The Marine Betta

I thought that it could be helpful to begin a thread about one of my favorite fish... The Marine Betta (aka Comet). I am focusing feeding, and their feeding behavior in this thread.


In this video the Betta is displaying his "hungry, begging" behavior.


In this video I am showing how and what I feed my Betta.

As a background, I have had the Betta for a little over two years. He is in a 155 gallon aquarium with many caves and hiding places. The tank includes a Sohal tank, and therefore all of the Betta's tankmates are moderately aggressive.
I will add some more details to the thread within the next couple of days.

 

This also tops the list as my favorite fish. I'm yet to have one of my own though:-[

 

Hurray! Someone with real life Betta experience. I've been really wanting one, but had some questions.

1) I have a 75 gallon. I will definitely be upgrading to a 150,180, or larger in the next 2 years. So, how quickly will they grow? I know this is a hard question because of feeding, temperature, etc...that can play into it. But I know that, in my mind, 6" is about max fish length for a 75 gallon. So, if I get a 3" specimen, is it likely that I will pass that 2year mark before he grows to 6 or 7"?

2) I've read they may possibly eat "ornamental shrimp" and "small fish". Have you witnessed this behavior?

3) Assuming you say yes, I guess sexy shrimp and tiny gobies are all off the table, but how about:
- peppermint shrimp? Larger shrimp like Blood Fire Shrimp? Small crabs like porcelean?
- medium sized fish like tailspot blennies or mimic blennies? How about a 3" occellaris clown?

4) You mentioned that your betta is in a aggressive/semi aggresive tank. Is this neccessary? Will the betta pick on peacefull large fish like fairy wrasses or small tangs?


I know that was a TON of questions, but I'm so happy to find Betta thread that isn't 6 years old. If you can answer them all it would go a long way to preparing me for a fish I've been wanting for a long time. Thanks so much.

 

The Marine Betta (aka Comet). Scientific Name: Calloplesiops altivelis

As I stated in my previous post, I have had the pleasure of raising a Marine Betta for slightly more than two years now, and it has become my favorite fish. Even though he is rather reclusive, it is still a great amount of fun to observe him. When I ordered the fish I really didn’t have much of an idea of what I was getting myself into. I knew that they can be rather finicky eaters and that they require special care in regards to lighting and places to hide, but I thought that they were moderately aggressive… To be honest, the Betta is the most passive fish in the tank, but fortunately due to his size, he is not bothered by any of my other fish in this aquarium (not even the evil sohal tang J). Now, on with my story. J I initially had a fully stocked 75 gallon aquarium that I decided was too small, so about two years ago I decided to upgrade to a 155 bowfront. When I purchased the 155 I also ordered the Betta. By the time the 155 had completed cycling (with liverock from the 75 and dead shrimp), the Betta had already been at the LFS, on hold for me, for about 2 weeks (this is my standard waiting time before purchasing any fish). They kept him in a peaceful tank with larger fish (the Betta was only about 3.5 inches at the time), and I required them to prove that he was eating before I took he with me to his new home. They fed the betta live feeders, and I decided to take the little fella’ home. He was the first fish in the 155, and the tank was rather empty. I think that initially he liked the solitude because he didn’t constantly seek refuge under any rocks or ornaments, and sat out (in view) for most of the time. It was during this time that I “trained” him to hand-feed and accept frozen foods. To do this, I kept a tank of live feeder fish; initially I would offer three small live feeders and a small thawed silverside for every feeding . I slowly reduced the amount of live feeders that I offered during the feedings (but continued to offer the silverside) until the Betta was accepting the silversides. Please note that sometimes I had to “toss or shake” the silverside for the beta to get it; that I only feed the Betta once every two or three days. DO NOT ALLOW MORE THAN 3 DAYS between feedings (unless the Betta isn’t hungry)… Or your smaller fish will begin to disappear… :’(. It was at that point that, it started accepting a wide variety of frozen foods including mysis (a little small for it, but the Betta liked them nonetheless), salad shrimp, and even flake foods. The entire “training” processes took about a month, and then I was finally ready to begin the transfer of the 75 over to the 155. I determined that the transfer process should be very slow and gradual; and the first tankmates that the Betta had was a mated pair of 3-year old oscellaris clowns. I allowed two weeks to pass and then I added my war-torn hepatus (aka Happy)… The hepatus is a story for another thread altogether!! J Eventually, over the course of two months, all of the livestock from the 75 were transferred and the tank was tore-down. Last year, I introduced a Naso tang into the 155 without quarantine… BIG MISTAKE! Within a week the tank broke out in crypt, and the Naso died… The Betta was the only fish not visibly affected by the crypt, but I took out ALL of the fish to treat in the 75 (now a hospital tank). Oh, yeah, did I mention that I had a 4 inch engineer goby, and a tiny clown goby in the 155 with the Betta? J I felt horrible for cramming all of the fish into the 75, but I had no choice. The 75 inhabitants included: the Betta, a hepatus tang, a queen angel, a clown goby, two oscellaris clowns, and engineer goby. The Betta, hepatus, and queen are all three rather large fish, and after the 2nd months of quarantine (I only treated them for one month), I began to have problems… The Betta was being beaten during night, and as a result, lost interest in eating.. I began to fret because he would go several days without even coming out of his “hiding spot”. Eventually, he ate the engineer goby (who was almost half the Betta’s length), and I determined that it was imperative that I start transferring the fish back to the 155. The first fish to be transferred was, of course, the Betta. Once again, I had to nurse it back into eating regularly before I put the other fish into the tank. He reestablished his territory, and the other fish were added back into the 155 over the following 2 months. Yes, the 155 was not completely re-stocked for a total of 4 months after the crypt outbreak. L All violence toward the Betta ceased when the fish were reintroduced back into the larger system.




