(06-27-2014, 08:24 AM)evelynmcgregor Wrote: I have kept bettas for many, many years. I have kept them in everything from a 3 cup container to a 10 gallon aquarium. In fact, when I was a teenager (many years ago) I bred them with much success. I love bettas because they are such an easy fish to have. They will do well in a small container with no filtration, however, you do need to keep the container clean out regularly and make sure you use clorine remover or water that has had a chance to sit in a container overnight. The best food I have found to use for them is the small pellet betta food. The flake type tends to cloud the water faster. I even had a betta that would come to the surface and take the small pellet from between my fingertips.
How long did those betta of yours stay alive in those small containers?
Betta can live for 5~7 years depend on how well they are treated. Most betta sold on the market are less than a year old. If they didn't stay alive for years after you bought them, then the conditions weren't ideal for them at all.
All live fish (or shrimp, snail, etc. for that matter) in captivity must have filtration 24/7 in order to stay alive. Sure, some people might try to do very very frequent water changes to keep the water clean, but it is impossible to completely eliminate the toxic ammonia produced by the fish without constant (nonstop) aquarium nitrogen cycle even in a large aquarium.
With a "3-cup" container, the ammonia concentration would have gone to extremely toxic level very quickly. In such a small container, it will also be impossible for you to install a heater which is required for all tropical fish to stay healthy (Betta is a tropical fish). Any small amount of water change in such small container could have easily shock the fish with sudden change in water temperature, hardness, PH, etc. Any one of these sudden change could cause the fish to become sick and die.
I have also seen people had Betta fish in small vase with a plant at my dentist. She claimed the fish was fine without heater and filter, and the fish was "happy" to eat the root... Betta is a carnivore which feed on insect larva in the wild. I am sure all humans will chew on roots when they are hungry enough, but it is not sustainable meal. A few months later when I went to see my dentist again, the betta fish was not there. There was just the plant in the vase. Want to guess what happened to the fish?
