Siamese fighter (how to keep them)

The fish bug bit my girlfriend Got her a siamese fighter and she loves Solly to bits. Im so used to keeping tropical fish on a large scale that im not entirely sure how to keep siamese fighters properly. Its a 2l tank that will get 50% water change every week it came with gravel that said it needs to be changed monthly as to remove amonia etc is this plain old gravel or do i need specific gravel i think it was Pro-v gravel. Any ideas with regards to the gravel the food etc is fine. Thanks

 

im thinking of maybe moving it to a bigger tank(location) i have a 30hX12wX14l jar thats about 5litres will this be ok its smaller in length but alot higher will the fish prefer this. i want to add one plant to the tank to are there any plants that will live just in a well lit room without any additional light. Maybe vallis?

 

firstly, you need a bigger tank. go for something atleast 20l per siamese fighter. You also need proper filtration. get an internal one suitable for the tank you get.

Popular to contrary LFS explanations, siamese fighters need actual tanks NOT bowls. i was guilty of the same mistake. i know people who have them in community tanks. You may do the same as long as fish you put them with will not nip at their fins. 2 males cannot be kept together. 1 male and a few females is the ideal setup.

They are extremely hardy fish but i always advise people not to test their hardiness.
A 20L tank (for 1 siamese) with filtration with need a weekly 5L water change and a 2 weekly or monthly filter media cleaning (depends on your bio load).

That's basic. You do not need to change the gravel but rather clean the gravel every so often. I have 2 males in a 1ft divided into 2 halves for almost 2 years. Kids love them and so does everyone else. I've also noticed that they like amazon swords, for that lighting is essential.

Sharp

 

Snyper, siamese fish would prefer tanks that are shollow rather than deeper because they live in the top part of
tank. 5 litres is a little small, you can get a one foot tank at your LPS for about R65 rand.
They do not like current either so a simple bubble filter will do with regular water changes. They like broad leaf plants
to lie on so a single big Anubias in a one foot tank would be great, and they can survive with very little light.
Maybe ad some Java moss on arock too.
They need a varied died because they get bloat very easily.

Bought a stunning little female over the weekend,that I were looking for,for months.
So now back to male searching.

 

snyper pm slagter or give him a call (I canpm you his number).

he has some 2ft tanks , I bought one this passed weekend for only 50 bucks . he threw in a filter,heater,and other odds for extra 50 .

im sure he will help

cheers

 

Yip that would be great and cheap

 

iv got a siamese male in a 900x45x45,well lit,well planted and well aerated and heated to 28degrees and he is the healthiest happiest little swimmer and he is all over the fish tank.i know longer subscribe to the notion they should be kept in those rubbish glass bowls they sell as siamese tanks or in old peanut butter bottles like i'v seen in some petshops

 

I used to keep these many years ago, We had 30cm and 60cm tanks, they were even housed with some other fish in the tanks, cant quite remember what soughts we had but i think angels was one of them

 

I think ill go the 1ft root 2ft is to big for her room. Thanks for all the help guys its much appreciated

 

Ok so the 1ft it is I just want to know can I possibly just run the filter during the day and switch it off in the evening its going to be a corner filter will this be fine?

 

Run the filter 24/7

It would not be wise to run any aquarium filter intermittently. By switching the filter of at night, the bacteria that should develops during the cycle period of the tank will die due to a lack of oxygenated water flowing through the filter, leaving you with only mechanical filtration, and no biological filtration.
Corner filter are the most low tech of the filter options available and require regular maintenance. When you do maintenance only replace part of the filter media, otherwise you will be removing all the beneficial bacteria.

 

If you use the little corner filter just add 4 bioballs to it, so if you clean the filter you keep them,that way
you do not remove all the bacteria from your filter.

 

siamese fighta ,is sold in a ordinary cear tea cup in some chinease lfs here[ he go kong fo on me if i told him WATCHADOING] any hoe you say they swim alot mine does not ,think i must get him a cherry

 

I put the betta in his tank last friday thanks for all your guys help the tank is 24l has 2.2watts p/gal corner filter with bioballs and filterwool and a 30w heater. and were going to put some anubis and driftwood in its got some vallis in at the moment and maybe an amazon sword or java fern. The fish loves the big tanks he swims around all the time he is very active and i think i realise now just how cruel it is to keep them in those 1.5l tanks. thanks guys for all the help

 

Hey snyper u cn check t pics of my betta tank on my profile, c if u cn gt hold of sum sort of floating plant so he cn make a bed im goin 2 use moss, n giv hm a cave or 2 mine swims thru hs often. Oh n make sure he cn gt 2 t water surface they r air breathers and wen experiments were dne were t labrynth organ was removd t fish al suffocatd. U can also supplement hs food wit live food daphne bloodworms even mosquito lava he'l love hunting 4 them. Enjoy him, they hav lots of character!

 

Glad he got a proper home because they deserve it and are a lot happier that way.
After a while you will see him building a bubble nest even though there is no female.
Be carefull not to overfeed them though, you can skip a day or two in a week.

 

is it difficult to breed bettaz

 

My siamese hasn't made any bubbles since I moved him to the new tank. He was in a 2 litre Betta tank (which was actually supposed to be a double tank, shockingly) and he made random bubbles. I read they made scattered bubbles and stayed near the surface when they are unhappy, which he def was in the 2 litre. but now that he's happy and swimming all over in his 1 ft, he isn't making bubbles. Is that something that I should be concerned about?

 

T water surface may b 2 disturbd i wuldnt wori 2 much

 

Windfire is correct to say that you should not worry.
He will build a bubble nest when he feels really home and healthy but that may take some time and some only do it when they see a female, so dont worry about any bubbles.

When you should worry is when he gets really lifeless and only sit on the bottom or float around for a long time. He will then stop eating etc.

BUt if he swims around and are curious let him blow a million bubbles if he wants