BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Hello everyone, New Betta owner here!

First off, I just want to say hello to everyone. I realize this is a website for females, but I'm a guy and frankly, this is the only place to get some help with Bettas. Hopefully, you gals don't mind me too much.

I just recently got my first fish, a Betta. My mom first owned him, she was given the fish as a "morale booster" at her work. She kept him in a tiny little plastic thing for a whole year, finally I saw the poor guy and decided to resuce him. We went out, got a 10 gallon aquirium. It's got the Bio-Wheel, enough gravel to cover the bottom, and four plastic plants of various sizes. I let the tank run with the filter for about 24 hours and then transported "Kawalski", the Betta, into the tank. He's been in there all day now, and is acitng a bit odd. He has found a favorite corner and just hangs out down there a lot, or he'll float up and hang out in the same corner at the top. As I read, this might mean he's not happy. He does swim around every so often, makes laps and such, the occasional flashing of gills at the mirror-esque sides and me (is that normal?) but he always ends up back in the corner. I hope this okay? I have noticed one drastic change, in the "tank" my mom had him in, he'd lay on the bottom all day and his fins would never "flare" at all. Today, I've seen them get larger as he swims and it's truly an amazing site. So, I'm assuming that's a good sign?

Another query, being that I have a 10 gallon tank worth about $55, I think I'd like to invest in a few other "Tank mates". I've spent two, three nights searching for good mates. I've come to the conclusion a good match would be:
Two/Three Lemon Tetras
Two Kuhli Loaches

What do you all think of that?


Thanks for your time and thank you in advance for any replies!

He seems to be doing okay. It will take him a week or so to adjust to his new surroundings, but he will probably love it in there. Watch the plastic plants, as he'll probably like to lounge on them, and you will have to keep an eye out so he doesn't rip his fins. Swimming and flaring out is a good sign, that just means he is active and healthy. If he builds a bubble nest, you'll know you've really made a good home for him!

I'm not sure how tetras do with bettas, but you'll have to make sure you don't get anything that nips at fins, or anything with really long fins that the betta might think are fun to chase. Some people add ghost shrimp with their bettas, but those usually end up being more of a "betta snack" than a tank buddy...other than that, I'm not really sure what you can add. There was probably another thread on that somewhere (actually, I'm sure there was), so if you do a search in the forums here, you'll probably pull something up.

Bettas are not very active fish and they swim slowly. This is a good site to get information on them.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/betta_splendens.htm

They can't handle strong currents in their water and be really careful about how stongly your aquarium filter pulls water into it's intake tube. One of my Bettas got his beautiful flowing fins sucked into the strainer of the filter intake and couldn't get out. I couldn't use any filtration in his tank.

Not very active? You've never met my fish <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Although it is true they generally don't like strong currents, and their fins can get caught in uptakes...but some oddballs like currents...each one has its own personality!

He actually hasn't spent too much time around the plants, oddly enough. I'm thinking of replacing them with some silk ones, those seem to be liked and suggested by most. I've read at quite a few sites that only certain types of Tetras would work, such as Lemons, Neons and one other, I forget. Lemons seemed to be mentioned often though. I read about Ghost Shrimp, and as you said, I don't just want a snack for him in there, haha. I'll try searching for that thread, although I've looked through many pages to no success, but I'll look again. Also, would 2/3 Tetras and 2 Loaches be too many things in a 10 gallon?

As time goes on, he's becoming a bit quicker and more active. He is a challenge to feed though, tends to trick me into thinking he wants one more, but doesn't take it, haha! He seems, oddly enough, to enjoy the small current. He often gets close enough so his fins run through it and he'll just sit there. The filter isn't very strong at all, he's been swimming right next to it without having a problem at all.

Thanks to both of you for your replies and I hope you can continue to help me out, it means a lot to me. I just want to treat the fella' well (and the other fish, if I get some). I adore all animals, so this is pretty cool for me!

UPDATE:

So I went to PetCo, first: Awesome service. The guy actually knew what we was talking about. I bought 5 neon tetras and he was honest and said, "With a male Betta, you got a 50/50 chance of them making it." so I knew that but I'm giving it a shot. So, Kowalski, the Betta, is very happy, he's really loving his tank. So I put in the 5 tetras... Problems as expected. Kowalski took a few runs at them, not even touching them, just moving them, ya know? He seems to get over it quickly though and go about his business. Anyway, I hope you people know you were a greta help, it's so nice to have fellow Betta owners to speak with about this stuff. Here's to my five new tetras!!

Welcome, Kawalski& Kowalski! It sounds like you're doing great. And I know what you mean about this being the only place to find betta help. When I googled a betta problem, this was the place to go <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. A 2 gallon tank would have been good for your betta, so it's great that you went and got a 10 gallon. It's a bonus that you found a "pet counsellor" at a pet store that actually knew what he was talking about. (Sadly, I have found that they are few and far between.) I hope things work out with your betta and the new tetras. Sounds like it could be interesting. Let us know how it goes.
-FW

I don't use a filter in my tank when I have a beta.
I have a five gallon tank and change over the water every two weeks.

My experience with Bettas and water currents is that they don't really mind the current if it's not too strong. If you do use a strong filter relative to the size of your tank, make sure the flowrate control is set to a lower setting assuming your filter has a flowrate adjustment. If your filter doesn't have a flowrate adjustment you could place the filter in the corner of the tank where the water return is prevented from creating strong currents in other parts of the tank. The Bettas will just avoid the corner with strong currents.

Another option is to place a rock or other object directly in the path of the water return. This will effectively dissipate the strong water current. This is useful when you need/want to keep the maximum flowrate of your filter, but don't want the strong currents associated with said flowrate. One reason why you would want the maximum filtering capacity and hence maximum flowrate is if you have a tank with lots of fish.

Finally Bettas love to lounge in floating plants too like Gouramis so that also helps a lot if your water current is fairly strong. The floating plants provide the Bettas a calm resting place near the water surface for quick access to air without having to fight the water current all time. This is especially important when they go to sleep at night. The floating plants also provide shade and cover from bright canopy lights. <img src="/images/graemlins/fish.gif" alt="" />