed your fish before you leave. In fact you don't have to feed him any more at all. You see bettas can go for maybe two weeks without food. So your betta dying of hunger, literally, should be the least of your worries. 

Next, call around and see if you can't find a local pet store that can pack him for travel for you. They will likely double bag him, fill it to the top with ater to cut down on sloshing, and shoot some extra oxygen in.

And it's not a bad idea to bring some of the water he's used to with you.  But sooner or later he's going to have to adjust to local water conditions. 

When you arrive set up his new home and float the bag like you would with any fish going into new surroundings.  Expect him to be a bit shell shocked.  And should you feed him and he doesn't attack his feast with gusto, no worries.  Yeah, don't panic. Time is all Prince will need to adjust to his new surroundings.

Bottom line.  You can take your fish with you.  Just be sensible and don't let him roast or feeze and pretty much your betta should be fine. Nothing much to worry about really.  Bettas are shipped around the world every day and land on the feet, errrr, fins most every time.

Questionable Betta Breeding

INTRODUCTION:  Okay I'm on record as not being in favor of breeding random bettas just for the fun of it.  Sure it sounds amazing and all to be able to successfully get two of these combatants through the mating ritual to produce a batch of fry.  But there's a lot of things the YouTube videos of betta breeding fail to mention.

For one it's a lot harder than it looks.

Two, you're likely working from an unknowable gene pool.  Result?  You may simply be producing a bunch of bettas no one wants.

And third the care and feeding of a tank full of mini-sized yet rambunctious male bettas spoiling for a fight is a bigger challenge than most are up for and well outside their skill set.

That said, I know some still have their heart set on attempting the feat to see if they can pull it off.  Apparently figuring they'll worry about the details later.  Okay.  I understand the allure of a challenge as much as the next guy.  It's why people climb mountains.  Because they're there.  People want to breed bettas because they can.  I get that. So rather than try to dissuade you, let me share a few things.   

Remember too that the real trick is to pull off this bringing of new betta life into the world without shortening the life expectancy of the two primary participants.  So to that end here is some points and breeding tips you might want to keep in mind when going about this.  Just please look at this as the Readers Digest condensed version or a quick and dirty guide.  Not everything you need to know down to the last nitty gritty detail.  

First things first, things you need:

A medium sized tank water temp 80-82 degrees F.
One conditioned male betta fish
One conditioned female betta

Okay, so without getting bogged down in the details, the process is pretty straight forward.  Simply fill the tank about two thirds full. Place the male in first to give him a chance to learn the lay of the land. Then add the female but inside like an oil lamp chimney so the male can't get to her before you have gauged the level of interest.  Making a mistake here can be fatal for the female so look for signs of courtship.  Does the male put on an impressive display?  Is he flaring?  How's his bubble nest?

You want to be careful because no self-respecting male readily allows intruders into his domain.  In other words he will never back down from a good fight. And the betrothed can mistakenly be the one he chooses to take out his aggressions on.  Some of this is to be expected.  It goes with the territory.  But you shouldn't let the male shred the female.  Or chase her to death.  Which is why you keep some glass between them first.

Risk of a lovers quarrel aside, watching them spawn is another unforgettable sight to see. An underwater ballet.  When things are right, you get to watch how a couple flirts with each other. The female betta darkens her color and curves her body while the male betta is out to flare his gills, spread his fins, put on a massive display of betta masculinity. As the courtship progresses, the male betta will then wrap his body around the female and the eggs are released.  He'll then scoop them up in his mouth and blow them into the bubble nest.  All this is exhausting work.

When their relationship has run its course, you'll want to remove the female before her partner's tolerance of her presence wears thin and he reverts to his less loving and more aggressive self.  Otherwise again it can turn out badly for the female. Betta love being fickle like that.  Although one would think she can just tell he's not going to call the next day.

Of course the male's work has just begun. So you'll want to leave him to attend to the nest and retrieve any eggs that fall out.  But sooner or later he'll have to retire to his own quarters too.  For the sake of the hatching fry. 

CONCLUSION: In any case, if you've got no flare in your house, if your life is lacking drama, if you are looking to spice things up, then breeding bettas might be just the thing.  Just don't say I didn't warn you that it might be more than bargained for as well though in the end.