Some of my observations (as they pertain to the Betta) include:

The Betta used to come to the surface of the water to retrieve his food, but now that I added the Sohal, he will not come to the top because he is pushed away by the other big fish in the tank. This is why you see me handing the Betta food about halfway down the water column.

His coloration is typically black with white spots, unless he is stressed or is displaying nocturnal coloration. In these events he pales to a brownish color.

His respiration is less than 1 gill movement per second, when at rest.

His days are spent mostly peering out of caves that I have built for him.

He is most active at dusk, and will usually come out to see what is going on when I am feeding the other fish at that time.

He DOES gorge himself (on ANY small invert that will fit into his mouth), and this can, and has, caused problems with gut impacting.

After eating, he retreats to a “cave” to swallow and digest the meal. Depending on the size of the meal, sometimes he will literally lay on his side for several days (please refer to the comment above about gut impacting). This is generally a scary situation because it appears that he is going to die… His colors fade almost to a very light brown, he is very lethargic, and his breathing is labored and faster than normal. I have seen this happen three times, and each time it took almost 7 days for him to “perk” back up.

He prefers a calm, peaceful tank. But, it appears that if the system is large enough, then a semi-aggressive tank is ok.

My lights for my tank are intentionally shorter than the tank length by 2 feet (the tank is 6ft and the lights are 4ft). This leaves the farthest edges of the tank rather dim, and the Betta enjoys these “shaded” areas.



I will now give you a little more info about my system.

I have a 155 bowfront with a 20 gallon sump, and a 10 gallon refugium. I use a Seaclone 100 skimmer, and 260 watt CF lighting. I have several various corals that I won’t mention here. I USE NO FILTRATION- Other than live rock and a 3” sand bed. My water parameters are perfect. 0ammonia, 0nitrites, and 0nitrates. I believe that my filtration-less system has been successful due to the GIANT piles of chaetomorpha that I have turned into caves for the fish and the Betta.

 

Thanks for the reply and great info.

I have three followup questions for you.

1) Do you have any CUC at all? If so, how and what?
Based on your "ANY small invert" comment I assume I would loose all peppermint shrimp, porcelean crabs, hermits, and perhaps even my large fire shrimp. Is that right?

2) Was the main reason you felt the Betta was too large for your 75 gallon because of how heavily it was stocked already....or because it is just too large for that tank anyway?

My stock in my 75 gallon is:
1 small yellow tang.
A pair of Occellaris clowns. And that be it.

I would like to add both the Marine Betta and a large Fairy Wrasse. What do you think? Again...this is just until I get a bigger system in a couple of years when we finish building our home.


3) What would be the chances that a tailspot blenny 2.1/2 inches long would survive with a Marine Betta.

Thanks. Super Info!!!

 

HEHEHE, my CUC is almost nothing at all.. About 5 various hermits and 50 small snails. That's it.

I determined that the 75 was too small because the other fish were taking out alot of aggression toward him. However, with a minimally stocked tank (as you have), I believe that you will be ok (as far as tank size is concerned). The Betta will try to eat the clowns if it gets hungry enough, and if the clowns are small enough. Watch for aggression from the YT. They can get VERY territorial, and the Betta doesn't have much in the name of defending itsself against the YT's caudual spine.

The Betta will only harass similar colored fish (ie will attack its' reflection in the glass- it's kind of funny.)

I'm not sure how crowded it will get in your tank with the addition of the wrasse. But, please keep in mind that my Betta ate a 4-5 inch engineer goby.. My clown goby only survives because it hides from the betta all of the time. But a fairy wrasse may not fare so well.. However, a "cleaner" wrasse did live with the betta... for several months, until it disappeared too..

The betta loves to eat shrimp.. So does my tang.

I have never, ever, ever had ANY long term success with a tailspot blenny. The betta never ate them, but they always starved to death (all 4 died of starvation- this made me give up on tailspots).

Any other questions? I will be happy to help

 

My betta is by far my favorite and adored fish. Jepedo is his name, and he's honestly the only fish i have true feelings for. He attacks his reflection all the time. He owns the tank and is surprisingly very active. He still swims slow, but he roams about the tank (only a 40 gallon) as if he is the king of the sea. Normally he eats mysis, but i have hand fed him on several occasions with some cocktail shrimp lol.

 

Well, if the betta may try to eat my clowns...a small blenny will definitely be on the menu.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the tail-spot blennies. They are one of my favorite fish and I had great luck with the 1 specimen I tried. He came to me from live aquaria and was eating mysis, flake, pellet, seaweed, and tank algae when I got him. I had him for about a year and he was fat and happy when I accedentally crushed him while moving everything over to a different tank. I hated to loose him, as he had more personality than almost any other fish. Oh well. I was thinking about getting another, but I may have to reconsider if I get the Betta.


Final question about the Betta's habits. Would he also go after things like brittle stars? Sea cucumbers?

I think the fairy wrasse would be okay at a very fat 4-5" and a fast swimmer, but I think I will hold off anyway. I think, based on your experience, that I will make the Betta the first addition to the new tank when I get it and then transfer the rest after he is already settled in.

Thanks so much for the great info. Can't wait to join the Betta club one day.

 

I love the name, Jepedo!!! That is great! It it really awesome to hear about others having success with this fish!

Great! How about my videos, don't they count for something?! ;D I will be happy to post more photos of him, and I will also be happy to write a FOTM article (please let me know how the process works ).

I don't kow why, but I could never get them to eat food. They would just sift all day, and ignore my feedings..

I have a rather large brittle star, and the Betta has never attempted to attack it. I have seen him "staring" at the star a couple of times, but he never pursued it.