Betta Basics

Bettas (pronounced BET-TAH, not bay-tah) are wonderful tropical fish that come from Thailand (Siam until 1939), thus Siamese Fighting fish. Bettas are found throughout southeast Asia where the weather is hot and humid. These labyrith fish (can breathe air from the surface) are well suited for this climate where they live on mosquito larve (bloodworms) and small insects. Bettas are very aggressive towards each other, but usually get along with other peaceful community fish. Remember, never put two males in the same tank. I have one 46 gallon community tank that I often put a betta in to grow out, but never two males. I keep the temperature (using a VisiTherm Stealth aquarium heater) at 78 degrees. My fish room is kept about 80 degrees as the water temperature is rarely the same temperature as the air. My community tank has 24 Cardinal Tetras, 3 Rummy Nose Tetras, 3 Penguin Tetras, various cory catfish, 3 otocinculous catfish, a Gold Nugget pleco and a male HM betta at the moment.

     Bettas are tropical fish and prefer to be kept in water that is 76 to 80 degrees. If you are keeping one in a small aquarium, you may want use a heater to keep the temperature stable  and always an aquarium thermometer to check the temperature. Since I have over 100 bettas, I just heat the room to 80+ instead of individual tanks. I always use the VisiTherm Stealth heater in my spawning tanks for 80+ water temperature. For my smaller tanks (2.5 gallons) I have found the Marineland 1-3 gallon heater to work well (check out the Betta Supplies for more information).