Betta Fish!

I have always had a love for Betta fish for many reasons. The first it how easy they can be kept, without keeping them in unsuitable habitats. Today I'm going to give a 'how to' sort of thing for keeping betta fish. One thing to note is that this is all my opinion however it's all been tested on many, many betta fish and has proved very successful.

First thing to talk about is tank sizes. There is a lot of talk about this topic over the internet however I think you'll find that my suggestion makes sense even to the very beginner fish keeper. At the pet stores you can finds the smallest little tanks that are just not healthy for fish to live it. Although you might think "Woah! I can keep a fish in a jar the size of a drinking glass, how easy is that?!" Just be warned that if you decide to keep your fish in a drinking glass sized tank its life will be more than 50% shorter. And so what I recommend, very highly, is that two gallons should be the SMALLEST you keep your single Betta fish in. If at first you read this and think that two gallons means you have to have a filter and a heater and all this professional fish equipment to keep your fish healthy. That is not correct. Although I recommend a filter for any tank you keep, two gallon tanks with just one fish in it can be kept easily cleaned without equipment. And so we can move on to fish decor and more!

For the most part, all the decorations and rocks found at the pet store are safe to use. I'm going to tell you the easiest ones to use, not the 'prettiest' or 'coolest'. Just the easiest. Alright, for rocks the I always use 'river rocks' you can get them in bags at the pet store. The reason I chose these over other rocks is that these are much bigger than other rocks and can therefore be cleaned easier. They don't fit down the drain and don't stick to everything when they're wet. As for decor I always keep it simple. One or two plants and for pretty-ness and color, I have a collection of large (Okay... not large, but maybe 5 or 6 times bigger than a standard river rock) colorful rocks that I put in the tank one at a time. That way every time I clean my fish's tank I get to make it a little different. One thing I think I need to touch on is feeding; when and what. 

As for what I always use tropical fish food crisps. There is a link to the page of the exact food I use. As for when I feed, I feed my betta two ore three crisps (I always squeeze them in my fingers to crush them before I put them in the water) every other day. Your betta's stomach is only the size of one of its eye, so it doesn't need a lot of food. I know successful betta keepers who only feed theirs once a week. I urge you not to feed them every day, that can cut down their life length. 

Whew! We're getting close to being done! I promise! 

I also want to talk about gold fish vs. betta fish. What most people don't know, and what pet store clerks don't tell you, is that gold fish are pond-fish and can actually get over 7 inches long! Imagine having a gold fish in a 'gold fish bowl'. Those are usually between 1 and 3 gallons. Putting a gold fish in that stunts its growth so much that it slowly kills the poor not so little fish. Betta fish's growth is not stunted in a two gallon tank, therefore they make great pets! I know there is a slight thrill of having a gold fish in a gold fish bowl, but just think about how that fish needs a least 100 gallons to live nicely. That's why the are classified as 'pond fish'. 

In this post I didn't talk about the best ways of cleaning your fish tank, because I thought  if I had the post would become a book. Not that cleaning them is hard, its just that I always have a lot to say when it comes to animals. 

Here is the link I was talking about, about the fish food: http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/Detail.aspx?id=4172

Here is a picture of my betta tank, you can see my plant and rock, with the river rocks:
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s130/sh/7f3fbe80-ab6a-4dab-bcb0-22703373a157/e048a7b2f040c6105023d94269eacd64

NOTE: That is an 'evernote' link, it is safe (No adds, as far as I know) just copy and paste it into your brower and it will show you my picture. I'm sorry I'm not as smart as Rachel, and can't figure out how to post pictures right to this post. Ah well.

Thanks for reading!
As always, the always talking,

~MOIRA

DIY Bird Treat

Hi, Rachel here! I have a DIY treat you can do for birds today--either pets or wild birds! Almost all birds love popcorn. Making a popcorn string is relatively easy and it should last for a little while.

You will need:

Popcorn
thread
needle
a bird-safe stopper, such as a wooden bead

So, you will need to start with some popcorn. You shouldn't use the packaged bag popcorn because chemicals and such in the popcorn are potentially harmful to birds. There are three ways you can make bird safe popcorn easily.

With an air popper, you don't need anything but the kernels to make popcorn. With the stove popper, you need some kind of oil, so I would suggest coconut oil. The last way to make popcorn safely is to place a small handful of kernels in a brown paper bag, fold down the top a few times, and put it in the microwave for a few seconds, till the pops are about 1 second apart. Don't leave it too long or it will get burned!

After you have some clean popcorn, you can thread it using the needle and thread.

Use your stopper to tie to the end so the popcorn won't just slide off. For pet birds you only need 10-15 pieces of popcorn but if you want to put some outside for wild birds, you may want a string several feet long. It's all up to you though.

Don't be surprised if your bird won't touch the treat for a few days. Many birds will take a little time to be comfortable enough with something in their cage to try chewing on it.