How to Keep Your Betta Fish Fighting Fit

Contrary to popular belief it is not difficult to keep your fighting fish happy, healthy and strong. All they need is a good tank environment, some basic home comforts and a stress free life and they will give you years of pleasure. If you start planning on how you are going to keep your Betta Fish, before you bring them home, they will thank you for it.

The key ingredient to fighting fit Betta Fish is firstly the size of the tank you are keeping them in. Although Betta Fish enjoyed a rush of popularity during the 1990s as “boutique” pets that could be kept in small vases, or bottles, in fact they need a minimum of one gallon of water in their tank (per fish). If you are hoping to breed Betta Fish you would be better off investing in a ten gallon tank as there have never been any recorded problems with Betta Fish who are in too large a container.

The second thing you need to remember is that fighting fish are a tropical fish, so if you live in a cold region then you will need to invest in a water heater for your tank. In fact you should probably have one regardless of where you live because the third key ingredient in keeping your Betta Fish fighting fit is regular constant water temperature – ideally at 75 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit. One of the biggest mistakes people make with their Fighting Fish is when they are replacing some of the water in the tank (which should be done weekly) with water that is too cold or too hot for the Betta Fish. If you notice your fish getting lethargic, and just staying down the bottom of the tank then it is likely your water temperature is not right.

It is also really important that you give your fighting fish the right type of food. Betta Fish are carnivores and eat meat as a rule. They really love live food such as Brine Shrimp or Blood Worms, but if these are not available at your local pet store or breeder, you can feed them the freeze dried variety which is just as good. Another tip here is don’t over feed your Betta Fish. They should be fed once a day, preferably in the evening, and they should get enough food that they can eat in about 2 – 3 minutes. Any food left on the surface of the tank water after 5 minutes should be removed.

Keeping your Betta Fish fighting fit is not difficult if you follow a few standard routines in fish care, and keep any eye on the behavior of your fish. Because fighting fish are so responsive to their environment it is easy to see when there is something wrong with them, and with the right information you can put them right again, easily and quickly.