Betta FishThe Most Fascinating Fish Of All Tropical Fishes

Bettas are naturally meat eaters. Their diet consists of tiny invertebrates such as insects, worms and crustaceans. Bettas are surface feeders and their foods are the floating types. There is a wide variety of foods available in stores you can choose for feeding betta fish. Basically, fish food comes in several forms including dry, frozen, freeze-dried and live foods.

You can find suitable betta food in dry form such as flakes and pellets for feeding betta fish. Flakes can be crushed between your fingers to become smaller flakes or even powder form. Pellets obtained from stores are usually packed in convenient dispenser packages that allow you to tap out one pellet at a time. This form of packaging is convenient to be used for small feeds. If you are giving one betta food, one pellet is sufficient for one feeding. Pellet is considered as the most convenient form of food. As betta has a small mouth, very small pellets should be selected for its food.

Frozen betta food available in stores includes brine shrimps and bloodworms. The disadvantage of this form of food is that it is difficult to obtain a small portion to feed just one betta in a bowl. It is easier to use this type of food for feeding several fishes. If you are feeding your betta with other fishes, you can leave a small piece of frozen food in a little water to defrost. When it is defrosted, you can sieve out one or two worms or shrimps for your betta and use the rest to feed the other fishes. Frozen foods must always be kept frozen. It is advisable not to thaw and refreeze these foods. Blood worm is the most common type frozen food for betta.

Freeze-dried betta food is very convenient to use. You can simply pick one or two free-dried bloodworms or shrimps and drop it into the container for your betta. Freeze-dried foods should be kept in airtight containers. Live food suitable for feeding includes shrimps, bloodworms and mosquito larvae. Some live foods can remain alive for a period of time in the water and allow your betta to be fed over a period of time. There is no fear of these organisms decomposing and making the water dirty.

As seen from the above, there are many kinds of betta foods available. You can select the types most suitable for your use. Bettas survive well with live foods as well as prepared foods. All these food can provide proper nutrition for them.

Copyright : Rose Mary

Feeding betta fish is an important task in betta care. Inappropriate betta feeding can cause harm to its health or may even result in its death. In order to keep it in good health, you need to know what it needs and how you should feed it. Below are some tips on feeding betta fish.

In order to ensure that your betta have adequate nutrition, it is better to feed it with a variety of betta food. There is a great variety of live foods as well as prepared foods available at stores. You can select a few types of betta food to feed it. You need to vary the type of food to provide a balanced diet for it. Besides, this will also prevent it from getting used to a single type of betta food.

Bettas require a high protein diet. They mainly eat small animals which they can swallow whole or with only a few bites. Besides proteins, they need carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. Proper feeding with the right betta food not only can help to make them strong, it can also enhance their colours.

If you are feeding a single betta, you can use one pellet, flake or live organism which is considered sufficient for one feeding. Fish is cold-blooded. While warm-blooded animals use food to produce body heat, cold-blooded animals do not. These creatures have lower calorie requirements. Many warm-blooded animals may starve to death if they go without food for a few days whereas most fishes can survive without food for more than a week.

It is important not to overstuff a betta with too much betta food in one feeding. This will cause its belly to bulge. This condition can sometimes be fatal. It is also advisable not to feed it too frequently without giving any breaks. This can result in the betta suffering from obesity or some forms of degenerative diseases. Bettas tend to eat as much as possible the amount of food given to it, hence, you need to exercise caution in feeding it with the appropriate quantity. If your betta shows no interest in eating when food is given, then most probably it has fallen sick. Unless the betta is spawning or tending a nest, there is no reason that it would not be attracted to food.

The above are some tips on feeding betta fish which you can take note in your betta care. You need to provide adequate betta food for your fish to remain healthy and colourful. In particular, varying the type of betta food is necessary to maintain a proper diet for it. 

Copyright : Rose Mary

Bettas are wonderful fishes to keep. They are not too expensive to acquire or too difficult to maintain. However, if you want the betta to be healthy and live long, you must provide good betta care. Below are some points you need to take note on keeping them.

Bettas need exercise to maintain good health. Hence, the betta fish bowl you use for keeping your betta should be large enough for it to swim about. Bettas are meat eaters, so they must be fed with meat-based food. In wild environments, their main foods are insects, worms and small crustaceans. It is important to note that bettas are tropical fish and they come from warm habitats. Thus, they need a warm environment to survive well. Ideally, the temperature of the water in the fish bowl or tank where they are kept should be around 27º C. In order to maintain this temperature, an aquarium heater may be necessary in some cases.

The volume of water recommended in the betta fish bowl depends on the frequency you intend to change the water. If you intend to change the water once a week, it is recommended that you give your betta at least 4 litres of water in the fish bowl. If a litre of water is used, you will need to change the water about every two days. Keeping the water too long in a small betta fish bowl will cause the water to be toxic, being full of wastes. Thus, if you keep your betta in a small betta fish bowl with just 250ml of water, you will need to change the water every day!

