New guy, my Betta story !

[timboss]

Hi Everyone

Firstly I'd like to say this is a great informative forum, and has been a great assistance to myself and our Betta's. So thanks to all ! I'm no stranger to fish keeping, however I was a stranger to Betta's, getting better now though I hope!

Anyways, last year my girlfriend received a Betta for her Birthday in a small bowl (Like most uninformed people I thought this was fine), I didn't really pay much attention to him until one day he got sick, winter had just started kicking in here and it appeared to be his water temp, so we brought him a small heater and he came good, being Betta uneducated I didn't even know he was a Tropical fish :( Which is TERRIBLE.

After this forum, first thing I knew I had to do was him a better (bigger) home, and possibly a couple tank mates. We put him in a 4 gallon tank, we also tried few different tank mates for him, but our little guy appears to be a little more aggressive then your average Betta and attacked them all (Tetra's and Platties)

I still feel bad hes lonely but he seems really happy in his new home, and he seems to love us as well !

Our second Betta came to us last week, he was stuck in one of those tiny "Betta Houses" at my girlfriends work, and he was sick. He had a fat tummy and was floating on his side, after a little reading on his forum we decided it was Constipation or Swim Bladder, appears it was constipation as we fed him some blanched/deshelled peas and he came good in a few days, his fin's didn't look so good so to be sure we have put him on a 7 day course of medicine in a hospital tank (heated tank of course). We've also put him on a better diet with a mixture of live food.

Hes now eating like a pig and swimming around like crazy in his small little hospital tank and I can't wait to get home and put him into his new home.

I went and picked up 2 new 21 litre tanks (~5.5 Gal) (Tanks are expensive here in Australia, nearly $200 AUD, I wish we had a Walmart here!), complete with lighting (I want to put live plants in this time) and Bio filtration for each of our guys, I don't generally like to put fish into tanks that haven't been cycled, however I've swapped some filter media and gravel from one of our other established tropical tanks so the process should be fairly quick. I'm pretty pedantic about water quality of my tanks so they'll be tested daily for any issues.

Sorry for the long winded first post :)

[kuklachica]

Welcome!! It is great to hear someone "reforming" their old bettas ways/misconceptions! I too was under some typical misconceptions until I found this forum!! Now I have 4 tanks, cycled, 8 bettas (all in divided secions) and I am working at a pet store in the fish section! HAHA! Amazing what a little research and learning will do! Feel free to ask questions! And - we love pictures!! :)

[beta novice]

welcome we love pictures as kuklachica said any questions feel free to ask again welcome what type are they and color?

[dramaqueen]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

[Jakr959]

Welcome! Glad you renouced your old betta keeping ways and became a proper fish keeper!

[RandomFish]

Welcome! It's nice to meet another betta enthusiast who got started with receiving them as gifts. Thank you for having the sense and compassion to learn how to care for these beautiful creatures properly.

[fishfin]

Hello from another Aussie!
You paid $200 each for your 21 litre tanks? I have a 22 litre tank from Big W. I believe I only paid $70 for it. I have also seen them in a larger petstore chain for the same price. It came with lighting and filter system.

I am only new to the Bettas too and I only have one of them. He is housed with a tetra and they get along fine.