You Betta Believe It!

Your source for the finest bettas, you betta believe it! Currently on semi-hiatus due to grad school, I am not posting nearly as much but still enjoy seeing betta content :). Emily, she/her, 25. Amateur fish hobbyist, but always eager to learn more! I started fishkeeping in 2014 and have loved it ever since. Current set-up: 10-gallon aquarium with many cherry shrimp. SIP Lance (Oct 2018 - Dec 2020) & Mo (2/11/16 - 3/01/18)

[youbetta-believeit]

Hi everyone - I’ve been putting off making this post for a little while, but unfortunately my boy Lance passed away at the end of Dec 2020. 😢 I definitely miss his presence as my pandemic/work-from-home buddy, and I laid him to rest within one of my houseplants to continue the circle of life. SIP, Lance!

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Pretty girl. 💙

December '20

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My SON

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Eggs

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my other son who ive had for two ish months? his name is asterius and he likes snails they make his depression go away :)

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My new boy Apollo loves his ten gallon!!

[youbetta-believeit]

About your bug things- some type of amphipod maybe? Baby scuds?

Looking through the tags on my original post, I saw that @brotweiler also suggested scuds 🤔 Tbh I’m not sure they are scuds either - after watching a few videos about scud cultivating, the creatures that I have seem too small, and don’t have enough legs or body segments. And, I’m pretty sure the pic in my last post was of an adult, as I haven’t seen any larger than that (I’ve noticed them for several weeks, but the population has exploded only recently) and I observe them daily 🤔

[youbetta-believeit]

The bug things on your glass are limpets they’re harmless

The bug things definitely have legs - I can see them when they are crawling across the leaves, swimming, or walking over and into the gravel. That would eliminate limpets as a suspect, no?

I tried getting a clear close-up of one today; they are smaller than baby shrimps, and most have a striped or marbled pattern like in the pic. They mostly congregate in the gravel although I see them all over my tank nowadays. What does anyone else think?

[youbetta-believeit]

Tried out my new macro lens on a few shrimp models today, still figuring out the best distance/lighting but it was fun!! I didn’t realize shrimps had pupils in their eyeballs!

(Taken on my iPhone 11 with a 15x macro lens!)

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She really likes her 5.5! She's flourishing and having such a good time playing with her snail

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I love my boy HoneyBun

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Leaf umbrella

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Coryn is fuelled by nothing but grump

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carlisle appreciation post

[youbetta-believeit]

Seeing molts always freaks me out for a split second before I realize they’re not actually the ghostly remains of a shrimp 😅 Counted 4 just this morning, my guys & gals are doing some GROWING!! (The piece behind the front molt is actually a second molt, from a much smaller shrimp!)

[youbetta-believeit]

I want to keep a betta with some shrimp. I saw that you have accomplished this, and I was wondering if you have any advice about doing it. This is for a kindergarten classroom, so if you think this might be a traumatic experience for the kids, please talk me out of it! Thank you!

Hi! I am all for kiddos experiencing the joys of fishkeeping, but there are a few things I would keep in mind before keeping a betta and shrimp together (specifically Neocaridina davidi, or red cherry shrimp, which are the only ones I have experience with):

Bettas are aggressive! When I introduced the shrimp to my betta’s tank, I was lucky that he only seemed interested in chasing the adults in brief spurts, and I never saw him kill or eat an adult. He does eat the baby shrimps, but ultimately it’s good population control, and the babies are so small the children honestly won’t even notice them. However, I’ve seen other blogs post about their bettas that are much more aggressive than mine, who can’t keep shrimp at all as the betta will pick them off one by one. I can imagine that might be something you don’t want a kindergartener to see, but could also be a good lesson about life? 😅 You could maybe look at getting a larger species of shrimp than the Neos (amano or ghost shrimp?), if you don’t want to risk this!

The tank habitat matters! Cherry shrimp thrive in aquariums with a lot of biomatter for them to pick at, meaning a lot of live plants, biofilm/algae, and leaf litter. Lots of plants also means lots of hiding places for them to escape their predatory tank-mate (the betta!) and gives them a safe space to molt.

Shrimp are opportunistic feeders! This is something I was not so happy to learn, hah...shrimp will scavenge the bodies of anything freshly dead in the tank, including other shrimp, and yes, probably the betta too. They truly spend 99% of their time eating. It’s a good way for them to get nutrients, but not a fun thing for a child (or me!) to see.

The positives are that shrimp are delightful to have and easy to care for! Kids will love watching them and playing a role in their care. I don’t have to feed my shrimp that often, only supplementing their diet a few times a week (with shrimp food or blanched veggies), which makes them ideal for a classroom tank that’s left alone over the weekends. Bettas require a bit more maintenance and should be fed daily (although I recommend one day off a week as a “fasting day”), so if you plan on being away from the classroom for more than a few days you will need an automatic feeder or someone to care for it. If you want to keep a betta and shrimp together, I recommend nothing smaller than 10gal!

I hope that this is helpful and hasn’t turned you away completely from the idea, haha!

[betta-every-day]