bettas from thailand and paradise fish from taiwan, aside from both being labyrinth fish, are very similar in appearance and behavior. paradise fish arnt bettas, they are Macropodus genus. A heater for the aquarium (in most cases). On this page you can see some great example aquariums that people have submitted to the site.
As much as they aren’t a similar shape and do not have similar patterns, we think they are just as vibrant and impressive as a Blue Tang! Paradise gouramis, also called paradise fish, come from the same family as the Siamese fighting fish or betta fish. As much as they’re considerably easier fish to care for than Blue Tangs, keeping any animal is a commitment and takes time and patience. The aquarium should also have a filter. There are exceptions, but certainly in this case the betta is an easy freshwater fish to keep, whereas the Blue Tang is considered intermediate difficultly even by experienced marine fish keepers. Earnings Disclosure & Privacy Policy, The Horrific Way Fish Are Caught for Your Aquarium—With Cyanide, ‘Finding Dory’ Could Lead to Dangerous Demand for Blue Tangs as Pets, Finding Dory will make the Blue Tang fish popular and that’s not a good thing, Blue Tangs are a hard beginner fish to keep, There are also negative environmental considerations to keeping them, A betta is a great alternative to a Blue Tang, and a good ‘beginner fish’, But Petco also sells inappropriate ‘Betta Kits’ alongside these bettas, We’ll also have a look at betta keeping beginner mistakes & misconceptions, They grow to a large size (and therefore need a large tank).
You may or may not have noticed that betta fish can come in many shapes and colours! Thanks so much for your help guys! Males will also get more combative with other fish. Given this, hopefully you can see the frustration that is caused by Petco selling products like the Penn Plax ‘Betta Kit’. Also feel free to message us with any questions you have. Wow!!! Only male paradise gouramis make nests, so if you see a fish making a bubble nest, you know it is a male. in a small tank like your 5gal. Groups of female paradise gouramis can share an aquarium without incident. Betta fi… Actually, I had to do a search with the latin name, Pseudosphromenus dayi, to find the picture -lo-l. lol that might be why. Here’s an image we’ve created roughly comparing the size of a betta and a Blue Tang: An approximate size comparison of a fully grown betta next to a fully grown Blue Tang. Decorations should include places for betta to hide, and live or artificial plants. At this stage you may have already decided that a betta, or perhaps another fish, is a better choice than a Blue Tang.
The Blue & Yellow ‘Paradise Betta’ Petco is selling as an alternative to a Blue Tang. A betta is a great alternative t…
The article has become a bit longer than expected, so to give a quick summary upfront, there are a few things we’ll cover: 1. This makes them especially good fish for children to keep.
Males tend to flare their fins out, making the larger size and more pointed shape more obvious. Keeping saltwater fish often takes more precision, patience, time and money. We are a family friendly community with an incredible resource of information for fish owners and enthusiast alike.
But if two fish are fighting with each other, they are almost certainly males. To see more of our betta care articles, go the the ‘Learn’ dropdown in the navigation menu. they even build bubble nest. Really Petco hasn’t done anything particularly special with the betta itself, they’re simply imorting (from China – thanks to u/EnvyTheirGreed for pointing this out to us) and promoting a betta that has similar colours to Dory. The Penn Plax Finding Dory Betta Starter Kit that Petco sells alongside its Paradise Betta is far too small. At a minimum, a Blue Tang needs to be kept in a 4 foot long (around 250 litres) aquarium. 1,724 1.7K. hmm... did it look like any of these? If you’re buying a betta and have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment on the site or send us an email. When breeding, the differences between male and female paradise gouramis become more obvious. This Petco advert with a betta in a tiny aquarium is misleading to the novice keeper. They're the bottom ones, the spiked tail paradise fish. To reiterate: At 0.5 US Gallons, the water volume is far too small. Don’t buy a Blue Tang / Dory unless you’re really committed, Consider a betta instead, maybe a ‘Paradise Betta’ from Petco, And please do some basic research before and after buying a betta.
I've been told that the paradise fish have confused those bettas for their own kind and have attacked them. It’s already been covered fairly extensively by other media outlets that the way Blue Tangs and other wild fish are caught has negative environmental consequences. Sometimes they state they started off in a small container, but later upgraded to something much bigger. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
The same things can’t be said for Blue Tangs, though. In the ‘Betta Kit’ we’ve written about above, it would be surviving, not thriving. Males construct bubble nests, structures made out of mucus bubbles and plant bits, to house their eggs.
Petco doesn’t directly state that it’s suitable long term betta housing or anything like that, but it’s still irresponsible to advertise it in a way that could give people that impression.
For more information on betta care, please see our ‘Learn’ section and our betta keeping requirements article. Generally speaking, freshwater fish are easier to keep than saltwater fish. Additionally, the fins on males are more pointed than the fins of female paradise gouramis.
