New to Betta's have a few questions??

[Jessafall]

I am thinking about getting a betta or two. have some questions!!

1. I have read you can't have males together. but can you have 2 or 3 females together as long as there is plenty of places to hide??

2. what type of food do you feed betta's. any special treats once in awhile??

3. what type of gravel or sand do you use?

I had land hermit crabs for 1.5 years, I ended up giving them up for adoption last year since i didn't have the time or money to meet their specific needs.

Now I have the time and I heard betta's are much more easier and I think they are gorgeous always caught my eye when i would go to petco to get hermie supplies. so I am just reading up on betta's for I get one or two. so any info would be perfect!!!

[dramaqueen]

Hello and welcome to the forum. You have to have 4 or more females in a 10 gallon tank or larger with lots of plants and hiding places. The more females you have, the more it spreads out the aggression. Females will fight, too.
Most people feed their bettas a good pellet food like Wardleys or Hikari betta bio gold. You can feed them freeze dried or frozen bloodworms, daphnia or brine shrimp. Freeze dried needs to be rehydrated before feeding to prevent digestive problems. Also, its best to keep them in 2.5 gallons or larger. Good luck with choosing your new bettas. :)

[Jessafall]

I forgot to mention I found a 5 gal on craigslist. hopefully they still have it. having only one in a tank seems weird for me since I like animals to have a buddy or 2 but for now i'm going to only have one till I cna master having batta's.

[dramaqueen]

Bettas are solitary fish and really prefer to live alone. Some will tolerate tankmates and some won't. It depends on their personality. If you've never had any experience with bettas, you'll be surprised at what great personalities they have.

[BettaBetta]

I'm relatively new as well! I have two males at the moment! I started off with 1/2 gallon bowls for each of them but opted to upgrade to 1.5 gallon "Betta Cubes" (pretty nice for around $15). This reduces water changes and also gives them a bit more room to play! =D

Things I've learned:

-Don't use "gravel" in bowls/cubes/whatever. It's more trouble than it's worth to clean. Leave gravel for "full blown" filtrated tanks (IMO)! I prefer the "glass rocks" as they are MUCH easier to clean!

-I do complete water changes once a week. Some say it's best to do "partial changes" more often. I have had NO PROBLEMS, and they always seem happy (bubbles nests)! =)

- For food, I actually purchased two different brands of "betta pellets" that had different ingredients and mixed them together. The idea is to provide as nutritional of a diet as possible. I also feed them freeze-dried bloodworms every three or four days.

-Add a plant! It almost acts as a "toy" for them. I've noticed an increase in their swimming altogether! I added some of the "curled bamboo" to mine (easy and carefree)!

-DO NOT forget to buy water conditioner! I usually use more than the "required amount", just to make sure the water is safe for my boys. Again, I have had no problems!

-That's it! =D

Again, this comes form MY experience thus far, and the above is only MY OPINION! Others on the forum are far more educated and it's likely that everyone will have slightly different recommendations! You'll kind of get a "feel" for what your fish like after you've had them for a while! I hope this helps! GOOD LUCK! =)

[Jupiter]

Don't forget to buy him a heater! I actually got into bettas thinking they are cheaper than other alternatives, but I still end up spending a lot of money on my guys. a 5 gal off of Craigslist would be perfect, though. Good luck!