Betta, The Best Pet Fish?

Bettas, also known as Siamese fighting fish, are one of the most common pets in the world. This isn't hard to figure out. They are extremely beautiful and can live in a cup. We have been keeping them for centuries. But is the betta a good pet? Is the betta the best pet fist for you? Let's find out!

#clintsreptiles #betta #bettafish

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Clint is a professional biologist and educator, but above all, Clint LOVES reptiles and he loves to share that love with everyone he meets. Whether you're lover or a hater of reptiles, you can't help but get excited with Clint!
We post a new video every Saturday morning! So stay tuned!

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You guys are so RAD!

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Fan mail? Yes Please!
Clint's Reptiles
770 East Main Street # 127
Lehi, UT 84043

[plantedlife]

I love bettas and I agree with the score. However, I'm personally giving them extra brownie points for being able to recognize their owners and come greet them when they approach the tank. And that they can be trained too.

[atherisGAY]

As someone who kept aquariums all my life (in third generation) I am so thankful you did not sugar-coat fishkeeping. I am convinced fish are the most mistreated pet. So many people think it's just normal to buy a new "cup" or goldfish for their goldfish bowl (terrible tank choice) every week, even though they can live for years with just.. some preparation. Namely filtered, cycled, appropriate enclosures with plenty of hiding spaces, plants and lighting.

[katelillo]

In my early 20’s, I had bettas in planted tanks all over my first apartment. Seeing them do “fish zoomies” when they are put in an aquarium for the first time is so joyous. They are wonderful, beautiful, personable little animals. I adore them.

[sampagano]

I do love trying to think about what's going on in the head of a betta fish, because they're such cute little tiny beautiful fish, And they're just complete hyper violent maniacs.

[rileybarth]

Clint, has this uncanny ability to explain things to you like you’re 5 years old. Which is perfect, for someone like myself who doesn’t know anything about a specific topic, like beta fish. I think it takes an incredible amount of knowledge to explain something so simply, as he does with everything, reptile/animal related.

[ShadeSprite]

Something I learned about Betta's the hard way is that they can and will jump. My ten-gallon lid had a minor gap due to the heater and filter wires, and two hours after putting my new buddy in the tank, he made a break for it. While I was able to recover him, and he survived the initial shock to his system, he had fallen a fair distance and ended up passing away later that night. Please ensure your water level is low enough that they cannot jump out if you are using a lidless tank, or ensure you have a lid that does not have any gaps for them to escape through.

[Duncan_Idaho_Potato]

When you think of the phrase "beginner fish", goldfish is usually the first species to come to mind for inexperienced people. But experienced fishkeepers know that the betta is the true best beginner fish, for all the reasons Clint laid out in this video. The best thing you can say about goldfish is that they don't usually require a heated aquarium. Otherwise, they're pretty high-maintenance fish that produce a huge amount of nitrogenous waste compared to other common home aquarium species. Also, as Clint said, DON'T keep your betta in a cup or even a fishbowl. That's animal cruelty, IMO. A 10-gallon/40-liter tank should be the absolute minimum for an adult male betta.

[tracey]

The pet stores in my country have adopted a unique style of aquarium for their bettas- a series of tiny tanks that are all linked together to a centralised water cycling system underneath.
The water gets properly cleaned this way and the temperatures remain even while keeping everyone safe and secure.
You certainly see WAY less sick and dying fish than you used to since they were added.

[rinaturalist]

Well explained! I’d also like to add that plakat bettas, which are basically short-finned bettas, are an option. Their fins don’t weigh them down as much as a regular betta’s, which allows them to swim much more easily. They are also much more resistant to fin damage. In my opinion, they are just as beautiful and healthier than regular bettas.

Alternatively, you could get a female betta, which have similar benefits.

[Meckell]

I sold fish at two different aquarium shops for about five years in the mid-late 00s, I can add a few details to think about when it comes to common bettas.

On Sight - the males are inclined to fight on sight. those big racks of betta cups you see in stores? they all have line of sight to each other. they are literally surrounded by enemies. you'll often see them flaring and trying to get at each other through the cups, but fancy bettas are bred for looks and not endurance, so they'll give up quickly (before they rub their faces raw on the side of the cup). this is still stressful on the fish. if you have bettas in two different tanks with clear line of sight within a few feet of each other, make sure they have plenty of cover so they're not eyeballing each other all day.
the use of cards or other sight blockers in between individual betta cups reflects well on a fish store.

