Hey All

I just bought myself a cute little Beta ( Male ) Fish who I am calling "Pluto"
I was wondering if anyone here has had one and if an algae eater such as a cory catfish can be kept with him. I know he is an aggresive fish and putting him with other fancy finned fish or betas is a no no. I really just want him to have a little housekeeper to keep his home nice and fresh on a daily basis.

Thanks
StarChild615

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“There's no denying the public's appetite for cosmic discovery.” ~ Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

I think , Big Don can help you with that . He's a fish lover .
Umm, I didn't meant he loves to eat fish , what I mean is he loves taking care of fish.

Am I right , BD?

Maybe he likes to eat them too

I hope he can answer this question, I really want to keep little Pluto healthy.

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“There's no denying the public's appetite for cosmic discovery.” ~ Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Hi Starchild!

What are you keeping your betta in? I would need to know that before recommending a proper tankmate.

Cory cats need aeration and warmth to live a long time and are thus not "bowl" fish. I have some cories that are over twelve years old. And your right though, a clean crew in a betta tank is a plus as they are kind of stupid and miss a lot of food.

And a lot of bettas are fussy eaters that won't eat flakes, just live or frozen foods.

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

Most corys get along with anything, since they're typically down there in the dirt and are well-armoured. Plus they don't like being bothered and will defend themselves. It's my experience they prefer to have buddies, and when they do, they have "conferences" where I suspect they decide who cleans up what.

Placostomi are even more protective and reclusive, but great janitors.


Meanwhile, check with our resident reincarnation of Dr. William T. Innes (who posted as I was writing this).

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Right on both counts!

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

He wrote some of my favorite books Mak. Him, Shultz and Axelrod. Though my old fish mentor threw Axelrod out of his store for differences of opinion.

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

Kept a betta and plecostomus together for years, and they were fed flakes too. The betta would come up to get his head skritched, until my gf (wife) moved in--then, he'd let her do it, but he'd go into his aggression stance every time I entered the room.

Belatedly,........Happy Birthday! : Starchild.....

take good care of Pluto...and...good luck with the Kennedy stuff! may be his library in Boston would be of help. but you probably worked that one already.

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

I had a beta fish for three years named Aquamarine. She was a real joy to have in my room. A cleaner fish is a good idea, because betas do NOT like being transfered to another tank with a net so you can clean for algae.

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

Thanks Everyone

Hi Don
He is in a 2 Gallon Plastic Tank with a few palstic plants. He hates the flake food, he wont touch it and it is making a mess, I used a turkey baster to pick up some of the mess he left on the bottom. I am going to try some live brine shrimp tommorow. He is now hanging around on the top a lot, which is making me nervous, I hope he is ok. I am also going to pick up a small air pump with the air line and difusser.

I used to have many fish, I have had freshys, ciclids and a reef tank. I had Betas when I was Ten put that was a LONG time ago
Can I put a female Beta in with him or will he rip her to shreads? I dont want any fish to be harmed. I may pick up the Cory Cat tommorow, I like the little peach albino ones. Anything else I can do to make Pluto a happy Beta?

Thanks
Starchild615

__________________
“There's no denying the public's appetite for cosmic discovery.” ~ Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Thanks Mahesh for the Birthday Wishes.

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“There's no denying the public's appetite for cosmic discovery.” ~ Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Alrighty then

Forgive me, its been a while since I've put on my "Fishindex" hat.

The Betta Lecture. (Early morning rambling edition)

They are members of the anabantids and as such have an auxilery breathing aparatus in their heads that allow them to utilize atmospheric oxygen. Their air gulping is them exchanging gases out of this, not swallowing air into their tummies.

Near the surface is a good sign, as long as he's right side up.

Now the subject of the females.

In a small tank like that one, you only want to add a female if the male as already built his bubblenest (formed from extra thick mucus which he blows bubbles through) and the female, previously held in a seperate tank looks round as a pea in the abdomen and has a white "belly button".

The white belly button is the tip of her ovipositor. Let's everybody know she's ready. When moving a gravid anything betta, guppy, managuenses, from one tank to another you never just net them out all willynilly. You confine the fish with the net then lift it out of the water with a bowl or cup.

