Beta fishy!

[angelrenee]

My DH was so nice this weekend and took me to get a new fishy! I came home with a beautiful red beta fishy who just loves his new home. All I really know about him right now is that he rests a lot, is terrified of one of my kitties who likes to look at him, and loves to play in the bubbles from his filter. Oh, and he stalks his food like some sort of great fishy hunter. :biglaugh:

What I don't know is what he needs from me. I've gotten conflicting reports of how often and how much I should feed him. I have no idea if I should get him a heater or not and I don't know if he'd like a snail to help clean his tank. Any ideas? :confused:

[honeybunny]

Yay! Well, I'm not sure what advice to give. Beta's are capable of surviving in a small bowl with no filtration (so long as you frequently change the water) and no heater. But... they do much better in the proper temperature. I don't have my book with me, but I think the ideal temperature is between 72 and 85. When I had my Beta, he seemed to do better the higher the temperature. I had trouble adjusting his temperature whenever the seasons changed (due to a change in the temp of the apartment) and he did well even up to 90 degrees, but if it got below 75 he got very lethargic and just looked plain cold. I tried to keep the temp between 80 and 82. If you have him in an aquarium, I highly recommend the heater because they are easy to attach. (You'll need a thermometer as well... mine sticks on the side of the tank.) Attaching a heater in a fishbowl can be a little tricky depending on the shape of the bowl. But if you don't use a heater, I suggest keeping the bowl in the warmest section of the house/apartment.

I just had to kind of feel out how much to feed him. I based it on how hungry he seemed at feeding time and whether he looked too chunky (but he never did) and how well he was swimming. I was mostly feeding him the Bio-Gold stuff that comes in pellet form, and I fed him once in the morning & once in the evening giving him 2 or 3 pellets per feeding. But my Beta was teeny, so a normal sized Beta might eat more. In general the food packages give fairly good guidelines for feeding the fishies and then you can adjust it based on your particular fish.

I never had anything in the tank besides the Beta, but I read somewhere that they do ok with things like snails and tiny frogs. Basically, they do ok with anything that won't nip at their long fins (never put them with a goldfish for this reason) or be overly aggressive because they will wear themselves out trying to get away from the aggressor. They are pretty much only territorial with other male Betas. But you can probably find some info on the web about Betas and snails living together.

[honeybunny]

P.S. What's his name?

P.P.S. Happy Anniversary!!!!!!

[angelrenee]

I was hoping you'd respond. :) Thanks for the happiness.

His name is Fred. My poor goldfishy, Hernando, didn't make it. I've got him in something like a three gallon tank. It's not that big, but he seems pretty happy. He spends a lot of his time under the filter case where he can feel enclosed. I think he's got a patter of swimming worked out though so he can make sure everything is the way he likes it.

Heehee, I got him the biogold stuff, too. He like it and the bloodworms I got for him. I was confused on the feeding thing because Petco's signs said to feed him only 2-3 times a week! I can't do that - I love watching him hunt down his pellets too much.

I think I'll let him go without the heater since we don't let the house get below 73 since Scott gets all sniffly and cold when we do. I love my fishy! :inlove: (I also love this smiley!)

[honeybunny]

Petco is insane! I can't believe they said that! I figured the debate was between 5 or 10 pellets a day, but 2-3 times per week?! That's just crazy!

OK, end of rant. ;)

Fred sounds like a sweet little fishy!

[monkeygirl38]

Too Cute! I had a Beta named Ralph! My mom has one that I bought for her for her birthday 4 years ago!!! I wonder how old he is in fishy years now???

I fed mine once a day (morning) with these little tiny pellets (they looked like dirt). It was in a blue bottle and had a Beta fish picture on it.

[Tearianna]

I have a beta at the office (Named Oz). The lady who gave him to me said feed him 3 pellets a week. But the people at the pet store about died when I told them that. So now I feed him 3-5 pellets a day, but then he doesn't get anything on weekends. He's been doing well for over 1 year now, and he's gotten pleasantly plump.

[angelrenee]

My fishy is sick! :( I'm not sure what I did wrong, but he has this fungusy white fuzz growing on him. I am treating him, but he now swims sort of lopsidedly and doesn't seem to want to eat. I think I'm going to lose him. :cry:

I didn't get a fishy for a long time for fear of this sort of thing, but I was hoping I wouldn't have this luck.

[honeybunny]

It's not your fault. Did any of your previous fish have this problem? If so, it could be from the tank itself. But I imagine that he already had the problem when you bought him. That's why they say to have new fish in a holding tank before adding them to all your old fishies. You didn't need to do that because you didn't have any old fishies, but he probably already had this problem. I can't remember what that fungus is called, but I think there are treatments. My book is at home! Sorry. But I can let you know tonight... I'm not sure how effective the treatments are though.

[angelrenee]

When we got him, I had gotten this betamax stuff just in case. I'm treating him with this and hoping, but if he doesn't perk up just a little soon, I'm not so sure about his chances. I removed him from the tank and put him in fresh dechlorinated water just to make sure that if it was in the tank that he wouldn't keep being exposed.

*sigh* I just want him to be OK. But I guess it's mostly out of my control now.

Editted to say that I found something that implies this is a body fungus or mold and that my bettamax stuff is useful in treating it. Hopefully I caught it soon enough.

[angelrenee]

My poor Betta fishy didn't make it. From what I read, though the disease advances very very quickly. I'd say so since when I put him in his smaller bowl to recover, he had coverage just on his tail area by the fungus. By the time I got home from work, he was covered in it. :(

I'm seriously considering getting a fishy from a reputable breeder instead of a pet store this time. We took a walk around Petco, and their freshwater fish (not including Bettas) were all "under treatment" for something and several tanks had dead fish in them. Does not bode well to me.

[honeybunny]

I'm so sorry! Poor little fishy! Yes, definitely stay away from stores with dead fish in the tanks. But just so you know, not all Petco's are like that. In Dallas, the Petco that I got my fish was very clean, and they took great care of the fish. Couldn't say that about the Petsmart there though... they always had dead fish. It just depends. I know Walmart carries Betas sometimes, so check out their tanks and see if the fish look healthy. All of the tanks should be a good indication of how they take care of the Betas as well.