I went to a white elephant party and got a beta fish as my gift. Labeled female veiltail with red tape. I don’t know anything about keeping a fish and I want to take as best care of her as possible!!!
How old is she? What does the tape/breed/age mean? How can I get her in a caring tank?
Any help is appreciated!
https://i.redd.it/e9tz7726hi7g1.jpeg
Posted by deviousshortie
3 Comments
Research about the nitrogen cycle and fish-in cycle.
Get a 10 gal tank minimum and a liquid test kit.
Dark substrate, smooth wooden roots, plants (limnophila sessiliflora and frogbit are great starter). Avoid bright colors, dyed fake or plastic decoration.
Get a sponge filter, heater. Led light.
Water conditioner, fertilizer, high quality pellets and frozen food like brine shrimp.
Ugh I hate that people gift live animals without knowing the care that goes into them. This fish looks young but is very stressed (those stripes are stress stripes). You’ll need at least a 5 gallon tank, substrate, plants (live or if fake they should be silk), resting spots for the top of the tank, a filter and a heater. I would suggest looking into pictures of betta tanks as they like natural looking environments (no bright colors). You will also need to look up how to cycle a tank and get a testing kit (API fresh water test kits are more accurate than strips). I would also purchase seachem prime to condition the water. For food you can feed a mix of pellets (fluval betta bug bite pellets are a good brand) and frozen live food (not dried) like bloodworms, brine shrimp and daphnia.
First of all, it is very admirable that you want to take great care of this fish that was given to you as a joke. Gifting someone a live fish unfortunately happens a lot and most people are unprepared to give it a good life.
Veiltails are one of the most common types of bettas, the males have long tails and the females will have shorter tails. The breed and gender won’t matter much here because they all have the same basic care requirements. Those stripes that you see are actually not how the fish is supposed to look, those are called stress stripes and you can tell from her stripes and lack of color that she is in bad shape. It seems that her fins are also suffering because they look a little jagged, but with proper care she can turn out to be a very beautiful and colorful fish. I also have a female betta and she is stunning.
She will definitely need a larger tank as soon as possible. typically tanks will need to be cycled before any fish are added, but under these circumstances you will have to do a fish-in cycle. There are lots of easy guides on tank cycling if you want to take a look. I would recommend heading over to your local fish store and picking up a bottle of seachem “stability” which has worked great for me. Don’t forget your water conditioner as well. If you have a PetSmart/Petco or something similar, they have 5 gallon tank kits which include all the basic necessities such as a filter, heater, thermometer, etc. at a reasonable price. There you can also buy betta pellets for her to eat.
looking at the size of your betta she seems pretty small so she is probably a juvenile or young adult.
I’ll comment underneath a photo guide that a lot of new fish keepers use, if you want to save this photo for reference 🙂 congrats on your new betta and best of luck!