Read some of the Betta websites with message boards. A lot of people have lived with and bred Bettas for years. A lot of people keep Bettas in small tanks, do frequent water changes and have happy Bettas. I don't think it takes huge amounts of money and massive hours to live with happy fish. It takes some time to do water changes, but, I think fish keeping shouldn't be made into a hard thing that scares people away. Fish, like people, all have different personalities and different fish within the same species can tolerate different conditions - within limits. I spend a lot of time at my computer. I enjoy taking breaks to look up at my 3 Bettas in 3 different 2+ gal vases who come to the edge of their tank and wiggle when they see me looking at them. Even the 3 new Bettas who live in a cycled, divided, filtered 10 gal tank with a silk plant in each section know me and react in the same way already. I'll keep an eye on the Bettas in the 10 gal to see if I need to adjust down the rate of the filter and I'll monitor the water paramaters closely for a couple of weeks. And after I see stable numbers in that tank it will go on weekly partial water changes just like my 2 29 gal tanks.
Betta Setup
- Thread starter nickmcmechan
- Start date
*blush* Why thankyou. I did a LOT of reading and research back when bettas weren't even all that popular and information on them was hard to come by. Nowadays there's oodles of information, but so much of it now conflicts with the basic facts I and my fish always lived by.
Of course bettas can live in aerated, filtered, heated tanks... It's more than what they were meant to survive in. That's like taking someone from a house that they are just fine with and putting them in a mansion that looks like a copy of something from MTV's CRIBS!! Of course they're gonna be happy... but they can be just as happy in the classic quart-1 gallon containers as well when taken care of properly. Just like we can live in a nice roomy house without having to have 5 mercedes outside, a swimming pool in the back yard, and a jacuzzi tub in every bedroom. It's nice and it's luxurious... but it's not necessary.
I'm glad to meet a fellow hobbyist and breeder of quality bettas who agrees with me. ^__^ It helps me to remind myself that I'm not crazy for doing things the way I did for all those years. Sometimes it's hard to swim upstream, ya know? But for my time, I was highly educated and thoroughly dedicated to the breed... I just don't understand how people nowadays can sit and tell me what I did was so horrible. :huh:
You have some gorgeous specimens, by the way. If I didn't love crowntails so much and had my heart set on a black orchid, I'd so invest in one of your beauties. ^__^
Never said it was... but some people here seem to act like anything less is cruel and unusual punishment! That, I strongly disagree with... and they demean people who choose to house their bettas otherwise, which I also strongly disagree with.
I never said that 5-10 gallons was too expensive or too demanding... I have always stated that it is nice, but unecessary. As in, you can do so for your betta if you have the money and would like to do so, but keeping it in a smaller tank or container, as long as you take proper care of it, is just as well. Even if you think a 10-gallon tank is cheap and easy to afford, you aren't considering those who simply and honestly don't have the spare pocket change.
I just went through a move and I'm readjusting to the new lifestyle. Sometimes I have to choose to feed my dog and cats before I buy this or that food item for myself. I've eaten ramen noodles just so I could take my cat to the vet or provide my fish with a new filter... but not everyone sets their priorities this way. For example, I know that my bichir needs a new tank and that electric yellow cichlids need to be in groups to be happiest. I won't be able to provide this for them for a long time... but I'm working towards it. Until then, they will have to live in the tank I've provided them... and the cichlid will have to live alone because to do otherwise would probably OS my tank.... not to mention that I can't afford him any 'friends' as LABs are $10 a fish at my LFS and that's too much on my budget right now. It all has to wait, but hopefully not for too long. But I digress. Back on subject.
I've seen betta topics where the minute the person says 'I'm keeping him in a bowl' he received 3 posts telling him the first thing he needed to do was run out and buy a 5 or 10 gallon tank with a heater and filtration. My answer to this is why buy something you don't really need? Instead of addressing whatever actual problem he had asked about, they immediately passed judgement on the method to which he housed his fish. I find this behavior deplorable.
This is telling anyone who keeps their betta in anything less that if they come to us with a problem, they either have to lie about how they are keeping the fish, or not ask at all, lest they be berrated before they receive any useful information.
I can't tell you how many betta owners have PMed me since I came here and stated my beliefs who now ask my advice because it's easier to talk to me than to ask in public. They all have the same problem... people belittling the way they choose to keep their fish before they get around to offering helpful information. That is not what fish-keeping should be about and no one should make another person feel like this wonderful hobby is so demanding, daunting, and utterly hopeless unless they do it just this way or in that fashion.
It's one of the biggest negatives about this place... otherwise, I adore this community and find it invaluable.
I never said that 5-10 gallons was too expensive or too demanding... I have always stated that it is nice, but unecessary. As in, you can do so for your betta if you have the money and would like to do so, but keeping it in a smaller tank or container, as long as you take proper care of it, is just as well. Even if you think a 10-gallon tank is cheap and easy to afford, you aren't considering those who simply and honestly don't have the spare pocket change.
I just went through a move and I'm readjusting to the new lifestyle. Sometimes I have to choose to feed my dog and cats before I buy this or that food item for myself. I've eaten ramen noodles just so I could take my cat to the vet or provide my fish with a new filter... but not everyone sets their priorities this way. For example, I know that my bichir needs a new tank and that electric yellow cichlids need to be in groups to be happiest. I won't be able to provide this for them for a long time... but I'm working towards it. Until then, they will have to live in the tank I've provided them... and the cichlid will have to live alone because to do otherwise would probably OS my tank.... not to mention that I can't afford him any 'friends' as LABs are $10 a fish at my LFS and that's too much on my budget right now. It all has to wait, but hopefully not for too long. But I digress. Back on subject.
I've seen betta topics where the minute the person says 'I'm keeping him in a bowl' he received 3 posts telling him the first thing he needed to do was run out and buy a 5 or 10 gallon tank with a heater and filtration. My answer to this is why buy something you don't really need? Instead of addressing whatever actual problem he had asked about, they immediately passed judgement on the method to which he housed his fish. I find this behavior deplorable.
This is telling anyone who keeps their betta in anything less that if they come to us with a problem, they either have to lie about how they are keeping the fish, or not ask at all, lest they be berrated before they receive any useful information.
I can't tell you how many betta owners have PMed me since I came here and stated my beliefs who now ask my advice because it's easier to talk to me than to ask in public. They all have the same problem... people belittling the way they choose to keep their fish before they get around to offering helpful information. That is not what fish-keeping should be about and no one should make another person feel like this wonderful hobby is so demanding, daunting, and utterly hopeless unless they do it just this way or in that fashion.
It's one of the biggest negatives about this place... otherwise, I adore this community and find it invaluable.
