We've had horrible luck with goldfish, so I thought I'd get my dd a beta for Christmas. From what I've read, it seems they are more "low-maintenance" than goldfish, not requiring the filters, aeorator, etc... just a bowl and some water treatment and food. I mentioned this to a co-worker and she was very pessimistic. She said betas are very high-maintenance and will die if they don't have all this attention...
Which is true???? TIA

By Missmudd on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 10:57 am:

Well my son had a beta for almost 2 years before he went to the great hereafter and if it managed to survive that long w/ his inattention I would have to say that they are pretty sturdy little fish. Just know that you can only have ONE, they will fight and eat one another if you have more than one in the bowl. Also if they are irritated by something they see outside their bowl they may actually jump out to get it, so a lid of some sort may be advisable.

By Kernkate on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:01 am:

IMO they are very low maintenance. We always have them. I had one for 15 months and it just died last week. I will be getting another for the kids. I had a tall glass container with rocks in the bottom and that was it. Just don't fill the container, bowl to the top because from experience they will jump out
and don't ever put 2 beta together because they will fight and kill each other. I would recommend one for anyone.

By Kernkate on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:02 am:

LOL Kristen, we both gave almost the same post

By Kaye on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:09 am:

What does my betas higher maintainence is that you do have to do regular water changes to keep the water clean. Because they don't have all that filtration set up. If you have the set up anyway you can put a beta in that tank and it will do great. I have had beta's on and off for years. We moved one via car from ohio to texas, it still lived for a year after the move. I do think they are easier than goldfish.

By Colette on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:45 am:

We just had baby guppies...again...if you want those I'll bring it to your house!

By Janet on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 01:19 pm:

Guppies? No! Thanks for the heads-up on the jumping...I hadn't known that! I've got a bowl with marbles, no plants, and water conditioner and beta food. Is that sufficient? Will it live in a bedroom? (low light) Or does it need more light?

By Kittycat_26 on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 01:37 pm:

I've managed to keep our beta alive with very little effort on my part and I've killed many goldfish.

By Rayanne on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 02:59 pm:

I always kept mine away from the direct sunlight. It lived for 2 1/2 years.

By Vicki on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 03:52 pm:

Dd had a beta at school and we were lucky enough to keep it over the summer.... all we were told to use was spring water that you buy at the store. I never added anything to the tank besides that water and managed not to kill it over the summer. LOL I am going to have to see if that thing is still alive!! I would say they are pretty hearty little guys!!

By Mrsheidi on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 04:46 pm:

Our beta jumped out of the water and Scott thought it was a dried leaf and threw it away when he got home at lunch...so when i came home later and no one was there, i was wondering...where did my beta go??
LOL!

By My2cuties on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 05:25 pm:

OMG Heidi, That is so horrible, glad you can laugh about it now..I cried all day when I came home to our floating beta.

By Missmudd on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 05:27 pm:

They should be ok in a regular bowl as long as they dont get too cold. So if your house is an icehouse like mine you may want to leave a light on next to him to keep him warm.

By Feona on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 12:02 pm:

We put one beta in a ten gallon fish tank with filters and heaters and everything. When we first got him we had to do fifty percent daily water changes for 2 weeks because the beta didn't look too good. Grey looking

He is fine now. Something to do with the nitrogen and amonia(spelling) cycle. Cycling a tank.

By Unschoolmom on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 12:46 pm:

Your co-worker is full of it. Bettas are MUCH easier. They need much less space, are a LOT cleaner and so need less maintenence. They're also more forgiving because they're surface breathers - they have an organ called a labrynth that lets them get oxygen by gulping air from the surface of the water.

When you bring your Betta home, remember that they're very sensitive to not only temperature changes but PH changes as well. Put your betta in the bowl while he's in his bag for 20-30 minutes so the temperature of all the water can equalize. then let some water into the bag and a little out and let him sit for 15-20 mintutes. Do that 3 or 4 times. You're adjusting him slowly to the PH levels of the new water by doing this.

Ideally you'd have a 5 or 10 gallon tank with a heater (they're tropical fish) but a good 1 or 2 gallon bowl is okay as long as you keep it in a warm area that's not prone to temperature swings. Add some gravel or marbles for bacteria to grow on and a fake plant to reduce stress (so they can hide). I do bi-monthly water changes of about 10-20% of the water and occasionally change all of it and wipe out the algae. A couple of small pinches of freeze dried bloodworms a day is good.
I really think those little starter kits you can buy are horrid however (way too little space and they market them for goldfish too - to me that's just evil!).

And if you ever see those Bettas sold in vases with lilies - complain to the manager and maybe even report it to the SPCA. They say the plants provide food and oxygen while the betta fertilizes the water. In truth the carnivorous Betta either starves or is suffocated (because oxygen gets into that water by traveling through the surface of the water - but it's clogged by the plant).

I have a goldfish too and have really found that the secret for them (after having other goldfish and dealing with finrot and ich) is give them enough space. They need at least 10 gallons each or double that if they're comets (the plain ones). Once we gave up on having two in our 10 gallon tank (taking into account that our little fantail is not the social butterfly most goldfish are. He can go without pals - our previous goldfish got downright depressed when a death left him friendless and alone) our remaining goldfish became the picture of health and has gone on a big growth spurt.

Good luck! I love having fish, it's like having fairies in the house!

By Unschoolmom on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 12:50 pm:

Oh! to prevent jumped just slip a shower cap with some holes punched in it over the top. I used an old tea towel with holes and secured it with an elastic band.