Betta Fish!
Betta Fish
Scientific Name: Betta splendens
Basic Information: Betta fish are one of the most easy fish to care for that you could buy. They can grow to be 2-3 inches long. Male betta fish are very pretty and graceful, but if they are placed with another male, they will fight to the death! You should only put one male betta into your community aquarium, or just keep one alone in a small tank. Female betta fish will not fight to the death, so you can place them together. (You can tell whether a betta fish is a male or a female pretty easily. Male bettas have long flowing fins, and females have really short fins.)
Aquarium: Like I said earlier, you should place one male in your community aquarium, or just one male alone. Two males will kill eachother if they are placed together. Females can be placed together though. If you house your betta alone, keep it in a aquarium or bowl with a quart or more of water. You can decorate your aquarium with plants or other ornaments, but place them in the middle of the aquarium so that your betta has room to swim around. If you are going to put your betta in a community aquarium, have one gallon of water per one inch of full grown fish. If you house your betta alone, try to clean it's house weekly, and if you house it in a community aquarium, make partial water changes every two weeks. Keep the temperature of the aquarium between 75-85 degrees. You can use an aquarium heater to do that. Keep your aquarium in a low-traffic area away from direct sunlight.
Food: Feed your betta a tropical flake food or a special betta food 1-2 times daily. Feed it as much as it will consume in about two minutes. I feed my bettas a special treat of freeze-dried bloodworms three times a week, and I recommend that anyone with bettas should.
Healthy Fishy!=) : You can tell that your betta is healthy if it is always happy and ready to eat, if it has clear eyes, if it has smooth and clean skin, and if it has calm and steady gill movements.
Unhealthy Fishy =(: You can tell that your betta fish is unhealthy if it is always lying at the bottom of the aquarium, if it is not growing, if it has lost weight, if it has inflamed gills, skin, or fins, if its fins are clamped to its sides, and if it is scraping its body on rocks. If you think your fish is sick, you can buy treatments tocure fish sickness. (If you have questions on fish sicknesses, just post a comment, i'll be happy to help!)
Air Breathers?: Bettas can gulp air from the water's surface to help them breath, it's a fact!
HAPPY BETTA FISH KEEPING!!!