(A large male mananguenses guarding a brood swarm dislocated my right thumb once when I wasn't paying attention. Felt just like I slammed it in a car door. Got my attention. "Oh, you don't want me close to THOSE babies!")

Remove the female when she is spent. The male guards the nest from there on and she will be considered a threat.

I have a metallic blue betta in my 55 gallon tetra tank. Not a problem as the betta drags a whole bedsheet of fins around with him and can't catch anybody. Most stop trying after the first day or so.

If you watch your betta closely after you begin aeration you will notice a change begin to occer in the betta's gills. Fresh from the "betta bowl" bettas will have small blackish red gill filiments protruding from his operculums. After a period of weeks in an aerated tank the gill filiments will start to become luxerient and bright red.

Now food for the fussy ones that isn't a pain in the butt.

Don't know where you live, but I luck out and have a good local source of wild caught brine shrimp. Everybody who has ever done a study whereby they concluded that brine shrimp are a useless food source were using lab raised brine shrimp, not wild caught. Wild caught is an excelilent food.

Live brine is a pain in the butt.

More than a day's use of live brine requires you put them in a shallow glass dish, (for oxygen exchange) in you refridgerator, which slows their metabolisms. Skim out a meal, rinse under the tap and put into a tank. A bit much for a single betta.

Go frozen foods.

Frozen brine shrimp and even better, frozen bloodworms. The absolute best brand of frozen bloodworms is the Hikari brand. Most American and European brands use a larger species of chromisfly and the larva can be a bit difficult for tetra sized fish to choke down. The finer sized used by the Hikari goes down well with smaller fish like tetras and bettas AND the Hikari brand soaks them in a vitamin premix the other brands don't. I highly recommend that one.

If you live somewhere like Britian, where they think 55 degrees F is room temperature, and you don't have a heated tank, but a betta bowl, then you have to put them up high for the extra warmth.

Kai,

I used to have to walk up to a display of some fifty to eighty bettas in their little bowls and change them out on a daily basis. After a couple of years of that you get kind of fast at it. Wouldn't take me ten minutes to do that many. They don't mind. Bettas are the only fish guppies can tell retard jokes about. Waaay too much inbreeding. As a species, their motto translates from the latin as: Duh?

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

We just keep a beta in a small one gallon unfiltered tank. We feed it Beta pellets. They aren't flakes and they require no special care. One or two pellets a couple times a day is easy. Since they float - you can pick up any extras if you want. I just scoop the fish out in a cup every couple weeks and clean the small tank.

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Spock Jenkins of the Vulcan Jenkins'.

Just one question. After the testers are done testing the beta fish, will you be releasing Fish version 1.0?

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

Also make sure you Beta Fish is not a Beta Unit - which will replace you here on earth and try to make out with your girlfriend as you battle Xur and the Kodan armada!

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---"Why do things have to suck so bad?" a friend once asked me.
"Because space is a vacuum and that's a lot of suck." I replied.
(Actual quote)---

Swift, that's why I prefer bettas over betas. More dependable

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

Thanks Don and LOL Swift

Don, the info you are giving me is appreciated very much.

I went tonight and bought a small air pump and attached the air stone to it, since doing that the Betta is more lively. He is swimming around and waving his fins. Also I added a small albino cory cat and they are getting along just fine. The second I stuck the Cory cat in there, he started eating the junk.

I will keep a watch on the gill color over the next few weeks. The fish seems so happy now, he will be even happier tommorow as I am buying him a bigger house. I think I will hold off on the female for a bit.

I can only get farm raised brine shrimp around here as I am in New York City and the pet store said they will have a shipment in tommorow. I will try them and see if the fish eats them, if not I go to frozen brine. Tried the pellets tonight, he is very fussy and wouldnt look at them.

He is just loving the aeration, and the cory loves it as well, he is swimming up and down the bubbles. By the way, the corys name is "Jeeves"

Thanks a lot
Starchild615

__________________
“There's no denying the public's appetite for cosmic discovery.” ~ Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson