DO
feed me once a day, only what I can eat within 5 MN. I don’t usually
like flake food, but any betta food will do. I LOVE live freezed dried
brine shrimp or blood worms, ‘betta bits’ or other fish store betta
food. I don’t like freeze dried worm cubes, though. (blah!). Don’t
let uneaten food rot in my jar. It will make me sick. Also if you do
feed me live food, make sure to rinse it well and only give it to me if
it is alive and clean. Semi dead live worms which have been marinating
in brown putrid deadly bacteria sworming water is not my idea of a
gourmet meal. Yeuk!!! It will make me sick and possibly kill me.
DO
clean my bowl once a week if it has no filtration. Keep around a 2 1/2
gallon plastic water jug to pretreat water for my weekly cleaning: fill
it with tapwater, add 10 drops of ‘Amquel’ (to remove
chlorine, which kills me) and 10 drops of Novaqua, one
teaspoon of aquarium salt (not table salt!!). Make sure water is the
same temperature as my jar’s water. Use cold tapwater only, then let
it sit until it reaches room temperature. Your finger is a great tool to try to match temperatures :) I
would also really appreciate it if you would get a PH kit to test the PH
of your local tapwater. It may be necessary to slightly adjust the PH which often
times is very high. A PH of 7.0 (neutral) is best. But I do fine in
anything from 6.5 to 7.5. If your tap water has a very high PH, do not
add more than 2 drops of PH down per gallon. Even if that means my PH s
still high. Better a high PH than burning my fins/skin with the acid
contained in PH down! Or you can mix distilled water and tapwater,
but do not use only distilled water. When time
comes for my cleaning , simply gently dump me in a soft fish net, rinse
my bowl well, fill jar with new clean water and gently dump me back in
there. Boy, I just love clean water!! I feel like blowing me a little
bubble nest now…
DO
keep the top of my bowl covered, because I am a good
jumper and will jump out to my death :(. A lid with some holes for air,
or a piece of computer transparency sheet works well.
DO
plant a live plant in my bowl, it is healthy for me. I like to rest on
the leaves like a butterfly... You can buy ‘Betta Bulbs” at Petco,
they are inexpensive, grow well and last long. Just don’t let the
plant take all my space, though. If necessary you can trim it down if it
gets too big. If leaves rot remove them, as they will pollute my water.
If you put a plant in there you will need some gravel. Warning though!!
Gravel accumulates lots of debris and unless you rinse it well every
time you clean my jar, it could get me sick.
DON’T
place my bowl in direct sunlight (it freaks me out), or near a cold vent
or draft or in a cold room. I prefer warmer, even temperatures. I need
my water to be NO LESS than 62F and NO MORE than 82F, and I am
happiest if it stays between 70 to 80F.
DO
make any water condition changes VERY
GRADUALLY. If you decide to put me in bottled water for example, you
should gradually mix my tap water with the bottled water over the course
of a week or so. So I get a chance to get used to it. I know all waters look
the same, but not all waters are the same. For example, would you drink
water from your toilet bowl? No, I didn’t think so. Get my point?
DO rinse
very thoroughly my jar if you wash it
with soap. Never let soap (or any chemicals) drip or come into contact
with in my water or I will die.
Us males sometimes blow a whole
bunch of bubbles on the surface of our bowl. It is called a bubble nest.
This is a good sign because it shows we are healthy, so don’t worry if
the water looks like it foamed!! My colors are brighter during the day
and I can look pale when I am sleeping but that is normal. If you place
a mirror near me, I will huff and puff and flare and dance around
thinking I am seeing another rival male. I look very impressive when I
do that... But it also wears me out so don’t forget to later remove
the mirror.
If you keep me in a community
aquarium with other fish, and they pick on me, it may make me sick. I
may stop eating or stay in a corner at the surface and not move. If that
is the case, or if my fins look torn (from other fishes nipping them), I
should be removed and kept in a jar of my own.
