Female Bettas

The female counterparts of the Siamese Fighting Fish family, are often overlooked and under rated.  This is partly due to the fact that most females that are sold in Pet Shops are very indistinct in colour.   From experience, pet shop females, are pot luck, as most carry the genes of at least two colours.  Female Bettas obtained from hobby breeders are clearer in colour, usually the same colour as the males.

Female Bettas, unless conditioning them for spawning, can be kept in community tanks that are well planted and has lots of hiding places.  This ensures that a pecking order is established with little damage.  Spawn sisters will cohabite together more readily than females from different spawns.  This does not mean that you will have a tank with just one colour. Depending on the genes of the parents, spawns can vary in colour. Blue/Green spawns will produce royal blue, green and steel blue female bettas.  Cambodian Red spawns can produce red and yellow female bettas.

The fins on the female bettas are the same as the males just shorter in length. So there are plakat, crown, delta, super delta, double tails, halfmoon and over halfmoon females.  The difference between veil tail, delta, super delta, halfmoons and over halfmoon females is the degree their caudal fin spread when fully opened and also the number of branches each ray divides into at the end. Veil Tail and delta tail female bettas will be 2 ray branching.  Super Delta, Halfmoons and Over Halfmoons will be 4 to 8 ray branching. 

Females grow to as big and in most cases larger than males.  This is part of the reason that breeding females at the age of four months is recommended.   The older the female, the larger they grow and the more difficult it is for the male to wrap her when spawning.  Females will jump, just like males, so it is recommended to have lids for any tanks.

A community tank of females is just as peaceful to watch, as a tank of tropical, but you are limited to tank mates.  I have housed cherry shrimp, glass shrimp and bristle nose catfish with female bettas with no problems.  The shrimp even managed to breed quite well with the females.  So if you ever have the opportunity to purchase some good clear colour females, give some thought to a community tank.  Just check that they are really females and not short fin males or males that have not reached maturity. Look for shorter ventral fins, an egg spot between the ventral fins, horizontal line of stress on the body, rounder/fatter body and in white body females look for the egg sack.  If the fish has none of these traits then it is a good chance it is a short fin male, or a runt of the spawn.

If you are interested in more information on these captivating  fish please visit www.siamesefighting.com.

Feeding Siamese Fighting Fish.

How much food is enough for a Siamese Fighting Fish?  The answer is how much they want to eat. Like humans, fighters have days when they won’t eat much and other days when they will eat like pigs.  They will eat more of their favourite food such as blackworms and mosquitoes larvae and less of some manufactured foods depending on the fish.  You may even find that they may turn their noses up at some food.  So instead of placing the food in the tank and racing off to do other jobs, when feeding you Siamese Fighting Fish it is a good idea to keep placing small amounts of food into the tank until your fighter has stopped eating.  Any uneaten food should be removed so not to pollute the water.

Food should be rotated between dried, freeze dried, frozen and live.  A variety of food will ensure that your Siamese Fighting Fish is receiving all the nutrition that it requires.  It is also a good idea to give your fighter one day a week without food.  This day without food helps to clear it’s digestive system.  A green pea with the shell removed and squashed will also help clean a fighter’s digestive system.  Live food such as blackworms should be fed only two to three times a week, unless you are conditioning a pair for spawning.

A Siamese Fighting Fish will survive being fed only once a day, which means that the water will not be polluted as quickly.  Having shipped Siamese Fighting Fish, they will survive without any harm for four days without food.  So if you are going away for the weekend, your fighter will come to no harm because he has not been fed.  Just make sure that he cannot jump out of the tank if he see anything that may look like food.

For more information or care tips for Siamese Fighting Fish, visit www.siamesefighting.com

Care of Siamese Fighting Fish

Siamese Fighting Fish, also known as Bettas are very easy pets to keep as long as a few basic steps are followed.

First and most important is know your water parameters. Every area is different! Siamese Fighting
Fish or Bettas require water that is medium soft with a PH of 6.8 to 7 and no phosphate. If your water does not meet these parameters then you will need to take the time to set your water. Do not set the water with your fish in it!!!  Set more water than you need so that you have extra for water changes. If you are not sure how to do this, talk with  your local fish shops. Keep asking until you find one that knows what you are talking about and then treat them like gold. Most fish shops will tell you to
simply add water and chorine neutralizers . Yes some Siamese Fighters will survive, but not most and this will not work if you are looking at keep the larger fin varieties. Keep both your Siamese Fighting Fish tank and extra set water away from chemicals, as these will kill your pet.

Temperature of Water: Siamese Fighting Fish are tropical fish and like their water temperature between 22 C to 25C. This means a heater in winter, and there are many mini varieties on the market today to suit small tanks or vases.

Filter or No Filter: Siamese Fighting Fish can survive happily without a filter, as long as you do the necessary water changes. 1L of water in a tank should have a 50% water change done every 2nd day to avoid ammonia poisoning. If you install a filter, remember that you will still have to go through the cycle process until the filter is biologically established. Once the filter is biologically ready, you will only need to do a water change when the nitrate reading is reaching 20. If you have found a good local fish shop then they may do the necessary testing for you.

Food: While SiameseFighting Fish will survive on pellets, frozen, dried and live food should also
be part of their diet. Your fighter will love live blackworms and mosquito larvae.

Plants: Siamese Fighting Fish like to hide, lie on or in plants. Live plants should be low lighting plants that do not require lots of light to grow. Stem plants need high lighting and will rot or melt quickly in a Fighter tank creating water problems.

Follow these basic steps and you should have little to no problems with your Siamese Fighting Fish. If you would like some more information about different fin types, more care tips or spawning tips, then
check out www.siamesefighting.com.