[lissachicka]

...and I bought one of the baby bettas at Petco, including the tiny tank with them. Granted, the only reason I bought the tiny tank is because I was afraid of it being sucked up in the filter in my larger tank, but...

It is a teeny tiny one, somewhere around 3/4 of an inch. I've fed it about every hour and a half to two hours, and it's swimming around and all happy.

Now, my biggest fear isn't leaving it alone when I go to work, because I can always bring it to the kitchen (slowly!) and then bring it back to my room (slowly!), so I can take care of it. I'm going out of town for the weekend, and it's something I can't get out of. I'm wondering if you all can suggest if getting a weekend feeder for it would be a good idea, or if I should bring it to someone to take care of for the weekend, and hope it survives the trip there and back, or should I just expect a dead fishie when I get home?

 

[Luimeril]

the issue with the small tanks is heating. i had Chappy in a 3 gallon with a bubbler set on low, and she thrived. had a heater set at 80F for her, live java moss, daily water changes...

weekend feeders are never good. :I they foul the water up, from what i hear, and baby bettas need clean water to grown and thrive. they're very sensitive. .3. you'd be better off giving someone EXACT instructions and leaving it with them. like... write them a care sheet, and fuss if they don't listen. :I

 

[Cattitude]

We don't have petcos where I live, so I don't know what setup your betta was sold in (tiny tank?) or how small he is. Can you send us a pic?

If your tank is a gallon or more, there are submersible heaters available, 7-10 watt. Otherwise you can put your bowl in a warm place like on top of your fridge. I have found in my warm apt that my smaller bowls don't need to be heated if they are in the right spot. You can get stick-on thermometers for the small bowls if you don't already have a thermometer in your big tank.

Re feeding. I think you only need to feed two or three times a day. I use small weekend betta feeder blocks when I go away for 2 days. I break the block and just give them half a block each. If your betta is tiny then maybe break the block into 4 pieces or more.

My bowls are unfiltered 1/2 gal and 2 gal. I don't have a problem with water quality as long as I do 100% water changes before I leave and as soon as I get back. The ammonia levels do get high after 2 days (I tested). When I'm home I do 50% changes every second day, 100% change once a week.

I have filtered aquaria too. These don't need to be changed as often but I test the water to determine when a change is needed.

 

[Luimeril]

We don't have petcos where I live, so I don't know what setup your betta was sold in (tiny tank?) or how small he is. Can you send us a pic?

If your tank is a gallon or more, there are submersible heaters available, 7-10 watt. Otherwise you can put your bowl in a warm place like on top of your fridge. I have found in my warm apt that my smaller bowls don't need to be heated if they are in the right spot. You can get stick-on thermometers for the small bowls if you don't already have a thermometer in your big tank.

Re feeding. I think you only need to feed two or three times a day. I use small weekend betta feeder blocks when I go away for 2 days. I break the block and just give them half a block each. If your betta is tiny then maybe break the block into 4 pieces or more.

My bowls are unfiltered 1/2 gal and 2 gal. I don't have a problem with water quality as long as I do 100% water changes before I leave and as soon as I get back. The ammonia levels do get high after 2 days (I tested). When I'm home I do 50% changes every second day, 100% change once a week.

I have filtered aquaria too. These don't need to be changed as often but I test the water to determine when a change is needed.

the part i bolded is the biggest issue with weekend feeders with babies. they're super sensitive, and need the water to be as clean as you can. their tiny little gills will be burnt by the high ammonia. this isn't a bigger betta that can probably handle high ammonia for a day, this is a tiny baby, only a few months old, who's still growing and developing.

 

[Cattitude]

they're super sensitive, and need the water to be as clean as you can. their tiny little gills will be burnt by the high ammonia. this isn't a bigger betta that can probably handle high ammonia for a day, this is a tiny baby, only a few months old, who's still growing and developing.

Understood. I've never seen the babies they sell at Petco, since we only have Petsmarts up here (Canada). For a tiny baby I'd definitely agree with you.

 

[lissachicka]

Cattitude: The tank is very small: it was filled when I put in about a liter of water. And, I have a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater and filter I could move it in to, but as I mentioned before, my fear with that one is that it could get sucked up in to the filter...which wouldn't be good, either.

I was going to do a 100 percent water change before I left on Friday, and when I came back on Sunday. My uncle's supposed to be coming over, as well, to take care of my dog (although I don't know how often). I'm wondering if that'll be okay, or if I should implore him to let me bring the fish over to be watched? (I can see him getting a good chuckle out of it.)

Also, in a semi-related question, how long before they start developing colors, and is there a specific place where they start developing first? I was looking at it, and I saw some red spots on the ventral fin, and a black spot near the caudial fin.

(And, the more I read, the more I think this "baby betta" thing stinks. When I read "baby", I didn't think "almost just born." I don't think may people realize that it'd be akin to, say, them selling a kitten that's three to four weeks old.)

 

[jeffegg2]

There should be no big issue with not feeding your betta over a weekend.

 

[lilyth88]

Would it be an option to just turn the filter off on that bigger tank?

 

[Twilight Storm]

There should be no big issue with not feeding your betta over a weekend.

I thought you needed to feed betta fry pretty religiously every day or else they would die? The baby bettas they sell at petco are very very young fry.

 

[Cattitude]

I wonder how old they actually are? The bettas I got today from a breeder are 3 and 6 months old. I wonder what is the youngest age a reputable breeder will sell?

 

[jeffegg2]

I thought you needed to feed betta fry pretty religiously every day or else they would die? The baby bettas they sell at petco are very very young fry.

If petco is selling it, then it can't be that young.

 

[Cattitude]

If petco is selling it, then it can't be that young.

I'd be interested to see pics of these "baby" bettas.

If they are not old enough to be sold, then people should get together and sign petitions or whatever it takes to put a stop to this. I can see a company like Petco selling too small fry at a big profit, knowing they won't survive for long and people will come back for more to replace them. It costs breeders money to raise fry to a larger size and the cost is passed on to the customer in the end. Customer thinks they are getting a bargain buying a cute little baby but its really a ripoff as well as being an animal welfare issue.

 

[lissachicka]

Cattitude: They didn't list any age: my guesstimate is that the fish is about 3/4 of an inch long, including the tail. This is a pic I took of it when I got it home and all set up:

One of my uncles is going to take care of it when he comes over to take care of my dog. He's raised guppies from birth on, so I trust him, but I still worry. LoL After I get back, I'll move it to the larger tank (because the smaller one works better for porting it from my room, which is upstairs, to where it can be taken care of.) I hope everything goes well! *crosses fingers*

 

[Cattitude]

It's good that you have someone with some experience to look after him!

My smallest fish is about an inch and a half including tail. He is almost 5 months old. I guess someone with breeding experience could guesstimate how old your fish would be.

My biggest fish is about 2 inches including tail. He is almost 8 months old. I have a pet store (petsmart) fish as well, and he's not much bigger than the smallest fish. So, either he is not as old as most LPS fish, or he could be a smaller strain I guess. He's my first crowntail so I'm not sure if his fins are fully developed yet.

 

[newarkhiphop]

this is my baby betta from petco, 2 week with me now

he/she was the biggest of the bunch and the only one with any color on it, all the other ones were transparent

 

[Luimeril]

they're young enough to not be gendered. you gotta let them grow a bit to be able to tell male from female.