I definitely have fish fever now, having transitioned from GF, to tropicals, and now bettas within just a few months (still love my GF, dont worry!). Decided to make use of my 2.5 minibow and got my first betta. Ok it was the other way around, I was cruising my lfs 2 days ago and saw a cool looking crown-tail betta that I just had to have and justified my purchase with the fact that I had the 2.5g tucked away unused.

Anyway, he's not quite as stunning as some bettas I've seen posted here, but he looked unique with bright red pelvic fins while the rest of his body/fins are blue. I'll post pics sometime tomorrow... just have to upload em from the cam.

It seems like most of the time I look over at him, he's flaring. It's not healthy for bettas to flare all the time is it? I'm not quite sure what's triggering it, maybe he sees his reflection in the tank wall? Oh, well, I'll take it as a sign that he's happy and liking his new home. And no trouble with feeding at all, sprinkled a lil bit of freeze-dried bloodworms and he ate em right up!

Congrats on the new betta! I know that fish fever feeling! But I've managed to tuck it away (for now) since most of my free time is spent maintaining fish tanks But everytime I go to the petstore and see some cool fish... it's so hard to restrain myself!

By the way, not to be intruding, but you do have a staple betta food (not bloodworms)? Just wondering since I know some people who have had problems with their bettas when just using bloodworms. Anyways, congrats again! Can't wait to see pics! I'm sure he's a beauty!

Not yet... I'm gonna go this weekend to buy some. Any suggestions/recommendations?

Hmm... there's a lot of betta foods on the market these day.

Hikari Betta Bio Gold is a good one. They're small brown pellets.


I also have some Tetra BettaMin, which is a mix of flake food with pieces of brine shrimp. It's kind of funny; my bettas love the pieces of shrimp but they still don't care much for the flakes, although they will eat them now. It only took like a million times before they would stop spitting the flakes back out. I can't exactly say I'd recommend this food, but I did want to have some variety in their diet.

I also sometimes give them Hikari Micro Pellets. They're not made expressly with bettas in mind but they are for tropical fish, so I'm sure it's fine for them. None of my bettas have died from eating it anyways (hah) and have actually thrived. They're really tiny red, green, and yellow pellets.


This pinned topic lists some betta foods:
http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=52044

Cool thanks! My only concern is getting something that he ends up not liking. We'll see.
Here are the pix as promised!









For the betta experts... is the different colored pelvic fins unique or common? I don't look at bettas much so I'm not sure.

he is just gorgeous! great pics too

i'm using Top Fin betta bits (my betta like this alot) , and sometimes feed frozen bloodworms as treats (which he likes even more lol) maybe a speck of peas sometimes too

Wow, those are fabulous pics. What a gorgeous fish!!!

Thanks monkeygirl and An. I've been reading up on bettas and apparently his fins arent exactly perfect, but he's my fave color blue so that's what's important.

Oh and i got some cheap betta bites (Aqua-something mini pellets). Dropped one in earlier to see if he likes it. He gulped it down...spit it out, swam around a bit, came back, gulped it down again, spit it out... lol. After the 4th taste test it sunk down into the gravel and he lost interest. I'll keep trying, but what's the likelihood he'll learn to like it? Or should I spend a lil more and go for the hikari brand pellets?

Nah, I'll just be patient and keep trying. I'm sure eventually he'll get desperate enough to eat it.

I noticed today when I was changing out his water that the water temp is quite different on either side. It appears the heat from the mini heater doesn't circulate well at all. Should I put in a lil airstone to help move the water around? Are there even airpumps made for 2.5 gallon tanks? I don't wanna end up with too strong a current, I know bettas don't like that.

Wow, your betta is gorgeous. I love his blue coloring! Very pretty!

Yeah, he'll probably start eating his pellets sooner or later. He's probably just holding out in the hopes he gets something yummier like some more bloodworms.