Caring for a Betta Fish

One of the most common misconceptions of betta fish is that they must be in a bowl all by themselves. Mostly because of the stories that they are fighting fish and because these fish are seen in stores in those little plastic cups.

While Bettas don't get along with their own kind, they can make a good community aquarium fish and get along with other community type fish. I've have one with tetras and an angel fish without any problems. Because they are used to being in confinement and are very shy by nature, I found that it likes to hide in the caves and plants I had set up in my aquarium. Having plants, artificial or real, is important for housing a Betta in a community aquarium.

It's been very popular lately to have a betta in a bowl with a plant in it. While the plant may look good and make a nice display on a desk or end table, bettas are carnivores....in other words, they don't feed off of the plant. They need to be fed food formulated specifically for them like any other tropical fish.

As with any fish, it is better to house it in an aquarium with a filter. However, if you do decide to house it in one of those bowls, it must be cleaned out frequently, as it needs fresh, clean, de-chlorinated water. Otherwise, the water will contain ammonia caused by fish waste and uneaten food. The ammonia is toxic to fish.


Bettas have a special respiratory organ that allows them to breath air directly from the surface. In fact they inherently must do so. Bettas must have access to the water surface to breath air directly from the atmosphere.

In their natural habitat, Bettas often come from warm, tropical climates. Bettas thrive on heat, and will become increasingly listless when the water temperature falls below 75 degrees F.

Florida Chill Threatens Tropical Fish Industry

NEW YORK TIMES - LAKELAND, Fla. — Frosted oranges, strawberries encased in ice: the images of Florida’s freezes are familiar, sad and earthy. But just past the crop rows here in the state’s agricultural core, there swims another sizable industry that has suffered more than any other because of this year’s unusually long cold snap — tropical fish.

A severe guppy shortage has already emerged, according to distributors, while fish farmers statewide expect losses of more than 50 percent as African cichlids, marble mollies, danios and other cheerful-looking varieties sink like pebbles to the bottom of freshwater ponds across Florida.

“It could be devastating,” said Ray Quillen, the owner of Urban Tropical, holding a few angelfish he hoped to save by moving them to indoor tanks. “Not just for me, but for everyone.”

The freezing temperatures have come at the worst possible time. Florida provides about half of the tropical fish sold nationwide (Asia provides most of the rest), and like oranges, the colorful pets sell best in winter.

The fish farmers who serve the $45-million-a-year industry here were already suffering because of the recession and a slow shift away from live hobbies and toward electronics. But the freeze has tipped them from glum to depressed.

“It’s bad,” said David Boozer, executive director of the 120-member Florida Tropical Fish Farms Association. “We were hoping for an economic turnaround to pull us up by our bootstraps, and that may happen, but we certainly didn’t need 10 days of subnormal temperatures.”

Florida, of course, thrives on warmth above all else. The Sunshine State has successfully sold a sweaterless life to retirees. For fish farmers, the subtropical temperatures and high water table made this the best place in America for the outdoor cultivation of tropical fish.

The first entrepreneurs got started in the 1930s, mostly around Miami. When land prices there spiked, the farmers moved here to the lake-filled area between Tampa and Orlando.

Their efforts tend to be hidden, down dirt roads on the edge of quiet towns, and largely ignored. As recently as a few years ago, tropical fish were the No. 1 cargo shipment out of Tampa International Airport, but fish farmers complain that not even the hobbyist who pays $100 for an emperor pleco gives much thought to the producer.

“People know there are pet stores, they know there are fish,” said Mr. Quillen, 49, who got into the business eight years ago after working as trucker. “I guess they think they just appear or come from the wild.”

In fact, they come from places like his — a family-owned hatchery on 20 acres marked by 84 man-made, rectangular ponds the size of large swimming pools. There are a few greenhouses, too, steamy fish locker rooms filled with species bred to be red, green, striped, albino or bearded.

It is a world part science fiction — with row after row of concrete water tanks built from the same molds as burial crypts — and part simple farming: most of the workers end up muddy and pungent by the end of the day.

The freeze, however, has transformed the usual routine. Tropical fish begin to have problems when water temperatures dip below 60 degrees. So for most of the past week, as air temperatures collapsed into the 20s, farmers who should have been filling orders scrambled to cover ponds with plastic and to pump in warm water.

Then, as the cold continued, they started to move as many fish indoors as they could.

At Mr. Quillen’s farm, that meant ditching millions of babies to make room for angelfish closer to the size needed for shipping.

At Imperial Tropicals, a few miles away, Mike Drawdy said the water temperatures in some of his ponds had dipped to 48 degrees when he checked them in the morning. That meant catastrophe — and not just from the cold.

Mr. Drawdy pointed to a row of three-pronged prints in a pond’s sandy bank. At dawn, he said, a scrum of wading birds feasted on the fish that were either dead or too cold to move.

Later in the day, workers pulled a net through the ponds to collect what they could. Only a few dozen fish came from waters that should have produced thousands. Yucatan mollies, marble mollies, pineapple swords — every pond showed another population diminished.

