Betta Fish FAQs: Expert Advice for All Your Questions

Name: Betta Fish FAQs: Expert Advice for All Your Questions | Open Video
Uploaded: 2023-10-02T08:01:41+00:00
Duration: 6 min 17 s

0:00
Hello friends, welcome back to the channel. Today I want to answer some of the questions I most
0:04
frequently asked about keeping better fish. The first question I often get is, is a better and a
0:11
Siamese fighting fish the same thing? And the answer is, well maybe. The better fish that most
0:18
of us are going to buy from the store, the bright red or green or yellow or multi-colored fish with
0:23
the long flowing fins, are typically better splendens. That's their scientific name. And they
0:29
used to be called the Siamese fighting fish, although typically now they're just referred to
0:33
as bettas. But bettas also refers to around 60 or 70 other fish that are in the same family
0:41
So a Siamese fighting fish is a betta, but a betta isn't necessarily a Siamese fighting fish. It
0:48
depends which member of the betta family you're talking about. Another question I'm frequently
0:53
asked is what do betta fish eat? And in the wild, bettas are essentially carnivores, insectivores
0:58
they want to eat live worms or bugs crustaceans insects baby fish anything they come across
1:06
that is alive and will fit in their mouth they will typically eat now in the aquarium we don't
1:12
tend to have access to all of that so what we can give them is live or frozen bloodworm we can give
1:16
them daphnia or mosquito larvae but they'll also eat good quality flake or pellet food now flakes
1:23
and pellet food are particularly useful because they tend to contain a wide mix of minerals and
1:29
nutrients and vitamins and help give our bettors a balanced nutritious diet that means they going to have a long happy healthy life and display bright colours
1:39
I'm also often asked how often we should feed our better. Now, in my experience, with a better, in fact, with almost all fish
1:47
it's better to feed them two or three small meals throughout a day
1:51
than it is to dump a load of food in once a day. feeding your bed to small frequent meals is better for the fish because it tends to eat a bit have
2:01
time to digest it pass it out through its system then later in the day eat a bit more have time to
2:07
digest it pass it out through its system whereas if we just drop it all in one go typically it will
2:12
eat eat eat eat eat as much as it can and the rest of the food will just drop behind the rocks
2:17
behind the heater into the clump of plants where it will typically sit and rot and and spoil our
2:24
water quality. Whereas if we put a small amount of food in, two or three times a day, typically
2:28
the better will consume all or most of that food before it has a chance to fall behind decorations
2:36
behind rocks, out of reach where the fish can't eat it. Another question I'm often asked, and I
2:41
think I get asked this in light of the vases I've got, is can you keep a better fish in a vase
2:46
And I would say no. For a better fish, a vase is just simply too small a volume of water
2:51
Better fish need to be kept at a stable temperature, they need good filtration
2:56
they need swimming space. A vase typically doesn't offer any of those things
3:00
And whilst a vase may be fine for snails or shrimp or even one or two male guppies they really are not large enough to keep a better fish for any length of time In fact really the minimum water volume you should try and keep a better in
3:16
is probably about five gallons but seven or ten gallons would be even better. The larger the
3:22
water volume we keep our better fish in, the easier it is to keep that water stable and healthy and
3:28
clean for the better to live in. Now I'm also often asked what is the best temperature to keep a
3:35
better in and in my experience anywhere between about 76 and 81 degrees Fahrenheit is absolutely
3:42
perfect for a better and that equates to between about 24 and 27 degrees centigrade. Now unless
3:49
you're fortunate enough to live in a lovely tropical environment where the aquarium water
3:54
will naturally stay at that temperature, the best way to maintain that is to add a small
3:59
submersible aquarium heater. And I find small modern heaters, 25, 50 watts, set somewhere in
4:06
the late 70s, provides the absolute perfect water temperature for a better to live in
4:11
Now I'm also often asked, can I keep more than one better in an aquarium
4:16
And assuming we're talking better splendors, the one most of us keep with the long flowing fins
4:22
the bright colors typically the answer is no the males will fight each other to
4:27
the death unless you're keeping them in some super large aquarium where each can have its its own territory but generally speaking one male now there's a lot of
4:35
talk on the internet of keeping a better female sorority tanks where you just keep a group of females together this is not something I ever tried but the research that I done when I did look into it is that these typically work in the short term but you won find many people that have kept their tank successful for
4:53
year after year. Typically in the short term that can work but in the long term it rarely proves
4:58
successful. So in my experience I would only ever keep one better in an aquarium. Now of course this
5:04
does beg the question, well can I keep one male and one female in an aquarium together
5:11
And what the problem here typically is they will want to breed, that will happen
5:17
and the breeding with better splendens tends to be a fairly aggressive affair. The male will start
5:23
by building a bubble nest on the surface, which is a fascinating thing to watch, but then
5:28
unfortunately he's very aggressive towards the female, and often the female gets quite badly
5:34
beaten and has a lot of fin damage from the aggressive way in which the fish breed
5:41
In my experience, unless you're actually wanting to breed bettas to produce the next generation
5:47
I would just keep a male or a female. I wouldn't try keeping them together. That's just my experience
5:53
Now, another question I'm often asked is how long the better fish live for
5:58
And whilst the short answer to that question is probably on average three to four years
6:04
There are a lot of things you can do to help your better live even longer than that
6:08
And I address those points in this video here

Betta Fish FAQs: Expert Advice for All Your Questions

fishkeepinganswers.com

Do Betta Fish Need a Heater?

Airstones and Guppies: Do Guppies need an airstone in their aquarium?

Do Betta Fish Prefer Still or Moving Water - ANSWERED!

?️ Newbie Shrimp Keeping Mistakes to Avoid!

10 Aquarium Side Hustles: Making $1,000 a month from your aquariums

Why Aren't My Shrimp Breeding? ?️ Reasons with solutions!

Feeding Cherry Shrimp - Answered! WHAT, WHEN & HOW MUCH???

🦐 Breeding Shrimp for Profit: Tips and Tricks for Success

How to Selectively Breed Shrimp - Improve the color & quality of your shrimp colony!

The Ultimate Cherry Shrimp Tank Set-Up! 🦐

Comparing Neocaridina and Caridina Shrimp! Which one should you choose?

5 Reasons New Shrimp Keepers Fail With Their Shrimp!

AI-Powered Insights for Red Cherry Shrimp Keepers: ChatGPT's Top 10 Tips!

How to Breed More Red Cherry Shrimp - 7 SECRETS REVEALED

Unboxing Neon Blue Crayfish

Up next in 10

Betta Fish FAQs: Expert Advice for All Your Questions

fishkeepinganswers.com