New Betta ... need advice

[nanaj1964]

I am new to the group and want to say in advance thank you for any help you all give.

I was given a betta at my work office. I got him a nice 2.5 gallon tank and also have an air stone in it.

Are there any tank mates that can go in with him. Yes its a male .. And what is the best food to give.

thanks for all and any suggestions ...

God bless
Nanaj1964 and Oscar

[dramaqueen]

Any tropical fish that are not nippy or have long fins would be fine but he would be fine by himself, too. You can feed him pellets or tropical flakes. I feed mine Hikari Betta Bio Gold pellets, 2 in the morning and 2 at night. I like the bio gold because the pellets float. You can also feed him some freeze-dried bloodworms or freeze-dried brine shrimp as a treat once or twice a week. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your new fish.

[Meatpuppet]

the info abouve is totally true althogh i your tank is not big enough for any tank mates. maybe a shrimp.
for feeding, any betta pellet or flake will do as a staple in his diet. what they really love as a once a week treat are frozen bloodworms/brineshrimp.
hope this helps :)

[ErinBBC]

I'd suggest a small air pump driven filter like a Tetra Whisper In Tank filter (you can get them for your size tank for about ten bucks). Air stones don't filter the water they just oxygenate it and bettas don't need extra oxygen in the water because they have a special organ that allows them to gulp it from the water's surface.

Bettas also sometimes get very annoyed and stressed out by the bubbles air stones create, it just depends on your fish's personality.

Filters help keep the water clean and ammonia free so your fish doesn't get poisoned to death by his own waste.

Also I'd suggest that you read the betta care faq post at the top of this forum for more info on how to do partial water changes, what water conditioners/dechlorinators to use, how to monitor the water quality, etc.

Good luck with your new friend!

[nanaj1964]

Thank you all for your advice. I got a filter for his tank and will take it to work with me monday. ..

[Haeclark]

just dont buy him an African dwarf frog as a tank mate...he will kill it!

I sadly learned this the hard way, as where I bought my Beta, Blue Bandit, they said the frogs were co habitable...however, I came home from our trip last weekend to find Blue had eaten Ferggies right hand (plus broke her arm) plus had made a sore under her jaw near her mouth!

I very sadly found her dead this morning, floating upside-down (tried to coax her to move several times, even took her out of water to see...nothing)

Very sad...wouldn't have gotten her at all if I knew this was to be her fate...

[iamntbatman]

Every betta is different. Some are very tolerant of other non-betta tankmates, while others can be very aggressive. Usually, African dwarf frogs can co-habitate with bettas with no problems, but you should always watch them carefully for a while after adding new tankmates to see how the betta reacts.

[Flashygrrl]

Do you have a heater for your betta yet? If you can find this one it usually works pretty well and is preset and everything:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...5&pcatid=18445

[nav2008]

get a one or two ghost shrimp they are inexpensive and fun to watch, some bettas eat them but some get along fine :) i have ghost shrimp w/one male and he actually seems to enjoy them, the other would kill them... its worth a try though, because they are always less than $1 (i got mine for 42cents each) and if you betta does not like them then he gets a tasty snack, if he does than your problem is solved.