# Picking a good betta at the store



## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

One of the few Hurricane Ike fish casualties I had was my daughter's old betta, Nemo. It never really recovered after 5 days of no power/filter, stopped eating and eventually died 2 wks later. Much tears were shed by the little one:tear:. I promised to get her another one soon. 

My question is how do pick the "best specimen" at the LFS (I was not involved in picking Nemo initially)? The bad ones are pretty obvious to the eye - they are pale and sort of mope at the bottom of the jar. Should I get a younger, smaller fish that is more adaptable? Would you use a mirror to see which one takes an interest in his own reflection? 

His home will be a 6 gallon low light heavily planted low tech tank with pea gravel substrate (Java fern Winedlov, Amazon sword, Anubias, and crypt parva), Ehiiem Aquaball filter. Tank mates will be some tiger shrimp, 4 frucata rainbow fish, 2 otos. Nemo got along just fine with them. 

Thanks in advance!

PS: She has her eye on pea puffer or figure 8 puffer but I think we will have compatibility issues.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

I found this one at Petsmart a few months ago and he made it thru Ike. I just looked at the little jars and found one that seemed active and healthy. This one was called a Crown Betta I think and he has been very active and seems to enjoy the company in a small tank with swordtails, corys and ottos. Shows off his gills and fins when he is trying to get some food.








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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Sorry to hear of your daughters fish.

Like you said, if they're in real bad shape it's pretty obvious. I usually pick up any of the cups with the ones I'm interested in and stick them together to let them flare at each other and that often tells you a lot about how good they are feeling. It also give you a better idea of how they will look when they are in your better living arrangements once you get them home. 

Good luck with your new purchase and show us a few photos when you get one. 

Old man, I recently picked up a crown tail too. In fact that was all our store carried at the time. I like them though, so that was fine with me.


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Thanks all! The ones at our local Petsmart looked pathetic but OTOH the nearby Petco had decent ones last time I looked. Too bad the jars have no freshness date on them!

Just in case, any one what happens with pea puffers + tiger shrimp?


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Bunbuku said:


> Just in case, any one what happens with pea puffers + tiger shrimp?


I think it would be bye bye tiger shrimp....

LOL about the freshness dates....


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## Qwertus (Oct 14, 2008)

I kept my betta for over a year with no filters/heaters, just a big jar with dechlorine water. The fins grew as long as its body length so i guess its healthy. Bettas aren't suppose to be active, only when there's another male betta within its view so most of them time It'll be resting at the bottom. I started to breed them recently, pretty easy to do it.


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## lildark185 (Jul 7, 2006)

If you don't mind shelling out the money, here's a good one on Aquabid. I personally like the halfmoon bettas. Crowntails are a close second though.


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

My daughter picked a sprightly little betta with blue body and red fins a couple of weeks ago at the LFS. So far has adjusted well to its new home. It greatly prefers bloodworms over betta pellets and likes to flare his gills at the old neon tetra. Not bothering the tiger shrimp at all. Happiness has been restored to the kid's tank!


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## AquaVu (Nov 30, 2007)

Ahhhhhh...I love happy endings


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