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Beta fish and how to care for them2007-11-24 23:10:12

Betta's can survive in little water because they have the capability of breathing air, but that doesn't mean they should be forced to all their lives. There is a myth that they need to breath air (and could drown in tanks) and this is completely false - they have gills like all fish and should be able to use them. In the wild there are certain times of the year the water becomes very shallow and oxygen deperived, but most often they live in large expanses of densly planted waters (another myth is that they 'live in puddles'), and this is how the most thoughtful keepers set up their tanks too.

Betta's also do great in community tanks (yet another myth is that they kill all other fish), as long as the community fish are chosen with the Betta in mind (that means avoiding territorial fish like other Bettas or Gouramis, nothing that will bite the bettas fins like Barbs, and nothing with flashy finnage, like fancy guppies). In a nicely planted tank betta's are active and curious fish, and once you keep them in this environment and observe them at their best the question comes to mind of what point there is of keeping a betta floating around in a bowl all the time with nothing to do.

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Yeah for you saving fishes!

Next time call PETA and get the Walmart people busted.

Tap water was better than watching them struggle and swim on their sides...and watch their friends dies around them.

They are hearty fish and though they might have preferred room temp water that was properly filtered, etc, at least you DID SOMETHING!

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tap water needs conditioner, its too harsh. I dont know why everyone insists on giving betas just enough water to survive in, but not to move around at all. Its got to be miserable to be a beta. I have one that I bought a while ago from a pet store. he was in a little bitty cup. I took him home and put him in a large glass vase that i had prepared for him. He wasnt moving at all in the cup (probably because he couldnt) but he's been exploring the vase non stop. his fins are spread wide and he looks beautiful. (he couldnt stretch his fins in the little cup, either)