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Passport
- Family
- Betta (male)
- Grows to
- 7 cm (2.8")
- Lives
- 3–5 years
- Temperament
- Aggressive
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- Near the surface
- Keep
- One is fine
- Water
- 22–30 °C (72–86 °F)
Thailand
Care requirements
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On record for Betta: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 19 L / 5.0 US gal
- pH 6–8
- Hardness 1–15 dGH
- Diet carnivore
- Tank length 45 cm minimum
Keeping notes
One male per tank, always, and keep males and females apart unless breeding. Those long fins are a magnet for nippers, so no barbs. Plant the tank heavily, with floating plants and a broad leaf or two near the surface to rest on; a betta with cover is a calmer betta.
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Sold in cups, kept in vases, and misunderstood more than any other fish in the hobby. A betta is a labyrinth fish — it breathes air at the surface, which is how it survives conditions that would kill anything else. Surviving isn't the same as being well, and that reputation for hardiness is exactly what keeps them in bowls.
They're also individuals to a degree you won't see in a shoaling fish. Some ignore tank mates completely, others won't tolerate a thing. That variation is real, and it's why blanket advice about betta community tanks is worth so little — you stock one, watch it, and keep a backup plan.
Tank setup
Your betta has to reach the surface without working for it, so skip the tall tanks and never seal the lid. Do keep it covered, though, because they jump. Leave an air gap so the air sitting above the water stays warm and humid — a cold draught on the labyrinth organ does real damage.
Keep them warm and keep it steady. They come from shallow, still, sun-warmed water, and at the cool end of their range they sulk and stop eating.
Give them somewhere to rest up high. Broad leaves, a floating log, a betta hammock — those fins are heavy, and a fish that can park near the surface spends far less of its day working.
Feeding
Your betta is a carnivore that wants its food to move. They pick at flake and often refuse it outright, but frozen or live bloodworm, daphnia and brine shrimp get an immediate response. A good betta pellet is the practical staple.
Their stomach is roughly the size of their eye, which is worth remembering every time you feed. Overfeeding is the most common mistake people make with this fish, and it shows up as bloating and constipation.
Avoid: generic tropical flake as a staple, and plant-heavy foods. One fast day a week does them good.
Filtration and flow
Keep the flow low, always. Long-finned bettas are poor swimmers and a strong current wears them out — if yours is permanently pinned against the glass or wedged behind the filter, it's telling you the flow is wrong. Sponge filters, or baffle the outlet properly.
They tolerate low oxygen because they breathe air, and that's precisely why people get away with under-filtering them for so long. Filter for the waste, not for the fish's breathing.
With plants
Bettas are entirely safe with plants and genuinely better off among them. Heavy planting breaks up sightlines, which matters the moment there are tank mates, and floating plants give them the dim overhead light they prefer.
Stick to silk or live. Plastic plants tear fins.
Health
Fin rot is the one you'll meet, and it's almost always water quality rather than infection — ragged, receding edges that stop and grow back once you've sorted the tank. Reach for maintenance before medication.
The long-finned varieties take fin damage generally: from decor, from netting, and from the sheer weight of the fins.
Constipation and bloating follow overfeeding. A fast, then daphnia, clears up most of it.
Watch for a betta resting on the bottom instead of near the surface. For a fish that naturally hangs high in the water, that's an early sign something's wrong.
Breeding
This won't happen by accident, and you shouldn't attempt it casually. The male builds a bubble nest, the pairing is violent, and you have to remove the female the moment spawning finishes or she'll be killed.
The male tends the eggs and fry alone. Fry are extremely small and need infusoria, then weeks of intensive feeding. A single spawn gives you hundreds of fish that will each eventually need separating — and that's the part almost nobody plans for.
Tank mates
Avoid11
- Least Killifish Betta grows to 7 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Betta grows to 7 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Angelfish Betta is not safe with Angelfish: angelfish and betta (male) are a bad pairing.
- Bala Shark Betta is not safe with Bala Shark: betta (male) and sharks are a bad pairing.
- Common Goldfish Betta is not safe with Common Goldfish: betta (male) and common goldfish are a bad pairing.
Only with care37
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid is noticeably larger than Betta and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid is noticeably larger than Betta and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Kribensis Betta is aggressive and Kribensis is peaceful.
- Panda Garra Betta is aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Amano Shrimp Betta is a risk to Amano Shrimp: betta (male) and shrimp and yabbies are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 59 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 1 species is not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.