Sunday, July 12, 2009

Falling In Love With Betta Fish

By Mick Turret

For many people, Betta fish will be their first step to possessing a tropical fish because they are gorgeous and above all, incredibly simple to look after. The Siamese Fighting Fish, as that's what Betta Splendens are also called, are perfect for beginners because they are simple to take care of and most especially, they don't need a lot of space. This means that you can buy a small bowl for them in the beginning and perhaps later head out into something larger.

To keep your betta healthy, you will need to maintain the temperature in the fish tank at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. You will also need to give the betta specific fish food. This comes in either flake or small pellets, which depends on the variety you get. Both the pellet and the flakes are absolutely acceptable for the betta and some solid foods even have extra additives that serve to keep the betta healthy or improve the coloring.

The water however, does need to be replaced more or less once every week. For a one to two gallon aquarium, this should not take long and is not a challenging chore, even though a filter can really extend the time between the required exchanges.

It is commonly believed that it is a bad idea for betta fish to be kept with other fish or aquatic creatures, but this just isn't true. However, some attention should be payed to the type of fish you choose to join your betta in its aquarium. Of course, putting a female betta in the fish tank with the male isn't likely to create an issue. Other secure species include smaller fish that do not have large or colorful tails.

It is important to remember however that putting a male and a female in the same tank will result in a multitude of additional bettas. It is the truth though, that you can't sustain two male bettas in the same tank - even setting them in fish tanks close to one another results in shows of aggression.

More or less any ornament can be included in the fish tank but bear in mind that you might have to supply small stones to keep things like plants in position on the floor of your fish tank. The goal is to provide the fish with an environment to play, swim through and hide in if necessary.

Betta fish are perfect for anyone who is hoping to begin in tropical fish maintaining as they are simple to look after and do not call for a lot of care. Nor do they call for a big amount of room and can manage without a lot of items that other varieties of tropical fish can't do without. When thinking of a betta or creating a habitat, consider having additional kinds of smaller fish that that don't have display signals such as flashy tails.

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