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Maintenance The maintenance of bettas is very easy, as they are very hardy fish that can tolerate conditions that may otherwise cause other fish to die, or, at least, be very ill. However, this does not go to say that you can just leave the fish to its own devices. First, water changes should be carried out about once a week, or more, depending on how polluted the water is. In this aspect, the larger the container, the more diluted waste products will be, and therefore the less frequent the need for water changes. If you have little time to spare, the frequency of water changes can be effectively cut down by feeding sparingly - just enough so that the fish will consume all the food within 5 minutes. The type of water used should be noted. It is always best to used aged water, which is water left in an open container for at least 24 hours, so that any residual chlorine can evaporate. Otherwise, if water must be used straight from the tap in any circumstances, the water should be treated with appropriate water conditioners such as de-chlorinators and pH adjustors. Other than water changes, it is always best to have preventive medication in the water. This medication can be added into the new water when water changes are done. Common preventives include MarOxy and table salt (use only a pinch of it!). Better still, use aquarium or Epson salt instead of table salt. Refrain from using copper-containing medication for this purpose as some forms of copper can accumulate to dangerous levels within the fish. If copper-based medication is used, please follow the manufacturer's advice, and change the water after treatment to prevent accumulation. Feeding should ideally be done twice a day, or once a day at least. Although bettas can really survive well on a once-per-week diet, they may suffer from malnutrition and you will most probably end up with dull, unhappy fish with poor finnage. Staple food such as frozen bloodworms and good-quality flake food can be used. Many different kinds of frozen foods are now on the market, such as frozen bloodworms, frozen artemia (brine shrimp), frozen daphnia, frozen mysis shrimp etc. |