Feeding Bettas Live Food

One can only hope that by now you've read about the importance of feeding a variety of foods to your betta. And live foods are high on the list of those looking to add such variety. In other words they should be an important part of your betta's diet. Simply because these are the closest menu items you can get that mimic the natural diet these fish eat in their native Asian rice paddies. Which is a healthy thing to mimic. Not an everyday part of their diet mind you. But you can't forgo feeding live foods entirely either.

But this raises all sorts of questions such as:

Where do we get live food?

Can we easily make them a staple of our betta's diet?

Is that even wise?

If so how much and often should we feed live food to them?

These are just some of the questions about feeding live food that we need to answer.

What kind of live food is available?

You will find a wide array of live food to feed them including:

Brine shrimp
Brown worms
Bloodworms
Mosquito larvae
Earth worms
Grindal worms
Wingless fruit flies
Fruit fly larvae

Granted unless you've been into betta fish keeping for a while, some of these may not ring the (dinner) bell. But most can be either purchased or easily raised yourself.

Speaking of which...

Where to buy or get them?

Two options. First, you can purchase live food directly from the pet store. But make sure you're buying from a reputable pet store to avoid the risk of such food carrying bacteria that may be the cause behind some betta fish diseases. Second, you can culture live food yourself. You can actually buy a culture by mail order and start from there.

Backyard garden worms as live food?

Not a good idea. Sorry but the worms you find in your garden or yard are not what we consider as the ideal live food that your betta should feed on. Such worms are most likely to be carrying bacteria that can make them sick. Not to mention they might have some traces of pesticides that can be fatal. So cross them off your list.

Do not overfeed

After you've determined where to get your food stuff from, appropriate feeding is the next challenge. Just remember never to overfeed since this could cause stomach bloat or worse, constipation. Besides, any uneaten food could easily foul the tank water which is another leading cause of premature betta fish death.

How much to feed

Okay so the trick here is to only feed your fish what it can eat in 1-2 minutes. And just that. Anything more than that would be labeled as gluttonous. Knowing as you do that that these guys, although picky eaters at times, will not hesitate to gobble up whatever is laid out for them since they don't know where their next meal is coming from.

How often to feed

It is recommended to feed live food once a day, once a week. This fare should never be your fish's main diet since again feeding live food is not without its downsides.

How to feed

Another trick. Since bettas usually dine near the surface of the water you just don't toss grindal or blood worms into the tank and go about your business. Because what if your finny friend didn't take note that you actually dropped the food in? In that case it might just settle on the bottom of the tank uneaten, lost forever. And uneaten food equals dirty water. And dirty water often equates to unwanted betta fish diseases. Therefore, be sure to remove any uneaten food, live or otherwise. Also, if you're handling worms, some would want you to be sure to rinse them thoroughly to clean them up before serving.

Storing the food

Again, don't be too eager to feed everything you have to your betta. Luckily you can store them in the refrigerator for a week. Maybe longer.

Some betta fish owners would rather not feed live foods because done wrong, they can be a way to expose your fish to disease. However feeding like this does serve a purpose. And that purpose is to provide a complete and balanced nutrition for your pet. Just make sure you're handling live food carefully and you're getting it from a reliable source. Do that and your betta should be swimming healthily and enjoying life for years to come.

For more information about topics like what do betta fish eat, diseases they are prone to as well as other helpful info on betta fish care why not visit http://www.better-bettas.com? You'll find this leading site is loaded with useful tips, helpful advice and must-have resources covering caring for your betta splendens.

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert

Why Breeding Bettas Is a Bad Idea: Tons of Things to Consider

Thinking of breeding bettas for the first time? Take care. You might want to think this over a thousand times before finally embarking on this new phase in betta fish care, even though that thousand times stuff sounds a bit silly. Still breeding betta fish is not as easy as keeping and taking care of a solitary betta, if you find it an easy thing at all. For sure it's a far sight from raising guppies, who successfully pop out little ones faster than rabbits, with little trouble.

So ask yourself this - are you really ready, willing and able to devote the time required to care for betta fish and their brood? Because breeding bettas is not that easy. I mean it may not be all that tough once you've got all the things needed and you already know how to go about it step by step. But it takes time and proper timing so all your effort, time, and money spent won't just go to waste.

All of which is to say it may not be such a great idea to breed bettas especially if you think you're not ready for it since there are a lot of things you need to consider. And I mean seriously consider. To cover the basics here are the four C's of betta breeding.

C #1: Choosing the Betta Parents
First, genes matter. You need to carefully select your breeding pair since this is obviously the key to producing colorful and vibrant offspring. Experience matters too. As does age. Your fish should be sexually mature and most bettas won't reach such maturity until they are at least four months old. If you're not sure how old the betta is, then judge it by the size and make sure it's grown beyond 5 inches. You'll also know the male betta is getting there if it regularly builds bubble nests and flares its fins in the presence of the opposite sex. On the other hand, you'll know the female betta is breeding-ready if she displays a fat belly and a white spot is showing on her abdomen. In some females, vertical stripes may also appear. Also take note that breeding a male and female betta from a common parent is not a great idea since such a pairing could result to genetically defective offspring.

C #2: Conditioning the Bettas
Bettas have to be conditioned to withstand the rigors of breeding. That's the second C. Basically toxin levels should be kept in check and a temperature range of 76-82 degrees should be maintained. But the key is to feed your breeding pair a high protein diet because they would obviously need to store up all the energy they can given how exhausting spawning is. To insure success feeding them nutrient rich live or frozen foods is highly recommended. It's usually a good idea to increase the amount of food fed as well.

C #3: Creating the Ideal Breeding Tank Set Up
Clearly you can't breed two bettas inside a community tank. Aside from being stressful you're not giving them any privacy. So you need to set up a separate tank to be used for breeding. The tank size should be right sized and shaped. In other words not too narrow and not too wide. Also, you want the water level to be a little on the shallow side so the fry won't have a hard time swimming vertically once they hatch.

The challenge here is to introduce the male and female without any deaths in the family. Some breeders use a divided tank set up so the two bettas can have the chance to get to know each other without risk of a misunderstanding which could result in injuries. Others also put the male betta in the tank first. And then the female is introduced in a separate bowl or a glass chimney (from an oil lamp). After their initial courting rituals would suggest a successful union the female is then released for the consummation of the relationship.

C# 4: Caring For The Fry
The last C is for fry care. You have to keep in mind that once the female betta releases her eggs her role is over. She should be taken out of the tank or may well go cannibal on you and eat the fry. This isn't malicious or anything. It's just that so much energy has been spent so it's just normal for the female to become extremely hungry. So much for maternal instinct, huh?

Now at this point the biggest challenge with breeding bettas commences. That is taking care of the fry. Think of it. Maybe 300 hungry mouths to feed. You need to feed them with the right sized food (think teeny tiny) and set the water temp at 80 degrees. True to their nature, the diminutive males become prone to territorial disputes in next to no time. Which means you need to prepare, heat, and maintain individual containers for them. Do you have the means to provide up to 150 jars for your growing male fry?

Hopefully it's dawning on you that this breeding thing may not be such a hot idea after all. Or at least it's one that needs careful planning and consideration - and we didn't even get into culling or what you're going to do with 100 (plus) adult bettas. Which is to say thinking it over a thousand times doesn't seem so silly now does it?

For more information about topics like what do betta fish eat, what betta diseases they are prone to and other useful betta fish care info, why not visit http://www.better-bettas.com? That site is just what you are looking for when it comes to helpful advice and useful tips about raising betta splendens.

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert