Do you have a Betta fish?

[Fishmanic22 138]

We are looking for more entrants in our Fish of the Month contest. For June's contest, we are featuring Bettas. If you have a Betta, please enter the FOTM contest. It's not just about trying to win, it's about participating and showing your fish to our members so perhaps they will consider acquiring a similar fish.
To view the entry thread, CLICK HERE.
Be sure to read the rules before posting your entry.
Update: the entry period is now closed. Since we had only one entrant, we couldnt have a poll. We needed two entrants for a proper contest.

 

[anewbie]

I have no betta nor do i wnat to keep a 'normal' betta nor do i have a current free tank for one of the more interesting wc betta. In truth betta is a distant third behind some of the exotic gourami and dwarf cichild i desire in part because they are a bit of a pain in the butt given the male constantly committing wife abuse. Really who wants a wife abuser.

 

[Fishmanic22 138]

Most people keep only ONE Betta in their tank...the males are more popular due to coloring and finnage. I've had Bettas in the past but they never lived longer than several months. I may get another Betta once my 2 remaining Danios pass on.

 

[anewbie]

Most people keep only ONE Betta in their tank...the males are more popular due to coloring. I've had Bettas in the past but they never lived longer than several months. I may get another Betta once my 2 remaining Danios pass on.

Well i would argue most people are not real fish keepers but rather kids with fishes but that is another story.

If i were to keep betta i would want to breed them - of course i can't keep the male with the female at all times given their behavior though the ones @JuiceBox52 has are a bit more tame as species go and it might be possible to leave the female iwth the male in a 100 gallon aquarium. Anyway..... if my betta can't live at least 3 years then i failed as a fish keeper.

 

[JuiceBox522 9]

Well i would argue most people are not real fish keepers but rather kids with fishes but that is another story.

If i were to keep betta i would want to breed them - of course i can't keep the male with the female at all times given their behavior though the ones @JuiceBox52 has are a bit more tame as species go and it might be possible to leave the female iwth the male in a 100 gallon aquarium. Anyway..... if my betta can't live at least 3 years then i failed as a fish keeper.

The species I have are suitable to be kept in community of the same species. While 29g is a better size for a pair, I keep my pair in a heavily planted 20 and they do very well and there is no aggression. Eventually I’d like to move the pair to my 42 long or a 55

 

[GaryE22 137]

A lot of aquarists don't know what a Betta is. The name applies to a large group of species, and not to one common and well loved fish. Tell me a rule for "Bettas" and I'll suspect I'm reading an uninterested fishkeeper. Tell me rules for keeping Betta splendens, Betta antuta or Betta albimarginata, and I'll know you've noticed the big picture and its small details.

I've seen some Betta species kept in beautiful communities. You can't do that with linebred domestic Betta splendens. You can, in a large enough tank, with some of the wine red Betta group, or other species that you have to go looking for. @JuiceBox52 won this month's contest (to me), by sharing photos of a rarely seen Betta that she had managed to find. It can be done. I've managed to keep half a dozen different species from the group. I've also kept a lot of splendens, which average around 3 to 7 years with proper care and if there's no tuberculosis in them when you buy them. I disagree with how they are bred and produced, so I will not keep them again.

This winter, I hope to visit a man who collects wild Betta species in southeast Asia at least once a year, and breeds them in his fishroom. I'm excited about seeing a bunch of fish I've never seen before, and to learn from the set ups. In the meantime, those photos of Betta antuta were cool.

A sad story of Bettas is that as populations of humans expand and swamps are converted to farming, it's probable that many species of Bettas have been made extinct without our even knowing they were ever there.

 

[anewbie]

A sad story of Bettas is that as populations of humans expand and swamps are converted to farming, it's probable that many species of Bettas have been made extinct without our even knowing they were ever there.

But that is true of a lot of species both fishes and otherwise around the globe. Worse human enduced changes to weather will kill off many species never known to exist.

 

[EmmaS]

Never kept one and never will. They don't do it for me. A whole tank wasted on a solitary fish. Saying that some are beautiful.,There's no denying that.

 

[GaryE22 137]

But that is true of a lot of species both fishes and otherwise around the globe. Worse human enduced changes to weather will kill off many species never known to exist.

Bettas are especially vulnerable as like killies, they don't swim far and tend to be found in isolated habitats. They inhabit extremes that protect them, but become dead ends as we dry them up. Bettas, Parosphromenus and other small fish get hit first. Fish that have larger ranges get by fine, for now, unless we eat them all.

 

[JuiceBox522 9]

Never kept one and never will. They don't do it for me. A whole tank wasted on a solitary fish. Saying that some are beautiful.,There's no denying that.

And that’s exactly why I don’t generally like the common betta, betta splendens. There are plenty of beautiful bettas that can be kept in large species only groups

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

A contest for the ever popular Veiltail Betta you say ? I always keep one around and have one now . These fish were my first success with an egg layer when I was a seventh grader way back in the halcyon days of 1969 . I even raised the fry with the old egg yolk squeezed through a handkerchief method of feeding the fry .

 

[Fishmanic22 138]

A contest for the ever popular Veiltail Betta you say ? I always keep one around and have one now . These fish were my first success with an egg layer when I was a seventh grader way back in the halcyon days of 1969 . I even raised the fry with the old egg yolk squeezed through a handkerchief method of feeding the fry .

You have a Betta? If so, why didn't you enter the FOTM contest. We only had one entrant, so there was no winner and the FOTM entry periods expired.

 

[Back in the fold1 10]

You have a Betta? If so, why didn't you enter the FOTM contest. We only had one entrant, so there was no winner and the FOTM entry periods expired.

Because I fiddled farted around doing other things and didn’t check in on The Great TFF Forum for awhile and I missed it . That’s why . Oh well , I would’ve won hands down with my fine specimen and that wouldn’t have been fair to everyone else .