Need Help Getting Started

[ZacharyToh]

Hey. I'm a newbie and i wanna get started to keep a betta as a pet. How do i go about it? do i just buy a fish and a tank? what do i need ? thanks

 

[liz2]

If you are just having a betta, still get the largest tank you can afford and will fit in your room. A heater, I use glass pebbles for the bottom of the tank, a silk plant and a hidey hole. Water conditioner and aqua salt. Set your tank up, now I personally dont use any sort of air pump but some on here do. If you do use one it must be really quiet and not very powerful or the fish will freak out. Last but not least and VERY important a tight fitting lid to your tank, because the little blighters jump!

 

[x0x.love.you.x0x]

some bettas do not like filters at all every betta is different and having live plants are better if you have a good tank light. some people will use a 3 gallon tank but a 5 gallon is definately better and as liz2 said get the largest tank you can afford
also look into if your wanting to just a petshop betta or whether you are wanting to buy a betta from a breeder

 

[Honeythorn]

Aquarium salt is not needed. Bettas are not a brackish species and salt would only need to be added if the betta was ill on arrival. Which it should not be.

ZacharyToh


Go to the New to the hobby section of the main TFF page and read the stickied Fishless cycling thread thoroughly. You will need that information to cycle your filter.

Basically when you cycle a filter, you are creating a home for a colony of bacteria. These useful bacteria eat the Ammonia in the waste that fish make ( poo, wee any uneaten food ect it all turns to ammonia which is VERY harmful to fish ) the convert it into a product called NitrIte, and a second sort of bacteria eat that and turn it into NitrAte. YOU then remove most of the NitrAte by doing regular partial water changes every week. It takes at least 1 month to completely cycle a filter from scratch. If you put any fish in the tank before that, you will expose them to high levels of Ammonia, Nitrites ect.

You will need a Liquid test kit to do your cycle ( and should have one anyway to periodically test the water and check everything is ok, just because it looks clean to you it doesn't mean it's ok for your fish )

Get a 5 gallon tank if you can. Proper glass tanks are not expensive if you buy them second hand, or you can get plastic "critter keepers " in large sizes that easily hold around 5 gallons, and they do not cost a vast amount of money either. A 5 gallon will easily fit on a desk. small table or sideboard anywhere near a plug socket so space should not be an issue at all .

You will need a heater. A 25 watt Heater is fine, or a 50 watt.

Your best bet for a filter is a SPONGE FILTER. You can buy them on ebay and they are very safe for bettas because they do not produce much current or disturbance at all. You will need an Airpump with some airline tubing to run the sponge filter. REMEMBER , you will need to cycle the filter to make the water acceptable for your fish. Keep referring back to the Fishless cycling thread and the New to the hobby forum if you have problems.

Dechlorinator. You will need this because the chlorine that is put into water to make it safe for you to drink is very bad for fish. Putting dechlorinator into the water when you pour it back in the tank during a weekly water change will remove the harmful chlorine and make it safe for your fish.

Substrates: Small grade gravel is fine, I would not advise the hideous brightly coloured gravel you so often see in pet stores as the colour has been known to leach off and affect water quality. Natural plain gravel is safest. Sand is also an option, and as previously mentioned, some people like to use glass pebbles. Those are fine as glass is inert and no colour can leach out of it, so if you want a brightly coloured tank then they are safer than painted gravel.

Plants: If you don't want to bother with live plants, then get soft silk fake ones. NOT plastic. Plastic ones can catch the bettas delicate fins and tear them, which can leave them open to infection. Stick with silk or live plants. Make sure to provide plenty of plants whichever sort you choose, and a few tall/long plants would be good too, so the betta can rest on them near the surface if he wants to. They are often weak swimmers because of their fins, so plenty of resting places are very useful. The fish may also be a bit nervous when you first get him so having plenty of plants to hide in will help him to feel a lot safer and secure.