About Bettas

Bettas are Anabantoids which means that they use an auxilliary respiration organ to breath air from the surface of the water. They evolved this method presumably because their environment changed and they survive in smaller bodies of water that contain less water and less oxygen. This does not mean that we can keep our Bettas in less favourable conditions than we might. Bettas rise frequently to the surface to take in air in order to exract oxygen. The ability to do this has led to a bizarre way of spawning and caring for the young.

Male bettas need to be kept apart, if two males meet they will fight each other sometimes until one kills the other. In Thailand they are still bred to fight each other and Bets are made at Betta fight meetings. Because of the urge to fight, males are kept alone in small tanks or Betta barracks. They can be added to community tanks, however care should be taken to choose the right tank mates as any fish that are tail nippers are going to trim your Bettas beautiful fins. Feed your males a varied diet with a good quality flake food and some live food. I feed mine flake in the morning, followed by BB shrimp in the afternoon and then Whiteworms in the evening. Sometimes I change the whiteworms for Daphnia or fly larvae depending upon whats available in the garden at the time. Care should be taken to try to keep the water quality good by changing 20% of the water each week with fresh dechlorinated water. Temperature should be around 78 degrees. Adding an Indian Almond leaf is also a good idea, it turms the water a slight browny colour but the benefits far outway any change in colour of the water. Plants can be used especially floating ones like Duckweed.

Females, on the other hand, can be kept together, especially in larger groups where bullying is then spread out between the fish. They can be a bit nippy but, on the whole, females get along. Females can be kept in a community type tank, with other fish that will not be aggressive towards them. Diet and care are the same as above for the male. If the females are fed regularly on live food then they should always be near breeding condition.

• Filtration

Bettas like all other fish, require filtration. However they do not require fast flowing filtration like some other nfish , prefering slow moving water. There are a choice of filters that you can use, I recommend either air driven filtration or a small internal filter. A fluval 1 will sufice for your Betta or you can use an air driven sponge filter. In many of my tanks I use a filter that I designed several years ago that is cheap and easy to make. You can watch how to make the filter in the video clip to the right. It works exactly the same way that the old box filters work. It is great for many applications and I use it in tanks up to 50 gallons. I use this filter in all my angel fish grow out tanks as well.

Why do we need filtration? Filtration is what cleans the water and makes it possible for your fish to live in an aquarium. Filtration cleans the water by creating a nitrogen cycle within your tank. Any waste that your fish produces is converted into harmless substances which can be easily be monitored and diluted with frequent water changes.

If you wish to breed your bettas then read our BREEDING BETTAS page