question about bettas?

Based on your chosen best answers, it seems you are not willing to provide proper care for your Betta.

What you feed it is important, but offering it a proper home of 5+ gallons, complete with gentle filter and a heater set at 80 degrees is what's going to keep it alive.

Bettas need a good quality staple flake or pellet, substituted with frozen or freeze dried foods such as blood worms and brine shrimp.

Yes, your Betta will enjoy a Betta Hammock, but if it's in a cold container of water, it's not going to have any shot at a decent life.

I suggest that you go back and read through your previous questions. There's a lot of good advice to be found there.

If you can get it, the best choice is live food, as it's what they would eat in the wild and they often like to "hunt" it. Frozen food is the 2nd best choice. PetSmart and Petco both carry frozen foods: brine shrimp, bloodworms, glassworms, etc. It's around $4-5/bubble pack of food. Flakes, pellets, and freeze dried food have lots of filler that goes right through them because they can't digest it. these three types are also the least nutritious. In order of best-to-worst, it's generally live, frozen, freeze-dried, flakes, then pellets, with Hikari pellets being the best brand of pellets.

If you try a new food or brand don't be afraid if they don't take to it immediately. Bettas are notoriously picky eaters and spitting out food is not uncommon. Sometimes they do it to crunch it down to a size they can eat more easily, sometimes they don't don't like the taste and sometimes they just play with it. Other times, they don't recognize that what they're being fed is food if it's different than what they were fed before. It sometimes helps to get them interested in it first. I've had luck using a toothpick to "play" with the food: drag with across the top of the water, waterlog it so it sinks, etc. Usually that gets their attention and they'll try a piece. Sometimes they won't do it while you're there, but because you've piqued their interest, when you're gone they'll eat it.

You don't have to have a betta hammock. Yours may like it, or not, as they're all different. You could get some taller, larger leafed silk plants that would have a similar function as the hammock.

Whoever told you that about the decor is incorrect. Bettas prefer decor and feel less stress when they have some place to hide. Silk plants are best, as the plastic ones can tear betta's fins. And you can bur aquarium decor or put in things like mugs and candle holders (as long as they don't have paint that flakes or anything metal on them).

Betta fish are actually very difficult to take care of. The most common cause of death for betta fish is New Tank Syndrome. This article describes how to set up your tank in a hurry yet in a way which is fairly safe for your fish:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5620088/t...

A betta can actually be kept very happy in a small tank, however it requires a lot of work. If you have a large tank, you can use a filter, but not one that disturbs the water (betta fish hate flowing water.)

To answer your questions specifically:

-My betta fish do no not like flakes, but they love these floating pellets made by Wardley or Hikari. Feed it about 3-4 pellets, two times a day.

-You certainly should put decorum in your tank. Betta fish love hiding places, and about 1/3 of the tank should be plants or other objects.

-As for the hammock, it's not necessary but since betta fish breathe at the top of the tank they like to hang out there. A tall plant would take care of this as well.

I feed my betta small Betta Pellets. You can also feed them freeze dried worms. If you go to a petstore/walmart or wherever, it should say betta on the packaging.

As for decor, I have some in my bettas tank and I think he really enjoys it, he has never tried to attack it. But make sure it won't cut his fins.

Good Luck!

1. I feed my betta top fin betta pellets. i have a youtube video about feeding a betta so i suggest watch that to know more about betta diet (my channle name is animallovebug101)

2. I have in my betta tank (which is 3 gallons for my Romeo, that is really his name) are 1 reall plant (silk plants are fine to but not plastic), a cave (he likes to hide), a heater, a filter. I want to get a betta hammock and a betta log at petsmart. oh frogot i put a sea shell in there

3. Yes they love to lie around. I find mine laying on a leaf of his plant or under some leaes or in his cave

Bettas won't attack decor, just other fish that pose a threat to his territory (like other bettas, or fish that look like bettas). Your betta will appreciate decor and fake plants (silk only, plastic will cut his fins) to swim through.

There are specially made betta pellets such as Hikari Bio-Gold, and you can also feed live, frozen or freeze dried foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp. Most pet stores have the frozen and freeze dried varieties.

A tank no smaller then 3 gallons

Gravel 1 1/2 thick

a small place to hide...........a imitation log at walmart pet dept.

Bloodworms 2 pieces once for the day

Betta pellets 3 for another day

brine shrimp thawed

A piece of pea from the pod thawed and cut a piece off the size of a needle's thickness a morsal

Filtration..............a corner filter with airstone, do not buy a back of the tank filter, dont get him angry, he will become stressed out and die, the water flow will be too much for him to swim right.

PH tester.....................proper PH 6.8-7.0

Replace 1/2 the water pre-conditioned and match the temp of the water in the current tank, do not take him out, pour very very slowly.

Check for ammonia with a vial and fluid tester.

Water temp needs to be at least 80, dont be cheap with his temp by keeping him cloder then this, he will become sick. Buy the book by animal planet, there you will discover that only one type of food for your betta will make him blatantly sick at some point in his future. Most people on Yahoo answers do not know bettas nor trpical fish, their hobbiests, not pro's. Get your knowledge from books not the internet like here.

http://www.bettatalk.com/

http://www.animalplanet/betta

http://www.ehow.com/betta

As a sidenote, there is a risk of impaction (intestinal blockage) with freeze dried foods and also some hard pellets.

I've heard some people use them all the time and have no issues, but as soon as I switched my betta to hard pellets without soaking them first, he got an intestinal blockage and it ended up killing him. So now, with my other betta, I feed him frozen bloodworms and soft pellets, and if I do feed hard pellets, I soak them.

Trust me, bettas will not attack decorations.

Food:

~Pellets

~flakes

~Brine Shrimp

Basically any commercial brand betta food.

My personal favorite is Top Fin Betta Pellets.

You can put structure in the tank, as long as it isn't sharp. Sharp structure shreds their fins.