Hey, has anyone here had a Siamese fighting fish?

Heffalump · February 2015

DS is crazy about fish suddenly: we have to stop and look at the one in his classroom before we leave every night, and whenever he sees DD's goldfish in her aquarium, he gets all excited and points and says "Ish! Ish!" (She has a bunch of other stuff in there--tetras, barbs, live plants, a snail--but the goldfish is what grabs DS's attention.) And when we look at books, he's all into the pictures of fish, he doesn't even want to turn the page.

DD already has a community tank, and I'm not too enthused about doing a whole other one for DS right now. (Getting DD's nitrogen cycle up and running was a huge PITA.) When he's older, sure, but right now I'm thinking simple. I'm not a big fan of sticking a betta in a teeny bowl, so I'd at least do a small tank with a filter, heater, aerator, etc. But I really think that's all he cares about right now: a fish in a tank, not all the ancillary stuff. He loves the betta in his classroom, and unlike M's fish, the males aren't community fish, so I wouldn't have to worry about setting up another damn school. Tank, fish, water, done. (See the half-assed parenting this poor kid gets?)

Has anyone had a Siamese fighting fish? Is it as easy as it looks, assuming you have previous aquarium experience? Any special adviSe?

VarunaTT · February 2015

I had one that lasted for 2.5 years (which to my understanding is a long life, IDK really) in just a nice big fishbowl that I just took good care of while living on the dorm. I took him back and forth 4 times to the dorm, then another time to an apartment. He was pretty. That's all I really got. No special adviSe, it was pretty simple.

Actually when I moved into the apartment and splurged and got him a tank w/filtration, he died.

auntflo2point0 · February 2015

Maybe I missed something... why aren't you just getting him a fish that you can put in the tank you already have?

tawillers · February 2015

We have had bettas. They're really easy.

Tip: Do not put the betta tank next to your existing tank. If the betta can see other fish, his gills puff out and he gets pissed. Or, ours did. We had to keep a piece of paper between the tanks so he wouldn't be stressed.

ETA: Now that I think about it, all the bettas are right next to each other in the stores. Maybe ours was on 'roids.

Heffalump · February 2015

auntflo2point0 said:

Maybe I missed something... why aren't you just getting him a fish that you can put in the tank you already have?

Because DD's aquarium is in her room, and we're getting DS his own for his room.

tawillers said:

We have had bettas. They're really easy.

Tip: Do not put the betta tank next to your existing tank. If the betta can see other fish, his gills puff out and he gets pissed. Or, ours did. We had to keep a piece of paper between the tanks so he wouldn't be stressed.

ETA: Now that I think about it, all the bettas are right next to each other in the stores. Maybe ours was on 'roids.

I don't think yours was unusual, I've always heard that, too. That's one of the reasons I like the betta idea: it will be happy all by itself, instead of stressed out and miserable like a community fish would be.

auntflo2point0 · February 2015

Ah. I see. Maintaining 2 separate fish homes sounds crazycakes to me. IIWY, I would move DD's aquarium to a common area, get DS a fish of his own, and call it done. BUT, I am unable to handle any more stress in my simple little life, and things that sound stressful to me are normal to others.

GBCK · February 2015

They're relatively long lived, and actually, fairly smart.

I know we had them in bowls for literally years at a time (a tank is easier is SO many ways)--and you can mate them in captivity ifyou try (we didn't try, but we had both genders)

And I kow I've told this story before, but my baby sister taught the female beta to jump through a hoop. for realsies.

Heffalump · February 2015

GBCK said:

They're relatively long lived, and actually, fairly smart.

I know we had them in bowls for literally years at a time (a tank is easier is SO many ways)--and you can mate them in captivity ifyou try (we didn't try, but we had both genders)

And I kow I've told this story before, but my baby sister taught the female beta to jump through a hoop. for realsies.

Long lived is good, for sure. And yeah, aside from the whole PETA angle, I like the tank idea because keeping the water pristine without the aid of a filter is way more work than I need. I do partial water changes on DD's aquarium every couple of weeks (my houseplants love that good nitrate-y water), and that schedule would probably kill a fishbowl fish.

I have not heard the hoop jumping story, but I would like to.

GBCK · February 2015

Baby sis is just a whiz with animal training. Always has been. She just waves her arms and dogs DO things.

So, she was a bored 5th grader and had read about how they train at sea-world (because at this stage, she had figured out she wasn't going to be a dog when she grew up, so she was going for animal trainer [and now she works doing rehab type stuff. Maybe she was on to something].

So she was going to breed Betas. So she had 2. But they wouldn't breed.

So, since BettyBeta was boring (not nearly as pretty as the boy), she determined Betty would do SOMETHING.

So, following the sea world method, she would touch a spot on the outside of the bowl, and drop food to that spot. So, every time the beta approached sis's fingers, beta got food. yay, beta.

Then she put a rubber band in the water, in BettyBeta's path so the fish natually just went through it. After a while, BettyBeta only got food if she went through the rubber band.

Then she started raising up the rubber band, a little at a time.

In a week, the damn fish would jump through a hoop held just over the water every time Sis touched the bowl in a certain spot.

And then 3 weeks of not re-enforcing it = have to start all over again--because theyr'e smart but not THAT smart :-P

thejucheidea · February 2015

All I can think about is Pam Poovey and her Siamese fighting fish, Germaine.

mrscaty · February 2015

I've had bettas in the past. I kept mine in a 1 gallon round tank, no filter. I did keep a desk lamp over it to make sure the temperature was right. You just have to change the water weekly-ish if you don't have a filter. It wasn't a big deal for me but I don't know how busy you are. They are pretty easy fish and can live quite a long time.