Territory Size - 120+ gallons in a very wide (at least 18 square footprint), heavily planted tank is not enough. a male fancy betta will claim all of that for himself. at one of the stores we had these enormous flat wide plant stock tanks, full of cover. and we kept the betta cups on top of these tanks. sometimes one would fall in and come open and the betta would get out, and we'd leave it there because a betta under high intensity plant lights in a literal field of green looks *amazing*. but sometimes, a second cup would fall in. they only have the endurance to do a few laps of pursuit (meaning one fish has already lost the fight and is trying to retreat) across a six foot wide tank, and if we didn't spot that happening and extract one of them in time, the loser could wind up hiding, scrunched up vertically in a broad-leafed plant, for a week or more.

Conspecific Aggression and Predation - obviously avoid housing with other bettas species, probably a good idea to stay clear of other small anabantids too. avoid small invertebrates (usually dwarf shrimp) and anything bite sized (livebearer fry) if you want to keep such things alive. common knowledge is to avoid male fancy guppies on account of their similarly flowing tails. in one store a betta did manage to jump into the male fancy guppy tank, where it would occasionally attempt to chase them, but lose track in the swarm and give up. this is still aggression, the betta was simply overwhelmed by the target rich environment, and it's still stressful on the betta. we did move the betta to another tank after realizing what was happening (on first sighting, it was not in pursuit, and we thought "maybe it's okay like this?").
if anything, other fish, even community fish, are more likely to pick on a male fancy betta. their fins are irresistible to anything with bitey inclinations. absolutely no tiger barbs! rasboras are usually alright. danios and tetras vary, and may require some caution. even moreso with barbs. platies are fine. swordtails are fine *unless* you wind up with an aggressive male. mollies will not bother the betta directly but are such boisterous eaters that the betta might not get enough food.
displaying bettas in main tanks with appropriate tankmates reflects well on a fish store.

The Ladies - although they are still territorial, it is possible to apply an African lake cichlid mentality to female fancy bettas. In a small group, the weakest fish will be focused on and eventually killed, repeat until there's only one fish left. but in a group of 10 or more, they are overwhelmed and no one fish comes out wholly on top or at the bottom, replacing focused aggression with a constant low-level tension. this is still an artificial imposition and stressful on all of the fish, so while it is an arguably suitable approach for a store trying to keep as many bettas in main tanks as possible, I don't think I can really suggest this for a home aquarium.

Winter, and using Indian Almond Leaf - the colder it gets, the worse it is for a betta. even 40F will not kill a betta instantly in and of itself, but the fish will be so weak that it will be attacked and overwhelmed by bacterial and fungal growth in only a couple of hours. I know this, because one winter, my house heater stopped working in the middle of the night.
I also know this, because at *both* stores, we would lose 90%+ of bettas we received in the winter, most of those on the first day. be very cautious buying bettas from stores if the average temperature in your area drops below 60F. even if the store is doing its absolute best, you don't know what conditions are at the distributors, you don't know what conditions are during bulk shipping and transportation (usually bad - a lot of places don't transport bettas in cups, they put them in these 2 cubic inch bags with only enough water to half-cover the fish). not all distributors are equal, of course, but all of the ones in our area always produced the exact same results in the winter. now, if a betta makes it through all that and has been doing fine at the store for a week, it should be safe, but do consider having some basic insulation to contain the bag or cup in so that your own transportation conditions don't cause any complications for the fish.
I personally cut winter betta losses at both stores down to about 50%. because I had previously read about Indian Almond Leaf and if there was any time to try it, this was it. fancy bettas aren't just a tropical fish, they're a blackwater fish. they're from swamps. they like tannins and other plant compounds, and Indian Almond Leaf seems to produce their ideal conditions while also suppressing hostile bacterial and fungal growth to some degree. keep in mind, the stuff isn't magic, 50% losses is still absolutely horrible, but at least it's not 90%+.
honesty about the condition fish are received in, having some sort of quarantine period, and knowing about - or even better, selling - Indian Almond Leaf all reflect well on a fish store.

