Hi, new to keeping bettas

Hi , I have been keeping tropical fish for a year and a half now, my 9 year old boy has been wanting a betta for a while now, so found your site and have been reading up. We got him a small tank for his birthday and did the fishless cycle. So yesterday he got his betta , he chose one that was in a tank with about 20 guppies and was getting a bit harrassed. When he was in the lfs tank he was a beautiful vibrant red colour and when we took him home and looked at him he was a kind of light purple colour, still very nice, I wondered if he had changed colour with stress, he's looking a little more colourful today, but not the same as he was yesterday, I don't think my son noticed the change , he was just happy to have him.
I am looking forward to finding out more about bettas from your great site.

welcome to the forum!
It can take a betta a full 2 weeks to get settled in his new home, so i wouldn't worry if i were you.

Can we see piccies please?

Welcome! Yeah bettas can get sulky when moved to a new home, and stress from moving can make them pale, but don't worry he should colour up in no time

Has he got lots of plants in his tank? Having some plant-jungle areas in his tank might help him feel more secure

great to have you on the forum, as mentioned previously bettas will fade with the stress of moving home but he should colour up.

and

Hi, thanks for all your replies, I just have 2 silk plants just now, will get some live plants tomorrow to make it feel better, and will attempt to post a photo soon. His colour is getting a bit better gradually. My little boy has decided to call him Finlay.

What light do you have on the tank? and how many hours a day is it on? java fern, java moss and amazon frogbit are all good plants for low light tanks. Might be worth looking on ebay there are normally some on there cheaper than in LFS.

kizno1 wrote:What light do you have on the tank? and how many hours a day is it on? java fern, java moss and amazon frogbit are all good plants for low light tanks. Might be worth looking on ebay there are normally some on there cheaper than in LFS.

I just have one of the marina led lights as it is a small 21 litre tank for a child. I got the plants for my community tanks from plants alive and ebay before , they were a lot cheaper, I might just do that , I really like java fern , haven't tried amazon frogbit before, if its for a low light tank that would be ideal.
Thanks again

Hi and welcome good to see a new face on here, iv only been on here for a couple of months but these guys dont half give good advice and suggestions. Dont know what iv done without them
Hope you feel as settled as i do.

teeny wrote:

kizno1 wrote:What light do you have on the tank? and how many hours a day is it on? java fern, java moss and amazon frogbit are all good plants for low light tanks. Might be worth looking on ebay there are normally some on there cheaper than in LFS.

I just have one of the marina led lights as it is a small 21 litre tank for a child. I got the plants for my community tanks from plants alive and ebay before , they were a lot cheaper, I might just do that , I really like java fern , haven't tried amazon frogbit before, if its for a low light tank that would be ideal.
Thanks again

java moss and java fern should be fine but you will need a better light for frogbit. Might be worth looking into a better light.

kizno1 wrote:

teeny wrote:

kizno1 wrote:What light do you have on the tank? and how many hours a day is it on? java fern, java moss and amazon frogbit are all good plants for low light tanks. Might be worth looking on ebay there are normally some on there cheaper than in LFS.

I just have one of the marina led lights as it is a small 21 litre tank for a child. I got the plants for my community tanks from plants alive and ebay before , they were a lot cheaper, I might just do that , I really like java fern , haven't tried amazon frogbit before, if its for a low light tank that would be ideal.
Thanks again

java moss and java fern should be fine but you will need a better light for frogbit. Might be worth looking into a better light.

I think I will look for a better light , it dosen't have much effect when its on.

You might be able to find a fairly cheap on on ebay.

Nataliey wrote:Hi and welcome good to see a new face on here, iv only been on here for a couple of months but these guys dont half give good advice and suggestions. Dont know what iv done without them
Hope you feel as settled as i do.

Thanks Nataliey, I'm really pleased I found the forum, I didn't know anything about bettas before

kizno1 wrote:You might be able to find a fairly cheap on on ebay.

Will have a look when I am looking for plants . Thanks

This is the person i got mine of i think. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

kizno1 wrote:This is the person i got mine of i think. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks for the link ,looks lovely and lush

im not sure if that is them actually they have only sold 574 thing the ones i brought had the same pic but a different seller.

to the forum Teeny. Feel free to browse around and if you need anything just ask away. There are lots of helpful people here

BTW.....Are you Teeny from RFUK?

kizno1 wrote:im not sure if that is them actually they have only sold 574 thing the ones i brought had the same pic but a different seller.

Thats okay, going to have a good look to see what I can get. Thanks you've been very helpful.

Glad i could help . how big is your bettas tank?

Netty wrote: to the forum Teeny. Feel free to browse around and if you need anything just ask away. There are lots of helpful people here

BTW.....Are you Teeny from RFUK?

Thanks Netty, no I'm not the same person, sorry whats RFUK.
My granny used to call me teeny , even when I was an adult. I thought I was the only one.

kizno1 wrote:Glad i could help . how big is your bettas tank?

The betta tank is just 21 litres , its one of the marina cool tanks .

Ok thants a good size if you want you could add some shrimp or pygmy corys to the tank. ember tetra, galaxy rasbora and endlers can be fine but some bettas take a disliking to them

RFUK is a reptile forum and there's a member called Teeny on there too, so thought you might be one and the same

kizno1 wrote:Ok thants a good size if you want you could add some shrimp or pygmy corys to the tank. ember tetra, galaxy rasbora and endlers can be fine but some bettas take a disliking to them

Thats good to know, have corys in my comunity tanks, they're great fish to watch.