jd@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (James R Drinkwater) (12/31/87)
Anyone know anything about raising Siamese Fighting fish?
reid@decwrl.dec.com (Brian Reid) (01/01/88)
Ah, finally a question I can answer rather than ask. I have Bettas. A Betta is a Siamese Fighting fish. They are small, delicate-looking freshwater fish. They have the unusual (among fish) ability to breathe air through a hole in the top of their head, so they will survive for long periods of time under the most amazing conditions. It is a good thing, actually, because you have to keep them under the most amazing conditions if you want more than one. If you put two male Bettas in a tank, they will fight until one of them dies. Usually both do. It is reputed that certain people find this fun to watch. I've only seen it once, and it was horrifying. You can kill a male Betta fairly easily by taping a mirror to the inside of the tank; every time he sees his reflection he will fluff himself up to full fighting dander and attack the mirror. He will do this often enough that he forgets to eat, and will die in a few days. Bettas like dirty, murky, sluggish, warmish water. Many of the Betta books recommend dissolving brown crud in the water to make them feel more at home. I fill my Betta tanks with lots of live plants, and the Bettas love to get lost in them. If you keep 3 male Bettas you need 3 tanks. There is no way around it. Luckily you can keep them for weeks in a tank the size of a grapefruit, because they can breathe air. However, they are much happier if you give them a big murky algae-filled warmish freshwater tank to prowl around in. Female Bettas do not look interesting, and they do not fight each other. Getting male and female Bettas to be interested in each other in a home aquarium is almost as difficult as getting male and female panda bears to do it in a zoo. Bettas do not live very long. A year or two at most. I lost one when it was eaten by a Plecostemus, and another one when it managed to get its head wedged in the intake strainer of a power filter (that was before I learned that Bettas prefer yucky water). But if you take flawless care of them, they still die relatively young. Brian Reid
ss60w@sdcc7.ucsd.EDU (ss60w) (01/02/88)
Hi, I have another Betta question: Do I have to feed my Betta live food? It (the food) dies so quickly. I've tried frozen shrimp, but the Betta is not enthused. Does anyone have any suggestions?
ss60w@sdcc7.ucsd.EDU (ss60w) (01/02/88)
Re my question on feeding Bettas: the mailer left off my signature. It is: Jon Dart Dept. of Anthropology UCSD C-001 La Jolla, CA 92093 ss60w%sdcc7@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU
csg@pyramid.pyramid.com (Carl S. Gutekunst) (01/04/88)
Thanks Brian, I was wondering if anyone else out there was making an effort to take good care of these beautiful fish. You answered a number of questions that we bothering me. All the pet shops seem to think a betta is happiest in a brandy snifter at room temperature. They also think bettas are inactive fish that mostly lie on the bottom. And by golly, if you keep a betta at room temperature in a brandy snifter, they mostly lie on the bottom.... >If you put two male Bettas in a tank, they will fight until one of them dies. >Usually both do. It is reputed that certain people find this fun to watch. In Thailand, according to my betta book, people actually take bets on the fish. Like cock fighting. (Bet a fish? Naw....) It's illegal, but then so is cock fighting. >Bettas like dirty, murky, sluggish, warmish water. I'd emphasize the "warm and sluggish." I keep my tank at 79F, with just enough aeration to keep the undergravel filter going. The fish is very active, and very attentive; it will eat out of my hand and do tricks in the water when it can see that I am watching. Cold water (73F) or normal aeration, and he lies on the bottom in the corners. I thought he was ill, and the petshops said it was "normal." Feh. I dunno about disolving dirt in the water; the books I've seen prefer lots of plants, as Brian has done. The dirt supposedly adds to the risk of disease. Regarding the question about live food: I have my betta on a rotating diet of live brine shrimp, and freeze-dried plankton and blood worms. All have the important property that they either float or swim. Bettas tend to ignore food that lies on the bottom and doesn't move, so you can forget any kind of flake food. It took a while (three days of starving) to convince mine to try the plankton; even now he doesn't pursue it vigorously, but he will eat it if it is the only thing offered at feeding time. The blood worms go quickly, but the brine shrimp are the favorite; depending on his mood, he'll either grab them within an inch of the surface, or chase them around the tank for a while. I have not tried anything else freeze dried, since it all tends to sink. Bad combination: tubiflex worms and gravel bottoms. The worms sink and tunnel in. Eventually they need air and stick their heads up again, and the betta will then nail them. But I like to see everything the fish eats. <csg>