Unknown · February 2015

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thejucheidea · February 2015

Flannynyfla said:

I refuse to have fish ever again, I am scarred from my childhood when my older brother snuck into my room and stole my fish which was just a street fair goldfish, and then microwaved him and then I found it when I went to make popcorn on a plate and he knew I would. He thought it was hilarious since fish are so boring to him and not even a real pet. Needless to say, we did not get any more pets in the house after that little incident.

what the fuck

MesmrEwe · February 2015

thejucheidea said:

Flannynyfla said:

I refuse to have fish ever again, I am scarred from my childhood when my older brother snuck into my room and stole my fish which was just a street fair goldfish, and then microwaved him and then I found it when I went to make popcorn on a plate and he knew I would. He thought it was hilarious since fish are so boring to him and not even a real pet. Needless to say, we did not get any more pets in the house after that little incident.

what the fuck

That WTF x10 would land kids on watch lists now... Probably a good call on your parent's part...

MesmrEwe · February 2015

I have had them over the years - in the same tank with goldfish... The key is they need to be the same size in the tank. More than anything, I think you're taking the care and keeping of goldfish too seriously (this is why I don't have tropical fish - it's just too much work). With Carp, if you rearrange the letters you'll realize what they eat... IMO, I'd get a goldfish tank for him or a larger tank that's kept somewhere else in the house, get the water filter and air stone with a cool water feature, let it sit for a week then add the fish or get the drops to make it "scum" a little faster/immediately... If he's loving the goldfish, get some of the fancier ones if you want something a little different for him..

..and now I need to quickly run downstairs and let the new fish out into the tank that I forgot to last night...

*Barbie* · February 2015

Bettas are very easy. I had one in college in a planter with a peace lily, and he lived a couple of years ( I did occasional water changes and fed him a few times a week. The plant helped filter the water, and he'd munch on the roots.)

Since you already have tank experience, you should be fine. (not like moron OSIL who used windex to clean the *inside* of nephew's fish tank - needless to say, the fish didn't make it.)

common sense, but still worth mentioning - make sure the tank is out of his reach. wolverine has had a 10gal tank in her room for her whole life, but got really interested in it when she was ~2 - like, climbed up onto her bookshelf to stick her arm in. we caught her and told her if she so much as touched the tank again, she wouldn't have any more fish. she never did it again.

*Barbie* · February 2015

@GBCK - my dad bred bettas before. it wasn't easy.

Heffalump · February 2015

*Barbie* said:

Since you already have tank experience, you should be fine. (not like moron OSIL who used windex to clean the *inside* of nephew's fish tank - needless to say, the fish didn't make it.)

common sense, but still worth mentioning - make sure the tank is out of his reach. wolverine has had a 10gal tank in her room for her whole life, but got really interested in it when she was ~2 - like, climbed up onto her bookshelf to stick her arm in. we caught her and told her if she so much as touched the tank again, she wouldn't have any more fish. she never did it again.

That's another reason I liked the idea of a smaller tank--I can put it on top of his chest of drawers. I think with some determination, he could reach the top of his dresser right now, but (hopefully) by the time he's big enough to reach the chest of drawers, he'll be old enough to know better.

And ::facepalm:: @ Windex. Just...OMG.

GBCK · February 2015

*Barbie* said:

@GBCK - my dad bred bettas before. it wasn't easy.

I am intruiged by the whole concept.

Not enough to want to DO it, but, it's interesting.

Oh, the plants on top--not generally a problem, but the whole 'beta in a vase where plants grow' thing is a bit problematic because they do actually need *some* access to the surface or they die. Whichi is all well and good unless your plant-topper cuts off access to the air and the fishies die.

*Barbie* · February 2015

GBCK said:

*Barbie* said:

@GBCK - my dad bred bettas before. it wasn't easy.

I am intruiged by the whole concept.
Not enough to want to DO it, but, it's interesting.

Oh, the plants on top--not generally a problem, but the whole 'beta in a vase where plants grow' thing is a bit problematic because they do actually need *some* access to the surface or they die. Whichi is all well and good unless your plant-topper cuts off access to the air and the fishies die.

mine always had a gap between the plant and the fish, and holes in the plant holder for the air to circulate. he seemed happy.

*Barbie* · February 2015

oh yeah, the Windex thing was funny - OSIL calls DK after the fact to ask about lifespan of the fish because she didn't realize that she killed it. "i don't get it - i used windex, and it was spotless, it couldn't have been any dirt or bad water in the tank..."

DK is an aquarium hobbyist, and my dad is a certified master breeder, so we have a lot of fish around.

HeatherKat · February 2015

I had a Betta named Brenner (like Yul Brenner, get it?) as a work fish when I was a receptionist.. He was seriously the best fish ever. He knew me and would get all excited when I would get to work. I never knew a fish could have so much darn personality before I got him!

[Deleted User] · February 2015

I had one in a tank that could fit into my dorm room, with one other fish, and it lived for about 18 months- a long time for that kind of fish I think.

They don't seem that high maintenance to me, but maybe I was ignorant of what "proper" care is for that kind of fish.

Hey, has anyone here had a Siamese fighting fish?

Re: Hey, has anyone here had a Siamese fighting fish?

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