Betta's!

[B-Rabbit]

Anyone else keep bettas? I have 4 right now, and just got back from my local fish shop trying to see if they carried anything special, which they didn't.

I have:
1 Orange veiltail (The more common form, the ones you always see in stores), got him over a month ago, he's in a 1 gallon and is currently suffering from constipation. Funny as it sounds it can kill fish, especially betta's because he needs warmer water, but the vent in my room is not working. I moved him to the bathroom to give him much more heat!
1 "Mustard Gas" Crowntail betta. Mustard Gas is his color classification, very pretty fish, and a color pattern that is pretty hard to find. He's dark blue/purple body with gold fins, and the tips of those vins are blue/purple along with the base of the fins being blue. Very pretty fish and my camera never does him justice. (I'll post pictures later). He's doing very well, except he doesn't eat as much as any the others, he's young though so that will change as he matures.
I also have 2 females!
1. "Cambodian" color female. Means white female with red fins. Very pretty little girl, still young so I don't know her tail classifaction yet, although I'm thinking she might be plakat, which would be great! Shes doing the wonderful, always very very hungry. She swims right under the hole I drop food in and waits for me haha very cute. She sits on my desk here and cheers me up with her silly games despite the fact shes in cold water without decorations (she deserves better, walmart tommorow!)
1. Orange Veiltail female. I bough her, maybe thinking of breeding her with the orange male, for color. However, that is no longer an option. She is sick. She was in cold water in a fish bowl, which actually helped it a bit in this case. She has fin rot along with columnaris which is a fungus on her gills. Such a shame. In order to treat this fish it would take me lots of money, money I don't have. I found her and the other female in the back of petco on the desk where the person has the bags for the fish you purchase, next to some dieing males which I don't have enough expierience to save them.. So, I'm giving her a home until she passes on, rather than a pet store shelf death..

[B-Rabbit]

We had a bit of a problem, my vent in the room with the fish blew cold air. My females had no problem, my orange male passed away, I did everything I could to help him. who knows how old he was though, it could have been old age or something. My CT male got me very worried, he lost his color and became a light grey (which happens in cold water). Well, sometimes when I check on him hes darker, which means its helping him, and I'm doing what I can to keep him warm.

My sick female hasn't changed at all, she doesn't care what goes on !
My plakat female who sits here on my desk with me when taken down stares acted all sad, when she came back up here shes flaring out the tank at me and having lots of fun. She seems to recognize me and enjoy my company, as when I was up here and her down there she wasn't herself until I came back and she could see me.. I wonder how she is at night when she can't see me.
Her fins gave me a scare, part of them almost look like fin rot, but I think its just her color comming in. Her fin has a red line going all the way across. and on one portion under the red there is no other color, making it look like fin rot, but she has fins there, they just haven't colroed up. (She got darker since I got her) She also has 2 dark almost black spots on her dorsal fin, which I think are just spots, she has some random black in other places and I've never heard of fugus attacking the inner fin and being a black color, but I'll watch her closely.

[Wood~Ant]

I assume we're talking Betta splendens or "Siamese Fighting Fish" here?

I used to keep them, but don't have any now. They are lovely fish, so keep them in a tank with a heater/thermostat at around 23C.
Being a Labyrinth breather (a fish that takes in air through its mouth) they don't need aeration of the water; but it does help to have a filter to keep the water clean

[sithmaster676]

I to used to keep them in the tropical fish tank thats in my bedroom but found that the garden centre near me only sold males I brought one and killed a lot of my fish as the males are aggressive but as wood said they like it around that temperature and it is best to use a filter
Sithmaster676

[B-Rabbit]

leptothorax said:

I assume we're talking Betta splendens or "Siamese Fighting Fish" here?

I used to keep them, but don't have any now. They are lovely fish, so keep them in a tank with a heater/thermostat at around 23C.
Being a Labyrinth breather (a fish that takes in air through its mouth) they don't need aeration of the water; but it does help to have a filter to keep the water clean

Well, I'm a member of a betta community as most don't use filters at all, I have an under gravel one, because it came with the tank, although having oxygenated water is helpful, I have a bubbler in with my crowntail. Keeping the water clean isn't a big deal, I've had my crowntail in his tank for a week and his water is crystal clear still, although I will be changing his water every week, which is best for 1 gallon tanks. I'm going to walmart shortly and will be buy heaters for them, as it got too cold durring this blizzard, normally its not bad temp for them, just bad timing with my furnace/blizzard.
Yes by the way it is betta splendens ;D.

[B-Rabbit]

I have 2 new females from walmart. On the shelf, in that cold water, they are pretty much brown, and females aren't considered as pretty as the males, so they do not sell well. I took the 2 larger ones, older (do not look too much older than the other one that I didn't get). The one I left was smaller, and had more color and was in cleaner water, she would probably go home with someone before the others... Well, one of them has colored up since I got them. The bigger, and the one I was most excited about. She's an adult plakat (seems based on fins, but this is very hard to distinguish, especially with a newbie like me). But she has red fins and her bod when it was coloring up was a pretty blue/purple. Definetly a great color for my CT male. Seems if I breed I get both color and fins! yay!

