Taking Betta' Care of Bettas

You've seen them in the pet stores, maybe even incomfortable nor happy, and the small volume of
a department store: elegant tubes or vases or bowlswater is almost guaranteed to fluctuate wildly in
with a single lovely fish in it, and a promise of easytemperature.
care and feeding. Bettas are beautiful and captivating,And what about that nitrogen cycle? You need to
but the way they are sold in stores definitely isn'tseed their environment with some nitrifying bacteria,
the model for how they should be treated at home.most often with some "seasoned" water or gravel
What does a Betta need? First and foremost, itfrom an existing tank. Without these little critters, the
needs warm water. These are tropical fish, and theammonia wastes generated by your Betta won't be
water needs to be at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit, ifbroken down and he'll slowly poison himself.
not more. Even more importantly, the temperatureIt's easiest to keep Bettas one at a time, as males
of the water needs to remain steady. If it changeswill fight each other, and a male and many females
more than five degrees over a twenty-four hourcan be tricky to manage. Master taking care of just
period, then the fish will not remain healthy as theone, before you try adding additional Bettas to your
temperature changes diminish its resistance totank.
disease and allow lower-temperature parasites toWhen it comes to feeding, Bettas like variety as
take hold.much as anyone else. Although Betta pellets will do
Here's my key piece of advice to keep the waterfor much of the time, these are carnivorous fish. Try
temperature even: take the fish OUT of the cruelto mix their diet up a bit with the occasional bit of
enclosure it's been sold in and transfer it to a biggermeat, especially live meat, which you can buy in
bowl or tank! Those little "Betta Cups" sold in storesmany forms at your fish supply store. Fresh or
are designed by marketing people, not by fish-lovers!freeze-dried Daphnia, Brine Shrimp, Glass Worms, or
Bettas CAN survive in such a small space, if there's aBlood Worms are just a few of your many choices
decent nitrogen cycle going, but it's neitherfor improving your Betta's diet, health and happiness.