Care and Facts

A little bit of  information on the Betta Splendens.

Siamese Fighting Fish  (Betta Splendens)
Water: PH: 8-7	(female) (male)
Facts: The name this fish gets has a reason to it. the males are very agressive against eachother and will fight. therefor u should only keep one male per aquarium. the male is generally peacefull against other fishes but will defend himself with strong force if attacked or annoyed. The females however are less agressive and can be kept with other fishes. Some sparring can sometimes occur amoung the females as well as males and females. The fighting fish belongs to the family of labyrints and has a special organ wich allows it to breath regular air from the surface. Feeding: Fighting fishes have a variety of a diet. They will eat regual fish food flakes. but they also like live food. tubifex and bloodworms. Young recently hacted fry is not big enough to eat this food. they eat on micrscopic organisms. for food for fry the first few days u should give them Artemia or egg yoke that has been filterd trough to make it small. Aquarium: These fishes do not require much space. in fact their labyrint organ can let them breath regular air all their life. they can even be kept in teacups. however that is animal cruelty. these fishes want a bit of space to swim around in too. It is recommended to have a depth of 15cm because they like to live in shallow waters. so a goldfish bowl is just fine for one. but if you have no filter you will need to change water often. Appearance: A very beutifull species of fish. the male is very stunning in its colours and fins. the female however does not have the long fins of the male, but can at times be more stunning than the male himself with her colors, especially at mating.. Mating: The female should not really be kept with the male until she is ready to mate. the male will build a nest of bubbles among floating vegetation. During the process if the female gets to close he will chase her away. Once the nest is compleate the male will attempt to lure the female to the nest. however if she is not ready to mate the male may kill her. When she is ready she signals it by showing vertical stripes along her sides. the lust for mating amoung this species usally starts at 27 degrees celsius. The male will turn her around facing the surface and squeeze oout her eggs. after he has done that he will gather up the eggs and place them in the nest. the male will repeat this proceedure several times until finally he will chase the female off. at this stage it is wize to remové the female from that aquarium so she wont get hurt or eventully killed. The male will tend for the nest for about two days. Remove the male at the end of the second day due to that the fatherly instincts are short and he may be tempted to eat the fry. now u got the babies hatched :) all you gotta do now is make shure there is no temperature falls and feed the fry. as they get older you will be able to feed them regular fish food flakes. NOTE: It should be noted that wild Fighting fish are not as stunning and the male does not have any long flowing fins in the wild.