Betta fish
 

I've been keeping betta fish for the past 6 years.

The first one I had, Bennie, lived for 4 years - he was great. I cleaned the bowl every two weeks, fed him regularly, and he just thrived. He was a beautiful betta and seemed to know when it was late at night, as I'd be working, all intense on something on the computer, when he'd dive into into rocks and scare the crapola outta me. Loved that little guy.

However, I've had three more fish since then, with a few months in between them, and they haven't made it much past 2 months when they've died.

Does anyone else keep betta? Any secrets or anything I should know about them? I've been reading and reading - and it seems that I'm doing the food, cleaning, water treatments, etc., properly - but it's breaking my heart to keep losing these fish. :(

I know its a long drive for you but there is an aquarium store in Plymouth across from the wal-mart on Tenney Mtn Hwy. They are awesome! I'm pretty sure they are actually one of the best if not the best for salt-water stuff in the state.

They are great with help and advice. They also take my daughter's goldfish as seriously as they take a 300 gallon saltwater set-up. If anyone can help you they can!

www.plymouthpet.com ... (& aquarium) and they have a big selection of aquariums ... I've been in there a couple-three times as a tag-a-long to someone shopping for a small aquarium and then for aquarium fish...never spent a dime there myself...but I was totally, totally impressed each time by the store's deep and well organized inventory and the very high level of knowledge and assistance from the store help ... plus it is very close to the Plymouth www.walmart.com which also sells aquariums ... but nowhere near the selection or quality ... and mega-ditto that for the Plymouth Pet & Aquirium aquarium fish ... as opposed to the Wal-Mart aquarium fish.........like duh! If u want a dumb & sickly fish....then go to Walmart.....but if you want a smart and healthy aquarium fish.....then go to Plymouth Pet & Aquarium!:D:laugh:

PLUS...At Wal-Mart they don't sell antibiotics without a prescription. You can buy the same antibiotics prescribed buy a doctor over the counter at your local pet store!!!
All joking aside, I'm certainly not a conspiracy theorist, I have only about two days food supply in my house...so I'm not a doomsday guy, but stocking up on an antibiotic like Ciprofloxacin or Metronidazole is something that could come in very handy during a prolonged natural or unnatural disaster.;)

My daughter had one that died recently. She had it for years, hardly ever cleaned the bowl, never fed it consistently, it just kept on going and going. I had to constantly make sure she fed it and I took over bowl cleaning as I felt bad for it.

They are hard to kill!

I've never found them to be a very hardy fish when I've had them.