Does Anyone Own Siamese Fighting Fish? (Betta Fish)

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  Flying Ace on 13/02/2017 - 13:49

  Following this thread, I've owned a couple and loved them, however the lifespan was not great despite regular cleaning and looking after. My first lived for close to a year, the second only about 6 months. I'd love to get another though!

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  mskeggs on 13/02/2017 - 13:55

  Another question for owners, can you estimate the power costs to keep a tank warm?

  • 

    Forskin on 13/02/2017 - 14:00

    +1

    Depends on the tank size, ideally you want at least 1 watt of power per Liter of water. In my case my new heater will be consuming about 25w of power when its on (New tank will be 23L).
    The heater isn't on 24/7 anyway unless you live in super cold climates or have an under powered heater. eg 25w heater for 100L tank.

    You can use any online energy calculator to calculate the rough cost

    • 

      mskeggs on 13/02/2017 - 14:04

      +1

      Thanks, the 1w per liter is what I needed to know.
      If your heater was running 24hrs a day it would consume half a kilowatt hour per day, or about 13c worth of power.
      It will likely run much less.

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  blonky on 13/02/2017 - 15:12

  Make sure there's a plant for the Betta to rest in
  Also don't keep any other fish with him as he will only want to fight (to the death)

  • 

    apple2016 on 13/02/2017 - 15:44

    Also don't keep any other fish with him as he will only want to fight (to the death)

    This is not true. you can have 2 males in the same tank as they will fight each other. but you can have other fish if you want to.

    • 

      blonky on 13/02/2017 - 16:49

      • Can't have 2 males

      I heard they are sometimes fine with peaceful fish…but had one for 2 years before he passed, for a year he was fine living with neons and a brittle nose, one day began going at them and killed them all within a week.
      Best to play it safe especially if you have kids around

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  kash1 on 13/02/2017 - 15:13

  +1

  I've had 2 the 1st lived for about 2 years and I've had my current one for about a year.
  The tank size looks great, mine is about the same. They seem pretty tough the people I know who have had issues seem to have them in basic goldfish bowls with no heater and filtration. Do not feed them fish flakes it bloats them and they can die.

  Good Luck

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  afoveht on 13/02/2017 - 17:10

  +1

  Another option is to forgo the fish altogether and have an aquarium full of plants only. Seemingly people can't empathise with aquatic animals without voices or flailing limbs; their entire life is spent in an artificial confinement and they have no semblance of a natural life. If you care at all for the fish, don't get them and stand against this totally unnecessary breeding and confinement of animals.

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  EmCKay on 13/02/2017 - 18:39

  My son's Betta, Diesel and his two neon tetra mates, Thomas and Percy (yes we are a Thomas the Tank engine family) have been swimming happily together for over two years. I also have a snail in there to help keep the tank clean. Your fish will be thrilled in a tank of that size and the heating is great. Lucky fishies.

  • 

    Forskin on 14/02/2017 - 09:20

    2 years is fantastic, how often do you change the water?

    • 

      EmCKay on 14/02/2017 - 16:07

      Every three months or so

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  lilcheekyone on 14/02/2017 - 03:36

  I have a beta fish and have had him for 6 so months he lives in a 38L heated tank and has a beta plant, has other plants, a castle and also he lives in a community tank with Neon Tetra, a black tetra, Guppys and Albino Corys (like catfish) and a snail to help tank clean.

  • 

    Forskin on 14/02/2017 - 09:20

    Does the Betta ever attack the snail? I want to get some small shrimp instead of a snail but I'm worried they may turn into a tasty treat.

    Also, what substrate do you use for the snail?

    Thanks!

    • 

      lilcheekyone on 15/02/2017 - 23:07

      No he does not attack the snail, but when I got my betta he came from a community tank in the first place so maybe that helped?

      I currently have Liquorice Aquarium gravel in atm i Was tossing up about sand or this liqorice coloured Gravel. I picked up a 5kg bag recently from Petbarn.

      Also the snail also eats the fish food that falls to the bottom and also the Albino Corys food (bottom feeders food) :) I hope this helps.

      My betta has never hurt any of my fish and is very friendly, he never flares his fins or anything his a pretty chill fish.

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  MasterChief86 on 14/02/2017 - 20:49

  My friend has them. But they're small ones. What's the problem with them? They have social and anxiety disorders :D

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  Bad Wolf on 14/02/2017 - 22:58

  Have had many tanks over the years one was a 70L heavily planted tank for one betta he lived for about 4 1/2 years 10% waterchange fortnightly shared with a dozen khuli loaches.

  They are intelligent kinda hear your voice will come to the front of the tank when your there, even when it's not feeding time.

  Tank mates etc depends on the personality of the individual fish, nothing smaller then the betta or that can fit in his mouth, mine ate the fins of male guppies one night. I've kept betta with golden mystery snails without any problems- betta may attack their antennae but the snails learn to keep them in and he ate many of the baby snails the one time they breed. Also he happily hunted 50 glass shrimp to extinction (as they are not expensive I would try them anyway)

  My only issue was food, his frozen bloodworm treats had to be well hidden as housemates didn't approve ;)

  In my established tank excess food or pellets that he chewed and spat out just became fertiliser for the plants

  Cycle your tank well before stocking and pending how many/what type/effort going into plants you might need to pick the substrate for the plants needs.

  • 

    Bad Wolf on 14/02/2017 - 23:01

    Betta's like to sleep high up near the surface, there are some fake leaves 'hammocks' with suction caps till plants grow taller

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      Forskin on 14/02/2017 - 23:18

      Thanks for the detailed response!! I will be sure to take your advice on board

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        lilcheekyone on 15/02/2017 - 23:11

        I have a suction cup plant not the leaf hammock but the plant and my betta loves it as he can cuddle into it and hide :) pretty sure if you google betta plants it would come up.

        They are like this but I got mine from a local store this is just for purpose of showing you there is a couple different ones you can get - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maple-Leaf-Mini-5-Betta-Aquarium-Bet…