Taking The Betta Plunge! Help

[millym]

hi
we've been keeping fish for 4 yrs & everytime i go to our lfs ive been eyeing up the beautiful bettas in there & have been longing to get one for AGES!!! anyway tonight i think ive talked my husband round , although he loves our fish hes worried about tanks taking over our teeny flat completely.

ive just got a couple of q's
we have a fry tank with 2 baby mollies in it at the mo about 1cm big, would the betta eat them if i put it in with them??? ive read the pinned topics & they are carniverous but would they eat baby fish?? (sorry if this sounds like an extremely stupid question)

secondly i have read they dont like current but a box filter is ideal (or strict regular water changes) but how about an airstone??? do they need or like airbubbles in the tank???

apologies if my q's are dumb but as it seems like i can finally get a betta i want to do everything right. i could get another little tank for our bedroom to house it (5 gal or so) & have the perfect spot for it but my other half doesnt fancy listening to an airpump all night when trying to sleep!

thanks

 

[e11cloud]

Hello there! Bettas are gorgeous fish...they're one of my favorites. To answer your question about eating the fry, you just never know whether or not if they will eat the fish. If the betta can fit the fish into it's mouth and it's hungry, it very well may. I've never put any of my bettas with tiny fish accept for my daddies with their babies, so I'm not for sure. And I remove them as soon as they've decided to spit them out, as a precaution. To be safe, I'd wait until the fish were a bit bigger. Bettas love live food, and natural instinct may make the betta decide to eat the fish.



An airstone would be fine for your betta. I wouldn't recommend currents unless the betta you are planning on getting has smaller fins such as a plakat. If you are looking at a veil tail or a half moon...it's a bad idea for several reasons. It isn't so much that they don't like current...some don't, but then again others actually like it. Currents can damage the fins depending on how strong, some bettas with lots of finnage can't control thier swimming as well in it, and it does freak some of them out. I wouldn't recommend it. I use sponge filters and box filters for mine. I have a boy that just loves to swim in the bubbles that come out from the sponge filter. The kids and I say he's "washing his face". He does it for long periods of time, then goes to flare at his mirror again. Air bubbles are fine in the tank, in my opinion.

Water quality is important as with all other fish. If you want the fins to stay in top condition, keep it as clean as possible. I have kept a veil tail with mollies and platies without any problems, but I still kept a mirror taped up for him so that he'd be happy. I had him in a five gallon tank with a built in filter. The current was not too strong for his fins.

You could try putting something underneath the flow of water that would distribute the water flow more evenly and force the current more up at the surface of the tank rather than underneath. I've done this before with good results as well.

Hope this answers your questions! And tell the hubby no fish hobby is complete without just ONE betta!