New To The Betta Life

[Athreal]

Hi,

I am new to this site, new to tropical fish keeping and new to the joys of sharing my space with a Betta, so please excuse me if I waffle on a lot - I'm quite excited hehe.

On Saturday I picked up a beautiful red Betta (who is yet to be named), 5 Harlequins and 4 Corys after spending the last 2 months watching videos on YouTube and dreaming about having my own Betta. He is quite small, I'm hoping that means that he's young, and he lives in a 12.6 gallon tank with his tank mates. The tank is an Interpet Fish Pod and it currently has gravel, lots of live plants and a bridge and a large urn (I also have some mopani wood that I'm soaking everyday in hot water, I hope to put it in next week), I have also put a hoop in for them to swim through (which my Betta did for the first time this morning), have ordered some ping pong balls to play with my Betta with and am waiting for some sand (for my Corys) and some moss balls to arrive. My Betta has already learned to chase my finger when I open the tank to feed them, so I get him to swim a couple of laps around the tank and through the long grass and then feed him and he knows me when I go to the front of the tank which is so lovely.All of my fish seem very bright (apart from one Harlequin who seems a little faded today - the other 4 are a healthy colour) and active, my Betta plays with the other fish (not aggressively but he copies what they are doing) and he also plays at swimming in and out of the gaps where the heater is attached to the side of the tank.

There are just a couple of things that make me wonder though:

1) Today my Betta ate his food and then spat it back out - When I bought him I wanted to make sure he would eat the food I have so I bought the same flake food he was eating at the fish shop and also some pellets and I have been feeding him tiny amounts twice a day one flakes and one pellets to change the food over(I got pellets so that they sink for my Harlequins and Corys), I have also bought a frozen selection pack of shrimp, blood worms etc as treats for them (yesterday I fed them 1/5 of a cube of shrimp) - I was wondering why he spat his food out? Is he just full or not enjoying it?

2) I've noticed that he enjoys playing in the current of the filter, I have it on the lowest setting and it's pointed towards the back of the tank to break up the flow a bit as I read Bettas don't like strong currents and instead of swimming in the rest of the tank he goes and plays where the water flow is - is this ok for him?

Thank-you for your time, I hope I didn't talk too much.

Athreal

 

[MisssMarie]

The food might just be too big. I've noticed mine did that when they were younger, they came back in a moment or two once it softened then bit off chunks

 

[sarahberry]

They do enjoy playing in the current, so long as it's not too strong. As he gets older and his fins grow out, if they are long he may not appreciate the current as he does now.

Most betta keepers I know recommend feeding pellets over flakes, anecdotal evidence suggests the flakes may expand in the belly once they absorb some water, and cause digestive and/or swim bladder issues.

I don't think you mentioned, your tank is heated, yes?

Welcome to the wonderful world of betta care!

 

[sausagewinkle]

Im going to be the boring one and ask this question.... Is your tank cycled???

Also welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of bettas

 

[Athreal]

Thank-you for your replies, they are really appreciated... I wanted to get pellets for the other fish and also after reading things about over feeding Bettas I thought that it would be easier to measure the amount he is getting.

sarahberry: Yes, my tank is heated to 78F and I check it regularly to make sure because I'm worried they'll get too hot or cold.

sausagewinkle: Unfortunately my tank isn't cycled, which I know is wrong and it worries me, I am using Filter Start to help it cycle and am aiming to do 25% water changes every second day (treating the tap water the night before to help get rid of the harmful things in it). I was very silly in getting the fish on the same day but I got overexcited and my partner told me he never cycled his tropical fish tanks so I went ahead and bought the fish ... So if you have any advice on how to stop my fish from get ill whilst it cycles or anything I would really appreciate it.

 

[Mammabe]

Thank-you for your replies, they are really appreciated... I wanted to get pellets for the other fish and also after reading things about over feeding Bettas I thought that it would be easier to measure the amount he is getting.

sarahberry: Yes, my tank is heated to 78F and I check it regularly to make sure because I'm worried they'll get too hot or cold.

sausagewinkle: Unfortunately my tank isn't cycled, which I know is wrong and it worries me, I am using Filter Start to help it cycle and am aiming to do 25% water changes every second day (treating the tap water the night before to help get rid of the harmful things in it). I was very silly in getting the fish on the same day but I got overexcited and my partner told me he never cycled his tropical fish tanks so I went ahead and bought the fish ... So if you have any advice on how to stop my fish from get ill whilst it cycles or anything I would really appreciate it.

I know there is a fish in cycle you can do too to make sure they do not get high spikes in the amonia.... Personally, I have not cycled my tank when I started - like you, I was so anxious to get started, once my 75 gallon was up and running, I started it with 5 mollies and just went from there..... they all survived, mabye because of the size of my tank or just pure luck, don't know, but they seemed fine then 2 months later, I added 3 more, then a little later, a few loaches and so on. I never lost a fish so I guess it all worked out. I never even heard of "cycling" before I joined this site as I joined this site after my tank was set up and running for a few months. It has been over a year now and I still have the same fish I started with then. It may not have been the best thing to do and my fish may have suffered through it - we will never know - but they did come through and they never appeared to be lathargic or ill or anything....so, I don't know... Knowing now though, I would do it differently next time if I ever start a new tank up again but I don't think I will, I already have 3 tanks on the go! haha. Good Luck -hope everything works out!