[CoolerCookie]

I wish you would have talked about how bettas can recognize their owners faces, and also about the benefits of a heavily planted tank for these fish!
So glad you talked about having a 10 gallon heated and filtered aquarium for these guys, they are one of the most mistreated pet fish (besides comet goldfish) and they really deserve to be treated properly and everyone be educated on how amazing they are!

[JLAvey]

I saw a sad looking betta in one of those box stores, discounted and a couple years ago. Bought him and dropped him in my twenty gallon planted tank. He's still alive, hiding in the foliage hunting blackworms and guppy fry. He's been a bit sluggish lately and since they live two or three years, he might be reaching the end. All in all, a much better life than being trapped in some two gallon bowl.

[alexfritz]

“highest score we will ever give to a non- tetrapod fish” lol, love the Cladistics joke.

[durn]

Used to manage the aquariums at a pet store. Whenever my fish shipments would come in, id always put the bettas in the main aquarium tanks despite corporate policy being against it. It was clear as day that as long as their tank mates wernt pricks, they looked so much happier and lived longer while waitinf for a customer.

[jasonlira]

“It’s hard to sell cups with dead fish in them” I guess this guy’s never been to a Poke Bowl.

[hunterGk]

I'm in the UK and I've never seen a fish in a cup in a pet store, I imagine the regulations are different here. And I think the public would probably get a bit upset about it. I had no idea this was an acceptable way to keep them for a short time. Thanks for educating me again, Clint :)

[hamsters]

When I was a kid one of my earliest pets was a tank with a handful of guppies I snagged at a yard sale (and cleaned up). What I really wanted was a betta, though. I read they tend to coexist with other, smaller fish pretty well, so I got a lovely blue and red one, named him Dragon, and added him to the tank.

He was, indeed, not aggro to the guppies. But in short order they started harassing and stressing him. They picked at his fins and gills in a little swarm. I was going to separate them, but a couple mornings later... I woke up to a tank chummed with guppy bits. One single guppy was left, hiding in the plants. They coexisted from that point onward, at least...

[kaitlyndavis]

One thing I'd like to add is the importance of providing enough cover in the tank to make them feel secure (particularly males). In my experience, a very territorial fish like this can be more prone to stress in a sparsely planted tank.

[TicklePickles]

I work at a petstore and deeply love fish. I wish more people cared about them and gave them the respect they deserve. "It's just a fish. Who cares if it dies." Is something I hear almost daily. People get so offended when I recommend a 5 gallon tank minimum for a betta fish. It's pathetic how upset they get. Why get an animal if you don't care for it? Goldfish are even worse. Worst part is I can't deny fish sales. So, even if the person admits they don't care if it dies from neglect, I still have to catch the fish and bag it for them.

[NumeroLetter]

I love love LOVE that you set the tank gal limit at 10 minimum. I personally keep my bettas in a 5 gal (obviously only one at a time, but several over the years) and they survive and thrive, but 10 gals are honestly a much better idea. I only use a 5 gal due to space restrictions. If I had the room for a 10 gal, I would 100% have one!

I do want to point out that bettas are pretty susceptible to cancer and other illnesses due to severe inbreeding, though. Of the betta fish I've had in my adult life, I've had one die suddenly and unexplained (one day he was fine, the next he was bloated, had no color, and was dead in his tank, and I still have no clue what happened), two die from disease that they picked up at the pet store (one had some unknown infection that we couldn't identify and the other had ich that unfortunately took him despite my attempts to treat it), two from freak accidents (snowstorm in Texas that took out our power for one, and the other got stuck in one of those godawful BettaFlo filters from PetSmart and didn't make it. NEVER use one of those death traps, they WILL kill your fish!!), and finally, the last two died of cancer. Dragonscales especially are VERY prone to cancer, but most bettas are prone to it just as a general.

My last one I just lost to cancer about a month ago, and the cancer deaths are usually the hardest ones because it isn't like you just find them dead one day... it's a slow, painful death that usually has to end with humane euthanasia. I've had to euthanize both of my cancer boys. It's nice to be able to end their suffering and watch them drift off peacefully, but it's also incredibly heartbreaking to have to be the one to do it. You can't exactly waltz up to the vet clinic with a betta fish and say "here, I need him euthanized." When a fish that small needs euthanized, you break out the clove oil and do what you have to do. It's either that or you let them suffer a painful death, and I'm not about to let my boys go through that.