Some people have pointed out that the Paradise Betta is actually what is known as a ‘Mustard Gas’ betta that has been relabelled. But nonetheless, it’s still a great-looking fish, so let’s have a look at some photos. There are many more things we would love for you to know about keeping betta fish. They’re not an easy fish for the beginner aquarist because: If you’re researching Blue Tangs after watching Finding Dory, we’d therefore like to suggest an alternative: the betta fish. By Guest, 6 years ago on Tropical Fish. The hospital tank for a betta would be much smaller than one for a Blue Tang, and it would be easier to set up. A betta fish however, kept on its own, will live happily in an aquarium of a minimum size of 5 US gallons. For more information on betta keeping requirements, please see this article. They’ll often swim up the front of the aquarium when you’re near, sit and observe you. It’s not often thought that fish can have a personality, but bettas are very intelligent.
Paradise fish or female betta? A male paradise gourami gets belligerent toward other same-species males and even females, and males of other species of fish. The aquarium needs to be kept at a consistent temperature between 78 ℉ to 82 ℉. They do stop to feed and may occasionally take note of your presence, but as far as this aspect of fishkeeping goes, bettas are one of the best fish when it comes to interaction. The advert below, for example, shows a betta within the starter kit. In fact, they may pick on females who are unwilling to mate. Betta fish originate from Southeast Asia, they are a tropical fish and in most countries (including the US) need a heated aquarium. Yes, relatively speaking – compared to a Blue Tang – they are low maintenance. You need to be able to identify males, to avoid bloodshed. It will do for a matter of hours or days, not weeks or months. You don’t want your betta, nor any other fish, to have to survive the conditions it’s kept in, you want it to thrive and enjoy life. It was also r/KingGojira that posted to Reddit about Petco’s ‘Paradise Bettas’ a couple months ago (thanks again for your work, r/KingGojira!). Males have larger, longer fins than their female counterparts. Thanks so much! This is Glynn, posted by Reddit user u/MarineAquarist. When they are sexually mature, this difference becomes more apparent. This fish can learn to recognize their owners, and they also create bubble nests. Females get along fine and will not bother each other or other species. Ohhhh!!!
a very cool fish to me.
Yet they continue to sell it, at the expense of the fishes health, and at the expense of the consumer, who will either end up with a dead fish much sooner than anticipated, or will have to spend more money when they realise it is no good. Coloration is probably the quickest way to tell a mature male paradise gourami from a female. If Petco can steer people from Blue Tang’s to bettas, and make a commission in the process, there’s no harm done. We have actually written about this issue – Petco selling less than adequate containers that are misleading to beginners – on our blog a couple months ago as well. Fish of the Month, Pet of the Month. Like his close relative the betta, the male paradise fish is more aggressive than the paradise gourami female.
In the US, Petco has cleverly anticipated the potential rise in demand for Blue Tangs and is selling a ‘Paradise Betta’, which has a similar blue and yellow colouration to a Blue Tang. Check out the FishForums.net Monthly Admittedly it’s not Petco that manufactures the kit, it’s Penn Plax (who also know better), but still, Petco sells it alongside a betta, thus endorsing it. Furthermore, if your betta gets sick, it’s easier to quarantine it in a hospital aquarium should you need to. © 2020 Bettaboxx. A male paradise gourami gets belligerent toward other same-species males and even females, and males of other species of fish.
They're being sold for 11.99.
I looked up different paradise fish, but i didn't come across any of the spiked tail paradise fish. Generally speaking with keeping marine fish compared to freshwater fish, there is less margin for error. These Penn Plax ‘kit’ above does not come with a filter, and does not have room for a proper one to be added. Betta fish, also known as Siamese fighting fish, are very common with beginner aquarists. Yes they can survive in small containers for short periods, but they cannot thrive in them. They are extremely beautiful fish though!
But our gripe, and that of other betta enthusiasts, is that Petco is also selling a ‘Penn Plax 0.5 US Gallons Disney’s Finding Dory Betta Kit’ alongside these bettas that, at 0.5 US Gallons, is far too small for a betta. Like his close relative the betta, the male paradise fish is more aggressive than the paradise gourami female. A Paradise Betta called Sinatra (see him in the background!) What Is the Difference Between African Ringneck and Indian Ringneck Parrots?→, Tell if a Glowlight Tetra Is a Boy or a Girl→. Paradise gouramis have temperaments similar to these, the males of the species having territorial disposition. A small container (like the Penn Plaxx one above) is OK for temporary housing, but not long term. Betta fish sleep on plant leaves sometimes, believe it or not. Awesome fish with lots of personality.
Contests including the Tank of the Month, A rise in demand for Blue Tangs as a result of the new Finding Dory movie would make matters worse.
Most of the time they’re so busy patrolling an aquarium they don’t even notice you; they do indeed ‘just keep swimming’. After all we want you to get the most out of your betta fish, they look amazing and can have a great personality – it would be a shame to miss out on that! Yes, they are hardy fish.
As we talk about in more detail below, Petco is selling Paradise Bettas that have a blue body and a yellow tail like Dory – as shown in the picture below. Following on from the last point, another misconception is that bettas are ‘low maintenance’ fish. Blue Tangs are a particularly expensive fish to keep as they grow to about a foot long, meaning they’ll need a large aquarium.