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hello! i have a friend who's a betta nut, and she's finally managed to convert me! so, i bought a male (steel blue delta tail) and two females (one with a white body and fins, and one with a white body and turquoise fins) that i plan to breed eventually. it's very exciting!

anyhow, i currently have them set up in large jam jars (i just got them yesterday) with a little salvinia in them. but, i think this is a rather pathetic set up, and am also worried that they will not be warm enough. our house is usually on the cooler side (maybe 16-20 C, 68-72 F?).

i have a few spare tanks (2 five gallons and 1 ten gallon), but not a lot of spare heaters or filters (or time to change individual containers!). so... my question is: how can i make a nice set-up (like in stormy's post) to happily house them all in?!

i guess i mainly need to know where to get the material for the dividers, and how to attach the dividers into the tank. i also breed guppies (well, i guess they breed themselves ), so if you could recommend a fine mesh that would allow me to maybe make an extra "section" in the tank to raise baby guppies in, that would be great!

thanks in advance, and i'm sure i'll be back with more questions before too long!



Last edited by niggit at 18-Apr-2005 14:21

Well welcome to the wonderful world of Bettas first off! First off I think 68-72 degrees is just fine for Bettas as long as it does not drop drastically at night. As far as the setup goes, you could just use the ten gallon and buy a couple of dividers at your LFS. The smallest you'll find is probably for a ten gallon. This way I think you could easily fit all of them in there. If you decide to use you 5 gallon tanks you'll probably have to buy a ten gallon divider and cut it down, it sounds harder than it is. HTH Good luck!

Something I forgot to mention about was the filters. Bettas as you probably know are labyrinth fish and don't require the best water quality to be happy (although it is suggessted) If it's the HOB type filter, some Bettas aren't crazy about the current they produce and others it doesn't bother at all. The sponge filters are ok but IME I have 7 male Bettas all in unheated, unfiltered tanks, and they seem to be more work than their worth. I do 50% water changes weekly and 100% water changes bi-weekly. Even with filters, weekly or bi-weekly water changes will still be neccessary.



Last edited by Jessnick at 18-Apr-2005 14:38

umm, u can put them in 1 gallon bowls, bettas can live in varius temps.(i once heard a story that a lady got a betta and left him in a car overnight and he was fine) i would guess that it is ok, but the lfs sell tank dividers for tanks around 10 gallons, if u are planning on breeding u will need a few 10 gallons soon so pick up like 2-3. i would guess u get the tank dividers and have the females on one side and the male on the other side, but the females after smelling the male may fight.http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Advanced%20Betta%20Care/56836.html here is a breeding link i wrote if u need it for later.

Last edited by bettachris at 18-Apr-2005 19:09

If you're intending to breed them in the near future, perhaps take those three tanks you have, setup one girl in each five gallon and the male in the ten. This way you could just drop the water level in the ten when you want to breed and then add a female (in like, a glass tube from a hurricane lamp or something like that).

Go out and get a ten gallon divider, so that when you have eggs in a bubble nest, you can just partition off a place for the male. Or buy another five gallon for the male.

In each five gallon, with the betta, you could add perhaps ghost shrimp, snails, ADF's... there's plenty of choices. I suggest keeping the females separately since you intend to breed them, and I've found two females kept together tend to have one dominant and one submissive... you're better off keeping three or more together so that the aggression is evened out. If you keep them separately, they'll be in top shape for breeding, with no torn fins or having to fight to get food. Nice, healthy bettas for breeding purposes!

Last edited by Kitten at 18-Apr-2005 19:27

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Although I agree with the fact that Bettas can live in 1 gallon bowls, more water changes would be neccessary (100% every 3-4 days)you already have some tanks that aren't being used with a little more room in them. Temperature differences between day and night on a constant basis will surely render your Bettas ill, that story of the Betta in the car might be true and might not....let's not find out Not to step on your toes Chris, but there are many debatable ways to care for a Betta, I just wanted to make sure they were all heard

thanks for the replies!

i'm a bit limited as to how many tanks i can actually have up and running... so even though i'd like to have one for each of them, that's not entirely an option...

so, what i was planning to do (let me know what you think... i know you will!) was to divide my 10G into three or four sections using some type of divider (i don't really like the store-bought kind... they're tricky to get into place and i wonder about the amount of circulation they allow!) like stiff craft mesh or something. then i would put a heater (i measured "room temp" in our house, and it's fairly low ie: 62-65F) and a bubbler (to circulate the heat). then, i'd put one betta in each section.

then, after conditioning them, i'd set up one of the 5G for breeding in. as far as fry goes... i'll deal with that if and when i get there

does this sound like a plan?

Sounds good, just a couple of things to remember. Make sure whatever you use as a divider will not eventually dissipate in the water and poison the fish. I'm probably wrong, but if you are talking about the stuff I think you are talking about for your divider, it's probably not a good idea. Just use your better judgement. Also the breeding tank should probably be a little larger. Other than those things, which aren't much, your going to be fine. Keep us updated on your progress!