Welcome the two new members of our family - Cutie and Josie. They are bettas, fish that are found in mud puddles around Thailand. Amazing that they can end up in little plastic containers in a pet store in Seattle. You know how I feel about this topic.
Anyhoo, I don't remember what sparked the girls' interest in fish ownership but they wanted one or some. After a few weeks of begging and nagging, Bryce and I agreed they could each have one. The girls had to buy the fish with their allowance and be responsible for feeding them. We supplied the bowl, rocks, food, plant. The woman at the pet shop recommended bettas or white clouds for the girls. She said goldfish were too poopy. The girls thought this was hilarious.
We are all enjoying the fish. I find myself not so much watching them but checking on them. Are you dead yet? Are you dead yet? I had a series of gold fish in college and none of them lasted more than a week or so. I don't have high hopes for these guys either.
Do any of you have experience with bettas? Tell me what we're in for.
13 comments:
One of our Betas died after 3 or 4 months. The other lived for 3 years. They are way better than gold fish. Whatever the directions say about about bottled or distilled water are true. Be careful with their water...I think this is how we lost the first one.
I have had a betta (that the clerk assured me had a captive lifespan of about six months) for a year and a half now. Same thing- my daughter wanted a fish so we ended up with a beta. We love him now- he seems to communicate with us- we've watched him play and "ask" for food. He seems to thrive on occasional neglect even (I like to think it mimics nature- sometimes food is abundant and sometimes you have to scare some up from the bottom of your dirty pond). Anyway, good luck with them!
Ha! Julia received a beta fish this last weekend for her 6th birthday. It is a pinkish purplish guy named Sherman. We got conflicting info on how much to feed him and how often. What are you guys doing? I'm hoping her survives for a while although we haven't been through a water changed yet. I'm not sure what we have gotten ourselves in to yet. Yikes! :-)
all our fish have ended belly up so you probably don't want any advice from me. My grandfather though raised some goldfish that my uncle won at the fair, over the years they got bigger and bigger, he kept moving them to a bigger tank, the ended up in a pond (which was actually an old bath) in the garden, the biggest was about 12" long!
I had a beautiful blue one as a teen. It lived a while... a couple years. I eventually moved him into my larger aquarium, he did OK with the other fish but my Mollies had babies and he had quite a feast on them. :-(
Raymona
Your fish are lovely! I had always heard that you shouldn't put two bettas in a bowl together, because they will fight and one will win...
My cat ate Paprika, my first Betta. Sad sad. Enzo lost Peacock to a "too quick" water change. Have you put a mirror up the their tank yet to watch them flare up for a fight? They are so pretty, but easily fooled!
***Feed them once a day -- an amount equal to the size of their eyeballs. Almost nothing!***
Perhaps I should not tell this story about your past.
You had a fish aquarium as a very young girl...under
5. Granddad bought you special fish for your birthday,
We all enjoyed the fish until one day we found them
on the floor...they had jumped out of the tank because
the water started to almost boil....someone had
turned up the heat element. Oh my....
so beautiful, makes me want a fish!
I had a betta in college (his name was Bombatabois) that lived for 2 years. Highly recommend using distilled water and don't over feed them. I would give mine an occasional treat of liver (like a nano-smear on the end of a toothpick) and he loved that. He was quite personable and I was truly sad when he went belly up.
Bettas are so much easier than goldfish. If you aren't using distilled water, you can get conditioning drops for the water, so they don't die from the stuff in the water.
Typically you can only have one betta per bowl, but sometimes two females are ok.
An interesting fact - if you have a fish that is swimming upside down (not dead), it means that it is constipated, and you should feed it the shell of a pea (not the pod). Weird but true.
km- good tip. we've been using water conditioning drops.
michelle - glad to hear you've had good luck!
Susan - the lady at Petco told us to give each fish 2 pellets a day. Some days they don't eat the pellets. Josie doesn't have much of an appetite so she gets 2 pellets every other day. We cleaned the bowls yesterday it was very simple and quick. The lady at Petco said to just swish some clean water around in the bowl a few times. She said not to rise/clean the rocks. Both fish seem to have survived the water change. Good luck!
jojoebi - i heard that fish grow up to the size of their tank. Don't think that is the case with Bettas, tho.
Raymona - was your Betta a female? I think they are the only ones who can live with other fish.
Amy - yes, we learned that too. I think it is just with males. Not really sure, tho.
mom - i told the girls that story. They really liked it! Didn't know it was Grandad who gave me the fish.
Cat - Bettas really are so beautiful. Do a google image search, you'll be amazed!
Shea - I've read mixed things about distilled water. The lady at the pet store said tap water with conditioning drops.
Joy - that is so strange. what is the shell of a pea if it is not the pod? I hope this never happens to us. . . would cause a panic :)
I think the shell of the pea is the skin of the actual pea inside the pod. But that being said - I've never heard of that! I learn so much on the interwebs. Anyhoo, Logan got a beta for his 6th birthday too! His name is Trumpet. So we've had him since September and he's still alive. Logan feeds it a couple of pellets each day but I'm pretty sure he forgets from time to time and that's fine with Trumpet so far. I got a small tank with a filter so I've only cleaned the water once so far - oops! I should probably get on that!
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