Betta Fish: Future house for betta

-Just some general love and betta care tips and not super specific into maintenance but somethings you should keep in mind.

-hospital tank, this allows you to precisely medicate your fish in a sterile environment and not absolutely nuke your tank and kill everything with the medication as most will kill your good bacteria and kill your plants. If your sole inhabitant is your betta then a 1-2.5 gallon will be sufficient. Plenty of videos exist online on how to set one up but you generally want a bare tank full of safe water and little else, maybe a hide for your fish’s comfort but don’t put much of anything in there. Clean it out and decontaminate it completely after each use and your healthy fish is released back into their home.

-The more plants the better, you essentially want a mini jungle in your betta tank. start off with plants like Anubias since you can simply glue them onto decor and are generally well off in low-tech tanks but if your mechanical filtration is really good you can get away with artificial ones so long as they’re marketed as Silk Plants.

-Avoid unnatural colors. That blue gravel if fine especially since you already assembled the tank but generally you want to go for natural colors as to not confuse stress your fish. Just avoid any crazy colors from here on out.

-cover up the back of your tank with a black background, reduces reflection in the tank and makes the space feel safer for the little guy. I am setting up a new 20gal and I am planning to put cling wrap on the back of it. But Tinting, painting (make sure the paint is acrylic and applied thickly), or simply taping posterboard or black construction paper firmly onto the back of the tank are also viable options. If you want to go the extra mile you can also do the sides but I’m sticking with just the back on my community tank in the event I need to reposition it so it’ll still get sunlight from the sides.

-hides and holes, you want decorations your fish can explore in so less time is spent harassing future or potential tankmates or they vise versa being harassed by your betta. This is generally good for enrichment purposes as it gives your fish something to look at and sift through to kill time.

-toys. Yes toys. Some bettas enjoy things like tunnels, hoops, and even ping pong balls to splash around but stay away from the small narrow tunnels you bury under the sand for shrimp, those are known to trap and kill fish but ones that are wider and can stick to the glass via suction cup are preferable and generally safe for fish. Of course you want to throughly rinse off ANYTHING for several moments with warm water before putting it in your tank.

-Purchase some drift wood (can be found in pet stores and online) as they naturally release tannins into your tank over time and these are healthy for your little buddy as they promote a strong immune system however they will make your tank water all brown and gross looking so if you don’t want a strong blackwater effect than boil it for 2-3 hours in medium-high heat (boiling time and intensity can vary on wood size and type so do some additional research on what type works for you.). Boil it repeatedly if the effect is still strong.

-purchase different food types. A varied diet is a lovely thing for your betta, either live or frozen is fine so long as your swim-baby eats it all. You want to avoid pellets and flakes that have a lot of plant products like wheat, soy, etc. as betas are carnivores in the wild.
•Popular choices are the Fluval Bug Bites (available in both pellet and flake form), mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, Daphnia, black worms, and blood worms (don’t feed blood worms all the time as they can potentially make your fish constipated and kill it, even better if you only use them during training as a treat as these guys can actually learn tricks!) bettas are picky eaters with their own personality, my betta hates pellets but absolutely loves shrimp so if they don’t eat a particular item then don’t worry too much.
•Your fish’s stomach is the size of their eye so just feed one at a time and see how much they eat before they stop but stop after 5 or so flakes or pellets.
•Since you are doing a fish-in cycle I recommend you give your fish a full feeding around midday if you can to limit ammonia production but once the tank is established then you can feed 2 times a day, once in the morning, once in the evening.
•let your fish fast for 1 day of the week to digest and process all their food so pick a day and just examine their activity if you can.

– purchase a platform or betta leaf you can put near the surface of your tank as bettas breathe in air from a special labyrinth organ and absolutely love to hangout and rest near the surface.
•make sure to check for any sharp edges by buying some pantyhose and rub it along your decorations, if it snags then that means it’ll hurt the fins of your fish.