By Julia Carlucci/Online Reporter

I think we’ve all seen the Siamese fighting fish, also known as Beta fish, sitting on the shelves of Wal-Mart. Unlike the flashy male Tetras, the Beta males do not get along with each other so they can’t be kept together in a tank like the rest of the fish in Wal-Mart.

But how long can a Betta survive in a small cup on the shelf? Turns out they can last for about a week. How long could you keep it alive? You could keep a Beta alive anywhere from a day to eight years with proper care. There are a lot of sites online that promote “better beta care”… at a cost.

So I’m here to tell you about better Betta care for free! Are we excited? We better be!
So the first thing you need for your Beta is get him out of that tiny plastic cup and put him in a nice one gallon bowl. Betas are similar to goldfish in that if they’re small, they will grow a little larger in a larger environment.

Next thing you need is Beta food.

WARNING! Before you blindly buy fish food, check to see if it’s OK for Betas to eat. Next, check the size of the food and make sure your Beta can consume it. I made that mistake with my first Beta. I bought small pellets made for Betas. Unfortunately they weren’t small enough. So I cheated and bought fish flakes the next time I was in the store. You can’t really go wrong with fish flakes with any fish.
After food comes a plant. Now, you can choose to buy a fake plant or buy one you can grow with your fish. If you opt to go with a fake plant, you should check to make sure there are no rough edges on the plant. Beta fins are very pretty and very fragile. You don’t want them to tear themselves up on your plant. Betas need the plant because they need a place to hide. Plants are often considered better than hollow rocks or “caves”. This is because once the fish grows larger, it can still move around a plant where it might have trouble maneuvering around a rock. A word of warning though: if you opt to grow a plant in the bowl, you should grow it in a cup or other body of water separate from the bowl just in case the seedling carries a fungus that could kill your fish.

I made the mistake of trying to grow lily pads with my fish and a week later he was covered in the same white fuzz as the lily plant and sunk to the bottom of the bowl, dead.
Last but not least, is the water. If you’re a college student like me than you probably can’t afford money to buy distilled water or have your own space to keep distilled water. The solution is on the shelf near the rest of the fish accessories. There are solutions you can drop in the water to purify tap water. Now, when it comes to changing water you have two choices. What you should do is change the water once a week. What you need to choose is change all the water or change just a third of the water. I usually change a third of the water and once a month I’ll change all the water. So far my fish seems happy.
I admit I’m on my second Beta of the semester. The first one didn’t last too long because of the incident with the plant. But so far I’ve done these things and my new fish, Pesce, is a blissful Beta. So if you’d also like a blissful Beta, all you need to do is follow my guide.