Male betta fishes have an aggressive fighting behaviour. When a male betta fish sees another male betta fish, he will tend to give a dramatic display. Probably, he may initially hover around at the bottom of the container with his fins partially folded. Then, he will rise from the bottom, unfurls his fins and spreads them widely. Flaring his fins, he will lunge at the other male betta fish. If the other betta fish also gives a dramatic display of his own, a fight will ensue. Both bettas will be injured as a result of the fight. Most of the time, their fins and gills will be damaged which may give rise to fin rot. It is interesting to note that a male betta fish preparing to breed will give the same kind of display when he sees a female betta. Hence, it is advisable to refrain from keeping two male bettas together, as well as a male and a female betta together unless you are trying to breed them. If two betta females are placed together in a fish bowl, they usually do not attack each other.

The above are some points you need to take note when providing betta care. These points are important if you want it to live well. In particular, you need to take note of the aggressive behaviour of male betta fishes and the precautions to take. Good betta care helps your betta maintain good health.

Copyright : Rose Mary

Betta diseases prevention is important in betta case. In order to keep your betta free from betta diseases, you need to provide good betta care. Below are some tips on how you can prevent betta diseases.

In order to prevent betta diseases, you need to provide clean water for the betta, right water temperature, good betta food and appropriate quantity of food. If all these are taken care of, your betta will be kept healthy. On the other hand, if you give your betta dirty water, cold temperatures, lousy food, insufficient food or too much food, your betta will be prone to suffer health problems. When changing water, it is better to use water of the same temperature. This is to prevent shock to the betta due to sudden change of water temperature. Also, the water used should have been treated to remove chlorine compounds.

It is advisable to keep your new betta fish alone in a betta fish bowl, without sharing water with other fishes for about a month, when you first brought it home. The purpose of doing this is to allow some time for any disease the betta is carrying to manifest itself. In this way, you can treat the betta disease while your betta is in the betta fish bowl without allowing it to infect other fishes. After the infection is treated, you can transfer it to the tank and allow it to stay with the other fishes. Fishes do not need to come into contact with one another to spread a disease. Things such as fish nets and water hoses can transfer pathogens from one container to another.

How do you know that your betta is sick? A healthy betta has fine colour, good fins, looks lively and seems interested in its surroundings. If a betta is sick, it will not display one or more of these signs. In particular, clamped fins are good signs of a sick betta. If a betta is suffering from a parasite disease, abnormal spot will appear on its body. However, sometimes it may not be easy to notice these spots on its body, especially when its colour is very light. You may need to use a torch light to shine on it to see the spots more clearly. Some bettas whose fins are damaged have a higher chance of suffering from fin rot. One of the recommended treatments for betta diseases is to put some salt into the water. Some betta keepers used salt regularly to prevent the bettas from being infected with diseases.

As seen from the above, betta diseases prevention is not difficult. Most importantly, regular changing of water should be practised to ensure clean water is present in the container for your betta. If you practise good betta care habits, your betta will be healthy and happy.

Copyright: Rose Mary

Proper betta care is important to keep a betta free from sicknesses. How do you know if a betta is sick? You can look for signs revealed on its body as well as its behaviour. For example, you can check whether the betta has abnormal color spots on its body. Also, if the betta display poor appetite or shows no sign of interest in its surrounding, then most probably the betta is sick. If the betta is suffering from a disease, it is important that it received prompt treatment. Some common betta diseases are described below.

A common betta disease is the ich (short for ichthyophthirius), a protozoan disease. A betta suffering from this disease will have white spots reflected on its body. These spots are actually formed by parasites embedded in the betta’s skin. This betta disease needs to be treated promptly. If left untreated, the betta will die. The treatment for ich is to raise the water temperature to 90 deg F (32 deg C) and add a little salt to the water. The water need to be change at least once a day to remove parasite existing in the water. If the parasites are not cleared, they may attack the fish again. There are some medications available at stores to treat the infection but care must be taken to use the correct dosage. Especially for small betta bowls, an overdose of mediation should be prevented.

Another common betta disease is the Velvet. It is also a protozoan disease which will cause small yellow spots to appear on the betta’s body. The betta will have a “sandy” appearance. In order to see more clearly the spots, you can use a torch light to shine on the betta. Velvet is more commonly found in young bettas than old ones. For this disease, you can place some salt in the water. There are medications sold by stores to treat the infection caused by this disease. Regular changing of water is also recommended to remove the parasites in the water.

When a betta’s fin is damaged, fin rot may occur. This is because the damaged tissue causes infection. One of the ways of treating fin rot is to place the betta in clean water. If the fin rot is serious and providing clean water does not help the condition, then you can purchase some medications to remove the fin rot infection. As soon as the damaged is stopped, the betta could regenerate its fins. Even if the gills are affected by the fin rot, the betta can still take in oxygen from the air and stay alive.

The above are some common betta diseases. Prompt treatments are important to prevent the diseases from developing into more serious conditions which may result in death. Bettas must be kept in clean water, hence regular changing of water is required. Proper betta care must be given for betta to maintain good health and have long life!

Copyright : Rose Mary