Beta Fish and cold water

[Dwarf Puffers]

I had kept my betta for a short time in a 1g bowl, and he hated it. He sulked all day. Now he zooms around the tank all day and comes up to say "Hi!". The 10g is deffinately an improvement.

GuppyLure, get either 1 female per tank or 3 or more. They'll need to establish a pecking order, and it's too rough on the loser if there's only 2.

I have 1 male in a 5 gallon and he's the most active I've ever seen! But no, I wouldn't say they're as active as guppies or goldfish. For a 2 gallon, I'd say 1 betta OR 2 or 3 male guppies OR 3 to 5 male Endler's livebearers. All of these need heaters. No female guppies or Endlers because you don't have room in there for offspring and guppies can have up to 100 and Endler's up to 40 in each batch! And you could add a snail or shrimp. The Endler's would eat the baby shrimp but not the adults, guessing guppies would, too.

A 2g is barely enough room for a betta. Endlers and guppies need at least a 5g, and 5 endlers would be the most you could fit in a 5g.

 

[bettagurl]

Yes, endlers and guppies are very active fish..

I personally would make it into a nano planted shrimp tank :

 

[fishman2223]

I have a male betta in a ten gallon mirrored tank so he sees himself all day so he is really active

 

[nickmcmechan]

i just upgraded my 10g to a 20g for my betta...he loves his new mansion

 

[bettagurl]

i just upgraded my 10g to a 20g for my betta...he loves his new mansion

Yep, my betta LOVES his 55g, chasing herds or tetras, playing in bubbles ect.

 

[reavesinc]

The more active a betta is, the longer they will live. Having a split tank with two males or a male female will keep the pair swimming around all day. Having them fight themselves is also a god way to keep them swimming. I use a two gallon planted tank, with filter & heater. He shares this tank with two frogs, which he follows around all day.

 

[Thehappypet]

I have ten or so adult bettas right now and about forty juveniles. All the adults are in at least one to two gallon jars with a small bit of gravel and some plants. Some have sponge filters but most do not, the ones with no filters get once a week water changes. I feed the breeding fish 2-3 times a day(small meals) and the non-breeders only once a day/every other day. I keep my fishroom heated to about 78 degrees, give or take. The comment I hear most when newcomers see my bettas for the first time is "Wow! I never knew they moved so much!"
Bettas seem to be very aware of whats going on outside their tanks as well, mine will spend a bit of time "checking out" whats going on around them. The mirror trick is also good to do every day if you only have one betta(I just let my guys see each other), it will help strengthen his/her muscles and build confidence. A strong confident betta is the most active betta, the petstore bettas have atrophied muscles, weak confidence, and many are fearful of humans from being forced to sit in one spot in their tiny cups and be poked at by every person that walks by them AND the lights in a petstore are never fully turned off so I can only imagine what that must do to their sleep schedules....
So, yeah, i would say that bettas are as active and have as much personality as goldfish or guppies.
Sorry for the long post
You can see some pics/movies of my bettas at my website if anyone is interested.
www.freewebs.com/thehappypet

 

[hope4peace]

something you all should know. when a betta flares at his reflection, he is stressed. This is fine every so often but its not good to stress them out alot, just as you wouldn't want to stress them by chasing them around with a net or quick temp changes and such. Just something I learned a while back I thought I would pass on. You wouldn't want to be constantly around something YOU wanted to kill, would you?

 

[Thehappypet]

If left in view of another male betta for an extended period of time your betta will become stressed and it will weaken his immune system, but successfully defending "his" territory for a few minutes against a rival is a good way to build up confidence in your male bettas. And in the wild fights to the death rarely happen, once it is determined which among the two is the strongest the fighting usually ends...

 

[msjinkzd]

my male betta is in a 16g..I love him, he eats from my fingers and comes to the top of the water and the front of the glass every time i get near the tank.