Mr. Drawdy, 31, a commanding former Marine who joined his parents’ business a few years ago, said it would take at least three months to bring the numbers back up to what they should be.

He dumped a small net of ink-black Yucatan mollies into a plastic bin on the back of a golf cart. “This is enough to start a new pond if we had to,” he said. “But we were hoping for more.”

Mr. Boozer, at the Tropical Fish Farms Association, said it would take weeks to determine the scope of the damage. In addition to the fish already dead in the ponds, he said, there will also be fish that die later from the temperature swings or from diseases like Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (also known as white spot disease, which makes a sick fish look as if it has been salted).

In the worst cases, federal aid might be available. Farmers with losses of more than 50 percent can file crop insurance claims with the Department of Agriculture to receive assistance. The area’s congressman, Adam H. Putnam, a Republican, is closely monitoring the situation.

But for Mr. Quillen, Mr. Drawdy and many others, the frigid present is their main focus. They are hoping for high temperatures, or at least sunny days without wind. Those conditions help warm the ponds after a cold night. That helps save the fish. And that helps save their businesses.

“There’s nothing more we can do,” Mr. Quillen said, standing in the cold. “We’ve done everything.”

(in the picture, a bearded pleco)

Never Release Hobby Fish Into The Wild

After catching a fish with teeth in an Illinois subdivision, Mark Dill and his 10-year-old son were certain they had found a piranha.

What they caught was a close cousin, the pacu, an aquarium fish sold in many pet stores. These fish look like piranhas, but grow much larger and have two rows of square teeth, unlike the piranha, which has one row of pointed teeth.

The fish was likely released into the wild once it got too big for some one's home aquarium.

The illegal release of fish into public waterways can be dangerous to current ecosystems because the fish can introduce new parasites and foreign diseases. Other species could be in danger if the "foreign" fish starts to eat the natives.

The best solution is to call your local store or check with an aquarium society and find someone to take it off your hands. Better yet, research a fish before adding it to your aquarium to find out how big it gets and how much trouble it can cause you.

Don't Buy Live Fish at Wal-Mart

This is such a pet peeve (pardon the pun) of mine, but why does Wal-Mart sell live fish? Everytime I go to any Wal-Mart with tropical fish, they look sick, many having ich (white spot disease) or even worse - dead floating in the tank.

But still, they always have rows of tanks full of dying fish. And they keep buying more from distributors since the tanks are always full of semi-alive fish covered with ich or fungus.

So, please, don't buy your fish from Wal-Mart. It's not just because of my little soap-box, but adding unhealthy fish to your community tank can effectively wipe-out all the other fish in you have. Before adding any fish to your tank, inspect it closely for torn fins, fungus, and white spots. Make sure the fish is alert, active, and swimming around while not at the surface gasping for air.

Most likely, you won't find any fish like this at Wal-Mart. And even adding one unhealthy fish to your aquarium can introduce diseases that can destroy your community.

Bristlenose Pleco (Ancistrus)

The various types of Pleco fish (AKA sucker mouths, algae eaters) are becoming more popular in the fresh water aquarium hobby. One favorite is the bristlenose (or bushynose) Pleco, part of the genus Ancistrus sp.

They get their common name from the growths that form on the head of mature males. These fish are thought to be the "workers" of the tank, often cleaning a tank full of algae in relatively short time. They are great community fish and don't grow as large as the common pleco, making them perfect for smaller tanks.

They prefer a temperature in the mid to high 70s, which is common of tropical fish. These hardy fish will eat algae, but their diet should be supplemented with algae wafers, sinking pellets, and even fresh lettuce. They'll also eat common flake food, but need to have greens in their diet.

They are peaceful fish, but sometimes can be a bit territorial towards their own kind, or other bottom dwellers. They prefer a PH in the 6.5 - 7.0 range, but are very adaptable to a slightly higher PH. It is also though this species likes to have a bit of wood in their diet, so having a piece of driftwood is beneficial.

No one is exactly sure how many species are in the genus Ancistrus, and even experts have trouble differentiating the species. So most aquarists just stick with the safe name “Ancistrus sp.” when describing the fish that they are keeping.

Fish Not Boring

I've heard the familiar response when I tell people I have fish, that fish are boring. For any of us fishkeepers, we know that is far from the truth.

Fish can recognize their caretakers. Maybe not as much as dogs and cats, but fish do come to the front of the tank when their keepers walk by. Naturally, it may have something to do with the fact that the fishkeeper is also the one that feeds the fish, but many of our furry friends are trained with treats and food as well.

There are so many different varieties of fish, that you can put several fish hobbyists in a room, and they'll all have something different that they like to keep. Even the somewhat well known goldfish has a variety of strains, colors, and varieties. And each one has its own unique personality and habits.

Fish, as most pets, aren't without controversy. A few years ago, it was the arguments against genetically engineering a "glowing" strain of danio fish. Recently, the debate has been whether it's human to inject "glass" type of fish (those clear, colorless fish) with a dye to make them more colorful and "appealing" to the fish keeper.

Everyone has different animals and pets that they enjoy caring for, and no matter what your favorite, your pets make great pals. So enjoy caring for them, even if someone thinks your pet is boring.