How to take care of betta fish?

[bandit4910]

Well, my sister was stupid and needed a hobby, she decided to get a beta fish.

She bought a starter kit, fish bowl and the fish. How do we care for it?

Also how many times a week do we need to clean the bowl? We have little tablets to drop in to clean.

[ping111]

Well, update it once in a while, keep the users posted, and hopefully you\'ll release on time. ;D

[semininja]

Heheh. Heheheh...

As far as I know, betta fish really only need feeding; there\'s not much else involved. Google can find more info for you, though.

[Kreuzung]

And bowls alre not good for fish, you need an aquarium for keeping fish.

[iamwearingpants]

Last time we kept a fish in a bowl, they were both unconscious after 2 weeks. So yeah, bowls suck.

[semininja]

Betta fish don\'t care; they are often kept, while at the store, in cups not much larger in diameter than the fish are in length.

[Kreuzung]

The stores don\'t keep animals good at all. The only thing they want is to sell them fast.

Anyone, please keep animals in appropriate conditions! If you don\'t want to build a large enough cage for your hamster instead of some cheap plastic crap, keeping animals is not for you.

[socket7]

Google knows how to care for a betta fish. Came back with these two as first results.

http://www.mybettafish.org/betta-fish-care/

http://www.aquariumguys.com/betta-fish-care-article.html

[bandit4910]

Got an ehow artical. I need to clean once a week, all the water needs to be dumped.

I also need to stop tapping the glass when I think it\'s dead. I also need to keep my cat away from it. Any ideas on that?

[socket7]

all the water needs to be dumped.

Actually, the links I\'ve posted says that changing all the water at once is bad for the fish. You\'re supposed to swap a quarter of the tank water out per week, using a siphon to clean up poo and dirt as you drain it.

They also talk about the right temperature and PH you need for the water.

It doesn\'t seem like betta\'s need a filter or aeration system.

You need to do your homework completely.

[Imandreas]

A few years ago, I had one of these fish. I did ABSOLUTLY EVERYTHING WRONG: I used a fish bowl, I changed the water all at once, I kept the water absolutely stagnat (no O2 in the water for the fish) and I even forgot to feed it at times. It drowned, suffocating from a lack of oxygen in the water.

TL;DR: I drowned a fish.

[Sordid]

You need to do your homework completely.

I have a better idea. Find someone who wants a betta fish and knows how to take care of it, give it to them, then tell your sister that the fish died because she wasn\'t taking proper care of it and you disposed of it by flushing it down the toilet. Problem solved.

[bandit4910]

I have a better idea. Find someone who wants a betta fish and knows how to take care of it, give it to them, then tell your sister that the fish died because she wasn\'t taking proper care of it and you disposed of it by flushing it down the toilet. Problem solved.

My sister isn\'t stupid.

She monitors the fish to make sure my cat didn\'t kill it..

What\'s a good way to get the fish out? I can\'t use a net as it damages fins.

[bandit4910]

And bowls alre not good for fish, you need an aquarium for keeping fish.

My sister and I quote 'Beta fish are good with confined spaces..'.

The bowl might be temporary, at least we\'re not keeping it in that little cup they keep fish in.

We need to get more fish food, though.

[ohiobr]

'Beta fish are good with confined spaces..'

But they\'re not good with slowly rotting away in an unfiltered/unheated bowl filled with ammonia from their own waste.

In the wild bettas can be found in tiny ponds that some might even describe as puddles. But you know what those puddles have? Plants, algae, and bacteria that act as a filtration system to process all the waste products of the animals that live in them.

1. Bettas are tropical fish and they wont last long in an unheated bowel.

2. A bowl without any kind of filtration will slowly fill up with ammonia until you do a water change. The constant build up and reduction of ammonia will stress and eventually kill the fish. Ask your sister how she\'d like to spend her life locked in a closet filled with her own waste and only having it cleaned out once a week.

Properly cared for bettas can live for upwards of 6 years. Your sisters probably wont last more than a few months.

If she\'s actually interested in keeping it alive she needs to read this and take it to heart. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f52/anyone-who-has-never-had-betta-2989.html

[Caesar15]

Well I had a beta fish once, lemme tell you this, always, and i mean always, keep the same kind of food, never ever use different food, i got some different food, and, well, it refused to eat, and it died a couple of weeks later, what a surprise.

[bandit4910]

Well I had a beta fish once, lemme tell you this, always, and i mean always, keep the same kind of food, never ever use different food, i got some different food, and, well, it refused to eat, and it died a couple of weeks later, what a surprise.

OK. Time to tell my sister that...

Oh yeah, is it OK if the fish tries to jump out of the fish bowl?

He\'s done that a few times...

[bandit4910]

Now the fish refuses to eat.

Any tips?

It\'s the same food it was last time.

[Nooblet68]

Now the fish refuses to eat.

Any tips?

It\'s the same food it was last time.

Look for errors in it\'s coding. I mean, it is in Beta stage.

[bandit4910]

Finally got 'Rex' to eat. (His name is Rex, I wanted to name him Kerbal or Jeb.)

My cat tried to eat the fish, right as she stuck her nose in the fish moved and she ran...

[LaydeeDem]

Holy stuff another betta owner!

For the love of god go here:

http://www.bettafish.com/

The community is extremely open, and some are even professional breeders. They know their facts.

Just a heads up, most members are female. If you want to find me, I have the same username on that forum as I do here.

Also, please post pictures of your fish!

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

Beta fish?

I have omega. 8)

[bandit4910]

Holy stuff another betta owner!

For the love of god go here:

http://www.bettafish.com/

The community is extremely open, and some are even professional breeders. They know their facts.

Just a heads up, most members are female. If you want to find me, I have the same username on that forum as I do here.

Also, please post pictures of your fish!

I\'ll try to post pictures. It\'s been like 2 days and the fish has already produced a Bubble Nest, it\'s kinda hard to take pictures of him now.

Since my sisters at work(I have two sisters, ones 18, ones 15 the 18 year old owns the fish.) I need to feed the fish.

Also, I found a game where you move your finger around outside the glass, the fish is suppost to follow but my fish doesn\'t.

[Endeavour]

Is it true that betta fish eat other betta fish?

[bandit4910]

Is it true that betta fish eat other betta fish?

If it\'s another male then I think so...

Female betta fish aren\'t that violent.

It\'s like hampsters with that, if you put to males in one cage they fight to the death.