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Taking Betta' Care of Bettas

You've seen them in the pet stores, maybehappy, and the small volume of water is
even in a department store: elegant tubes oralmost guaranteed to fluctuate wildly in
vases or bowls with a single lovely fish intemperature.
it, and a promise of easy care and feeding.
Bettas are beautiful and captivating, but theAnd what about that nitrogen cycle? You need
way they are sold in stores definitely isn'tto seed their environment with some
the model for how they should be treated atnitrifying bacteria, most often with some
home."seasoned" water or gravel from an existing
tank. Without these little critters, the
What does a Betta need? First and foremost,ammonia wastes generated by your Betta won't
it needs warm water. These are tropicalbe broken down and he'll slowly poison
fish, and the water needs to be at least 75himself.
degrees Fahrenheit, if not more. Even more
importantly, the temperature of the waterIt's easiest to keep Bettas one at a time, as
needs to remain steady. If it changes moremales will fight each other, and a male and
than five degrees over a twenty-four hourmany females can be tricky to manage. Master
period, then the fish will not remain healthytaking care of just one, before you try
as the temperature changes diminish itsadding  additional  Bettas  to  your  tank.
resistance to disease and allow
lower-temperature  parasites  to  take  hold.When it comes to feeding, Bettas like variety
as much as anyone else. Although Betta
Here's my key piece of advice to keep thepellets will do for much of the time, these
water temperature even: take the fish OUT ofare carnivorous fish. Try to mix their diet
the cruel enclosure it's been sold in andup a bit with the occasional bit of meat,
transfer it to a bigger bowl or tank! Thoseespecially live meat, which you can buy in
little "Betta Cups" sold in stores aremany forms at your fish supply store. Fresh
designed by marketing people, not byor freeze-dried Daphnia, Brine Shrimp, Glass
fish-lovers! Bettas CAN survive in such aWorms, or Blood Worms are just a few of your
small space, if there's a decent nitrogenmany choices for improving your Betta's diet,
cycle going, but it's neither comfortable norhealth and happiness.



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