Welcome to Gaia! ::

1. They're called 'bettas,' not 'betas.'

2. Most bettas sold as pets are male, as they're showier. Are you sure yours is a female?

3. You can put it in a larger space if you want, as long as it's not going to have anyone to get rowdy with.

My beta died today. Make sure that if you put water in it's tank it is given tablets to take out the chlorine and stuff that is from water treatment plants or he'll die. I bought a new brand of water treatment for my fish recently and it didn't include the features of neutralizing chlorine and iodine and it only added nutrients and it killed him in a few days when I thought it worked. I've never had a beta die so quickly. Usually mine live at least two years. : (

I've noticed keeping them in sunlight, but not direct sunlight, makes them a little more lively. If you do get him a larger tank, I'd recommend getting a bubbler instead of changing the water once a week to keep the water aerated, and include a plant or two for it to swim around or it'll just hang around the bottom. They do tend to act like large spaces freak them out, but that's because of where they're from. They often lived in rice paddies and shallow, slow flowing rivers, thriving off of insect larva. (They love blood-shrimp food!)

I stole my rommate's goldfish. They had no airation or filter. They used to sit at the bottom of the tank but I bought them some fake grass and a new airator and filter. They're always swimming around!

You can always buy a bigger tank, there's no harm in it. I like to decorate my fishes tank because they like to swim and play in the plants.

Just make sure he has nice clean water, ya know!

Betta fish are carnivores and won't eat your plants unless they're really hungry or just out of curiosity.

They don't need a big tank a 5 gallon is probably as big as they should be in if it's a single fish. Though some may dispute for a 10 gallon. I had mine in a 2 gal bowl and he did pretty well in there, kept his curiosity up with frequent visits and new things for him to flare at (Good exercise).

DO clean his tank or bowl at LEAST once a week, better every three days. Make sure you have a small container to keep him in if you choose to age the water first. ALWAYS scoop him up in a cup or something similar NEVER A NET, or you'll tear his fins.

Toys or false anything in the tank, if they cling or tear panty hose they'll hurt the fins

Bubbles on top of the water is a good thing it means they want to get their groove on. It's their bubble nest.

Feed ONCE or TWICE a day. If twice space your times out and opt for one pellet. Their stomach is the size of their eye. They are gluts so don't over feed them. Keep them warm, they like warm temps. My dorm room is always warm so they were happy. 75 to 80 F seems to be a nice T for them.

They love attention, but don't show them the mirror too much or a single stimulus to make them flare too much they will loose interest.

Get something for them to hide behind, they love hiding.

My lil sis had one when we were kids. We got it a large bowl and some colorful gravel and there was some kind of decoration in there (I think a fake plant.) He loved to swim around in the larger space and I loved to watch him swim in it. I think those tiny bowls they are sold in are cruel- but I also understand stores don't want to devote more shelf space to a relatively cheap fish to store them in larger bowls. The fish, Sharky, lived about 2 1/2 years and was an absolutely great pet for us. (Even my cat loved to watch him, and never went after him!) I hope you enjoy yours!

Awww, Spangles looks like my Frances. He was a cutie. All my betta's lived 3+ years and were housed in a 5gallon heated, filtered tank. I had otto's and live plants. (Well, until it got infested with snails.)

Here's Frances. I just set up the tank.


And here is Fishy Fishie. Fishy Fishie went basically from a pee cup to bigger, to bigger to the 5 gallon heated tank. He LOVED it. OMG. He loved it. I loved him! He'd be all being a fish and then he'd flare out and come at the glass and I would lean over and give him a kiss. Then he'd be all being a fish and flare again. Rinse, repeat. I worked at a call centre, so yeah, I made my own fun.


At my desk:


No more fish at the moment. We have really hard water/water with high salt content, so it's not good for fish.

ugh, you all are making me miss having betta's.


Wild Betta's live in swampy gross water, that does not mean the type of Betta's you buy in a store want that at all. There have been far too many generations and centuries of disconnect between that for it to be like that.

Ta Lu definitely is putting you in the right direction