How to Take Care of Bettas

Bettas don’t look quite real as they are so beautiful and they are also known as Japanese fighting fish. It is a common sight to find these fishes singled up in small bowls at the fish stores. The reason to keep them separate is because they fight with each other and kill them until only one male betta is left. Keeping them in separate bowl is not the way to care for the beta at home.

You should buy only one male betta fish for your aquarium. You may add several females betta to the tank if it is large enough to accommodate them. Male betas are very aggressive and keep on fighting with each other. While female bettas are known to fight with each other, they are not as aggressive as male bettas. Hence it is not good to put more than one betta in the same aquarium.

Bettas are efficient to take oxygen out of air which can make them survive in smaller spaces for as well. However, it is not a wise idea to keep them in extremely small aquarium. It is better to keep the fishes in larger aquarium to maintain better environment for the fish.

If you plan to buy only one betta and so you may want to house it in a vase or a bowl. In that case, it is important to understand what happens when the fishes are kept in smaller bowls. The wastes produced by the fishes generate harmful ammonia and later they are broken down to nitrates by bacteria, which is again highly fatal for the fishes. Since the biological filtration is not efficient because of refrained space in a bowl or vase, the amount of bacteria that is required for filtration is constrained as well.

When the bowl or a vase is used it is mandatory to change about half the water in the container several times a week to avoid nitrate and ammonia levels in the water getting too high. Moreover dechlorinated water should be used. To avoid fishes from jumping out of the tank, a lid must be put on top of the aquarium so that air can pass through it. In addition to it, substrates, appropriate lighting to aid photosynthesis, heater to produce required temperature and a mechanical filter are all required.

Since Bettas are carnivorous fish, they must be fed with meat based food such as brine shrimp, daphnia, and freeze dried bloodworms. There are foods made specifically for bettas that you can find in a pet store or online. The frozen food should be thawed out to avoid the bettas having trouble digesting them.

Bettas should be fed twice a day and should not be overfed since the excess food eventually settles down at the bottom and decompose causing the water to become toxic which is fatal for the fish. The aquarium should not be exposed to direct sunlight or draft or the betta would not survive the temperature. The ideal temperature of water for any fish is around 26 to 27°C (78 to 80°F). By avoiding locations near the windows or vents to keep the aquarium the temperature fluctuations can be minimized.

Live plants help in promoting good health since they release oxygen and also performs nitrogen cycle that minimizes the levels of ammonia and nitrates. So you may add few aquarium plants in the bowl or tank where the betta is kept to improve the water quality as well.

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