[B-Rabbit]

oh my lord more fish...

My Plakat female from walmart was getting aggressive with the other females. So I went to petco today, and was looking for another large female to help keep her in line. I ended up with a Veiltale female who seemed a bit aggressive herself, although she doesn't chase the other females around the tank. The PK girl came up to her flaring and trying to act tough, this new girl put her in line real fast. Now the tank is much more peaceful.

I also at petco saw a crowntail, he was in a normal betta's cup. Probably because his fin rot was so bad you couldn't tell. He also had swim bladder disorder and was laying on his side in his cup.. I asked an employee what the policy was for sick fish and if it was possible to get some sort of discount etc.. He went and got the manager and she looked at him and saw he was obviously sick. He was at least in some clean water, but it was cold, which didn't help him. We all agreed that they shouldn't sell sick fish, so she let me have him for free, so instead of getting 1 fish, I got 2. However, I forgot to use my P.A.L.S card for extra discounts.. they never asked me for it lol.

[Jenny]

I hope the Siamese fish recovers, but when we have had fish with a swim bladder problem, the outlook has been very bleak

[B-Rabbit]

Swim bladder is just constipation, which builds up and presses on the swim bladder etc. Warm water and some pea's usually do the trick, unless its a kink in the spine.

[myrmecophile]

Actually swim bladder issues can be caused by a multitude of problems the most common is infection brought on by poor husbandry. Once the swim bladder is compromised the outlook as Jen said is not good. The life span of these fish is fairly short, 3 years max in most cases. Breeding is best about a year of age. I would not be too hopeful for good breeding results with fish purchased in a store esp walmart etc as the quality of the fish is usually pretty poor. If you are serious about breeding them I would try to find a private betta breeder and get your fish from him. I would suggest young uncolored fish and grow them out yourself. If you find young highly colored fish avoid them like the plague as the odds are they have been color fed. Additionally I would not be to hopeful of store bought fish breeding true to form. Good luck with them, they are cool fish.

[B-Rabbit]

I know multiple people who have saved their fish from swim bladder and the fish have gone on to live great long lives, so I'd have to disagree, he's most definetly gotten better aswell, he can submerge now ! His back end still floats, but I'll see how he continues to progress.

I know people who have bred at 4.5 months, and even later than a year or more. Adult betta's can't only breed at 1 year of age. I'm not hoping for the best breeding results, but I'm going to try breeding petstore fish before buying expensive fish to breed.. Plus, just because the quality is usually poor, doesn't mean all the fish are unsuitable for breeding. I've had people find some amazing fish at petstores, and they have gone on to provide great lines, so I'm not worried. I'm sure both my fish are able to breed, I wouldn't breed them If I thought they wouldn't be able to do so well.
I've looked at private breeders, but I'm not ready to spend 80$ on a special bred fish only to mess it up, at least this way I can practice and achieve the goal I want to reach. I've looked numerous places, all fish I've found are colored, and I know of a few breeders who don't color feed their fish, some are bred in thailand, others usa, but they can provide enough back round info as well as I've seen other users who have talked about their fish.. I'm not too worried..

I'm aware I could have a half CT, or a half plakat.. If thats what you mean by not true to form, all that can be fixed later on by breeding selectively..

[myrmecophile]

I totally agree, swim bladder issues can be cured or clear up on their own, however more often than not they do not, even if they do clear up the fish is often more susceptible to future issues. I hope your fish recovers.
I again agree in that one year is not the only age at which they can breed, it is however considered pretty much the optimum age at which to breed them. Much beyond that the fish are getting "worn out" fertility goes down and the potential for genetic glitches increases.
I would be extremely cautious of Asian fish, the use of color feeding is esp prevalent there. I would be more inclined to stick with domestic fish. Regarding true to form. I was thinking along the lines that commercial breeders almost always just throw any old pair together they generally do not care about keeping forms and varieties pure, all they are looking for is numbers so they have product to sell. Once you mix forms you will never ever be able to breed offspring with 100% certainty that a freak will not show up, the genes will always be there no matter how selective your breeding is, and any breeder that tells you different is full of it. That said yes you can bring the line back to near purity but never 100%. Anyway I'm not trying to disparage your goals and really do wish you the best luck with your project.

[B-Rabbit]

My fishy is much better, color returning, swimming more easily, not floating as much. SBD going away.

lol, I have no idea how old my fish are, except for 2 of them I know are very young fish because they are small and their vins are not as developed as an adults. The PK female I'm breeding is in the spawning tank checking it out, need a heater later but for now its fine. About to put her in the chimney and put the male in to build the nest.

[myrmecophile]

Very good to hear.

[B-Rabbit]

His swim bladder is gone, hes flaring at his reflection and everything.