Ok i just recieved my first betta for christmas only four days ago and by the morning after i got him i noticed, after doing some research, that he had ick and has been sick since I'm treating him now but my question isn't about the disease its is how to tell wether he is happy because I've never had a betta and i haven't had him long enough to be able to recognize is characteristics so are there any general ways of knowing if my betta is happy? Oh and one more question when ever i go pay him a visit, which is very frequently because i'm trying to get him to recognize my face, he sticks his gills out at me for a while until he sees he isn't scaring me off and this may sound stupid but does that mean he doesn't like me?
Happy Betta?
- Thread starter Cassandra
- Start date
is he in a bowl? if yes, he's not happy.
also, if he is in a tank, you did cycle it, right?
bettas naturally flare like that. most fish do not like or dislike you. they see you as either a predator to be feared or a food dispenser.
also, if he is in a tank, you did cycle it, right?
bettas naturally flare like that. most fish do not like or dislike you. they see you as either a predator to be feared or a food dispenser.
Actually, Flaring (sticking his gills out at you) is one of the signs of a healthy betta. It doesn't mean he doesn't like you, it's just the natural way of responding to a perceived threat (and anything that is sevreral dozen times larger than him qualifies )
Chances are that as he gets used to people coming up to him, he won't do it so much.
As for keeping him Healthy, so long as he is in a large enough tank with proper filtration and heat that is kept clean he will live a very happy life indeed.
)Chances are that as he gets used to people coming up to him, he won't do it so much.
As for keeping him Healthy, so long as he is in a large enough tank with proper filtration and heat that is kept clean he will live a very happy life indeed.
1. bettas need their water in the 78-82 degree range. you cannot effectively heat a bowl.Cassandra said:
2.conditions can go bad very fast in a bowl, leading to stress and death if you don't monitor them closey and do bi or even tri weekly water changes.
3. bettas are highly intelligent fish that need some form of metal stimulation. bowls provide little, so they fall into monotony.
4. bettas are just plain happier in real tanks and live 2-3 years longer. they are also more colorful and more active.
on the whole it is much better for your betta in the long run to live in a tank. please, if you want him to be happy, buy him a tank of at least 3 (I reccomend 5) gallons that is heated and filtered.
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Ok well i can't really afford a nice tank since i don't have a job and my parents wont buy me a new tank but when my betta was given to me i was also given a heater and this little filtery thingy for it plus i'm going to do full water changes weekly if that's necessary (is it?) and i went out to by a thermometer that sticks on the outside to moniter the temperature so can he still be happy?
there is not way you can heat a bowl under 2 gallons without over heateing it. you can filter it if the filter is small enough, but it won't help much because it takes a while for the filter to grow the bacteria it needs. my advice is to buy him a real tank as soon as you can, cycle it, and put him in there. tell your parents that he needs it.Cassandra said:
Hmmm... 10g tank is $10 in the US and canada... Heater is $20... I can give you an air pump/air line tubing bubble filter if you can pay shipping (have a lots of air pumps and related equipment lying around, unused for quite a while now).
he'll be fine in there for a month or two. when i first got my betta, i had him in a 1/2 gallon bowl. he seemed fine enough, but looked like he wasn't alll he could be...
a month later, I got him a 10G, and he looked so happy I couldn't beleive it. he was a completely different betta.
and now he has his own 5G hex, all to himself (other than a snail) and is still has happy as can be.
make sure to read up on tank cycling, making a fishtank is a bit more complicated than a bowl.
on a note for getting tanks cheap, I got my 5G hex for only $32 at wal-mart. that may not seem like much if you live in a cheap area, but up here thats a great deal. you have to replace the light it comes with with a compact flourescent, though.
a month later, I got him a 10G, and he looked so happy I couldn't beleive it. he was a completely different betta.
and now he has his own 5G hex, all to himself (other than a snail) and is still has happy as can be.
make sure to read up on tank cycling, making a fishtank is a bit more complicated than a bowl.
on a note for getting tanks cheap, I got my 5G hex for only $32 at wal-mart. that may not seem like much if you live in a cheap area, but up here thats a great deal. you have to replace the light it comes with with a compact flourescent, though.
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