It never fails. Last week I desperately wanted a black moor goldfish. This week, its all about betta. I still don't know which fish I'm going to get first! But I think I would like a betta one way or another, and they only live 2-4 years right? So a betta in a smaller tank might be a fun fish to try taking care off until I'm a bit more experienced at the cycling stuff and water changes and stuff, then I could get a nice big tank with lots of fish.

Me looking for excuses, lol. Gah! They're just all so pretty!

So I figure I can get a five gallon tank kit and put a small school of danios in to cycle it. Then once it is all squared off go in search of the perfect fish. A betta could live in the tank with the danios. Or I could raise a little moor in there until I had the money for a nice big tank, but I think I want a betta. They're so pretty!

What do you think? I know they don't live as long as goldfish, but I bet they're just as worth it to have.

I vote for the betta of course. I would get him at least a 5 gallon tank if you are figuring osn putting a couple of other tropical fish in there with him. Some males will take well to tank mates and others do not. It is just trial and error far as that goes. You can put a couple females together in a 5 gallon. Minibow has a 5 gallon tank tha has everything you would need to set up a tank. Adjustable flow filter, water conditioner sample, hood with light. You can get one pretty inexpesively at Wally world. I think the 5 gallons are $35. I have a couple 2.5 gallons for there that I only paid around $25 for.I say go for it As far as life span goes 2-4 years is about right. It depends on the living conditions and how they are cared for during their life. If you get one from a lfs they are usaully a year old already. If you order one from a breeder ( lots of good breeders here in the U.S.) you can get one that is only a few months old.

Do you know any breeders in Canada, around Ontario? Maybe in the Windsor-Essex area? Because I'd be worried about getting a fish through the mail. I never bought any of my tarantulas through the mail because the idea of sending something living through the mail just bothers me. :/ Don't know why.

I shall have to check out wally world. They have bettas there sometimes, in little tiny cups. Maybe I could rescue one and give it a nice home. I just don't like to feed the wally world addiction for treating animals badly. :/

try www.uniquebettas.com which will direct you to a the bettabreedes site. ( p.s. I am Suchin on there) there is also a breeder in Texas-Sherry ( a.k.a Wildmagiclady who may ship to you) usually the fish do well the few days they are shipped . If they do not arrrive alive the breeder usually will replace the fish or refund your money. there is also a member on that site from Ontario. named Rona. I do not know if she sells yet but she may know of a Canadian breeder who does

Wow, I had very very similar issues and here's my story.

One day, towards the end of the school year, a girl came in to class with a little cup and a betta. She said she'd gone for lunch to PetCo and just bought one on a whim. I felt sorry for the little guy since she didn't know where she was going to put him and I really just wanted to tell her I'd pay for him if I could have him... but I didn't.

That day I went home and told my mum I wanted a betta, she said okay which was shocking since she's never allowed me to get any pet that easily. But then I thought, if I can get a fish, why not get a goldfish? While I still wanted a goldfish, we went out and bought two commons. They... very tragically died. v_v.

Then I thought about a betta once again but I had a massive 40 gallon tank and I didn't want to waste all that space on one betta. So I bought a bunch of guppies. All those guppies died for one reason or another... and just two days ago I bought an adorable little tank. I bought it for my one remaining guppy who died the next day *sigh* and so now I had this sweet little tank and nothing to put in it. I was going to just get two goldfish for my big tank but I wasn't really crazy about all the hassle it caused me, water changes are a pain with such a big tank...

Plus goldfish live crazily long lives when treated right, and I'm going to college next year so it was another reason why it wasn't such a good choice.

I went back to my originally desired fish, a betta... and so far I'm practically bouncing off the walls. I'm in love with my little betta and his adorable tank. I'm not worried about his water quality every second (since they live in stagnant tiny pools of water in the wild) and I'm not worried about him being lonely... He's so relaxing to watch swim around and is completely gorgeous!

I thought bettas wouldn't have any personality, that they were just aggressive but beautiful fish... but I've been proven completely wrong and am in unconditional love with him.

So, I would go with a betta.

EDIT: I'm sorry, but guess what! I'm from Toronto! Sorry, I get excited whenever I hear from people there (in Ontario at least) because I miss home. ^_^;;

I put a topic up on the betta breeders forum I belong to to see if I will get a response from someone who knows breeders in Canada. I know at least one of the members lives there. I will let you know when I find out for sure

Here's two of my hotties--


Hammy


Skittles

If you decide to get a betta you won't be sorry--they come in all colors of the rainbow and have very endearing little personalities! They call to me whenever I go to the lfs and it's hard to resist looking through all of them. There's always another one that looks good and you just have to have. It's really hard to choose but it is a lot of fun.

Chipmunk


Snowshoe

And don't forget the girls--a lot of them are really pretty too. They have cute personalities just like the boys and at Petsmart they are cheaper--only $1.99. The boys cost $3.99-$6.99.

The water they live in in the wild isnt stagnant, water in a rice paddy is constantly flowing. I don't think any fish could survive in stagnant water and be happy.

Oh, well I just read that, or heard it. It's not that they ALWAYS live in that kind of environment, but they have that thing... where they can go to the surface and breathe the air above the water. Someone told me that it was a survival thing because they had to learn to survive in stagnant water. *shrug* It may not be true at all but it doesn't seem completely ridiculous at least the way they explained it.

Ah, thanks you guys. They all look wonderful and pretty! Four days until my next cheque. Then I can see what sort of tank I can get. Mwahahaha.

The girls are pretty too. Oh my goodness! Maybe I'll end up breeding bettas!

I would go for the betta in the 5 gallon, but forget cycling with the danios. Fishless cycling is much easier on the fish and yourself, then you don't have to worry about what to do with the danios afterward. Danios are very active schooling fish that really do better in at least 10-15 gallons and can get nippy if they don't have a big enough school or enough room to swim. Look in the Water Quality subforum for the pinned article on fishless cycling.

Congrats. I hope you can get a pretty baby soon. Another good place to look for tanks is your local craigslist. They have them all over the world. Just go to craigslist.com. Click on your area of the world, your city and look under pets and under household items and type "fish" in the search area. you might find somone wanting to adopt out their fish on there as well. Sometimes people are unable to keep their fish due to moving etc and you might find you a betta to adopt on there. I found one in my area once that way. It was two college kids who had an entire managery of critters who worked and went to school and they felt they were neglecting him. So you might try that too.