$100 Bettas

[White Lightning]

I have beta display case that is really gorgeous and houses the likes of 16 bettas. The display case is very nice and only cost $100 at Ikea. The bettas only cost me $20 from a guy on OVAS who had a breeding pair give birth to about 40 or so. The puck lights were purchased from Giant Tiger for $20 and batteries cost about $15. I then had to buy a piece of wood for the back of the display case becasue when I purchased it, it was transparent and supposedly meant as a see-through room divider. Then I had to buy bowls and rocks for the bettas that wound up costing another $100 bucks or so. So in total this little set up only set me back about $250 or so. But since then, it has woulnd up costing me another $100. How could that be you ask.....well the little buggers keep jumping out of their bowls. So how could this cost $100?? Well that is easy, when I am not home I have my alarm set, which has motion detectors. So when they jump out they keep activating my alarm. Every time you have a false alarm and you can not be reached , the OCPD arrive and if it turns out to be a false alarm, you get charged $50. I juts thought I should share my little story about my acrobatic bettas. As I was typing this one just jumped out... I guess I should lower the water level. 

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[Zoe]

How much water is in those cups?

You could cut out circles in plastic film and put it on the rim of the cups

[washefuzzy]

That looks really cool.  Goodluck holding the bettas in!

[apuppet]

im not very strong with betta, but i did keep them for a while.   Have you consider why the betta are trying to jump out of their water?  perhaps, their aiming of the other betta bowls?  disliking their own water?

no dis-respect for your betta skill, just offering another angle.

PS. thats display looks amazing!
cheers,

[squeeker]

A couple questions:

How much water does each jar hold?

How often do you do water changes?

Quite often, bettas will jump either if the water quality is poor, or if they feel threatened. 

Putting a floating or emersed plant in the bowl will cut the jumping down substantially.  If the water quality is the culprit, try doing more frequent water changes or removing a bunch of the gravel.

[Nerine]

It looks really nice!! my two cents, take some of the gravel out to make more space for water
but overall it looks really good!!

[renadia]

WOW what a neat display    I won't show it to my son he will want one!

But like nerine suggested I would keep maybe a couple of inches of gravel (sand?) and lower the water level and maybe a little plant for company (shelter) they seem to liket that and cutting little plastic rings to have floating on the top would be cheaper than the company charging 50$ a fish jump 

So are you going to post close ups of you little darlings?

[Mettle]

Two ideas for plants that I use - java moss and hornwort. Both are free floating and aesthetically pleasing. Works out fine and helps with water quality.

[NetCop]

Maybe they were trying to hitch a ride with Garnpet's betta? 

[White Lightning]

First off, I would like to thank everyine for their kind remarks. To answer some of the questions, I do water changes every two weeks or so. I really do not think that the water quality is an issue because most of the jumps occur after a couple days after the water change when the level is higher. So I think I will take the advice given and take some of the rocks out and perhaps add a plant or two. Hopefully by doing so, it will eliminate the number of casualties and trips to the ATM.

[White Lightning]

One quick question.... If I were to add java moss to the bowls, how would it survive?

[leng]

Very nice setup!  I used to raise bettas and even showed a little as well.  There seems to be very little water in your containers.  I would guess less than 1 litre?  2 litre or larger containers are much better for bettas.  With the amount of water that you have, you should be changing water every second day.  I think that they are jumping because the containers have a very big opening and there is very little water.  Female bettas tend to jump more than male bettas.

[Toss]

I agree with Leng. Your betta is exercising their survival skill which is trying to jump to a bigger pool of water, at least that's what they are thinking. Yes, you need to change a little more often. They will survive with biweekly w/c but they won't last more than a year, especially if you overfeed them

[White Lightning]

Thanks for the advice. It's funny that you mention the female thing because all the fish that did jump out were females.

[babblefish1960]

As nice as your betta wall appears, it seems to be lacking something as far as the betta splendens themselves are concerned, I would say by democratic process where the voters are hurling themselves onto the floor as a vote, you may well wish to consider a different sort of container for the fish to feel more at ease.   Just a suggestion of course, following the example provided by the fish themselves.

Failing that, perhaps some of the modifications to the jars themselves may help your situation, such as removing some sand and lowering the water level a little.  Good luck with those feisty female fish, they clearly have an opinion.