Cockerel fish is considered unpretentious, but when maintaining this aquarium fish, certain rules and conditions must be observed. Adhering to our tips on keeping cockerels in home aquariums, you will provide your fish not only with comfortable conditions but also as much as possible protect yourself and your pet from unexpected diseases. Fish live in water, and it is aquarium water that needs to be given the main attention. Water for a cockerel is necessary pre-standing (it is necessary to settle tap water for at least one day, but it is best to settle water for an aquarium for three days). The normal temperature of the cockerel water is required in the range of 26-30 degrees. Short-term temperature deviations from 18 to 36 degrees are permissible, with a long-term content (more than 1-3 days) in temperature modes beyond the area of 26-30 degrees Celsius, the fish can become sharply ill and die, so the cockerel aquarium must be equipped with a thermometer and heater with a temperature controller.
In addition to temperature, other requirements are put forward for water. First and foremost, the water in the aquarium should always be fresh, and the smaller the aquarium, the more often it is necessary to replace the water (it is substitutes, and not a complete replacement of the water). If you have a 10-liter aquarium, you need to change the water at least 1 time a week 30-40% of the volume, namely 3-4 liters. It is advisable to replace the water in parallel with the "siphon" (garbage removal from the bottom of the aquarium using a special tube called a siphon) of the soil. If you are determined to take aquarium studies seriously, you should also know other water parameters. Cockerel fish, although not demanding on the composition of water, but still it is desirable to provide the following parameters dH2... 12 °; pH 6,0…7,5. They monitor the water parameters using special tests that are sold in pet stores.
Cocks feel comfortable in aquariums with a volume of 5 liters (they can live in smaller volumes of aquariums, but it will no longer be comfortable for the fish and more troublesome for you). It is necessary to cover the aquarium with a special lid or covered glass, since the fish can first jump out, and second - catch a cold (yes, it will catch a cold, since the cocks belong to labyrinth fish and breathe atmospheric air captured by them from the surface of the water) especially if the aquarium is located on through.
Since cocks use a labyrinth organ for breathing, they do not need aeration (bulbocks), but aeration will not interfere with it. Also, the filter calculated for working in an aquarium of a certain volume will not interfere with the fish. For small volumes (up to 15 liters), the use of air lift filters operating from an external air compressor will be optimal. Such filters do not create a strong current, which in turn does not like cocks. For aquariums over 15 litres, you can use filters of any type (internal or external) designed for the volume of your aquarium.
To properly maintain and create comfortable conditions, the cockerel must be planted in the aquarium living plants (suitable for size in your aquarium). It is unnecessary to use plastic plants, some of them may be toxic, may have sharp edges about which fish can be injured and there is no sense from them in the aquarium (well, besides yours - "they are beautiful"). Live plants in the aquarium will play an important role in maintaining bio balance, so do not ignore this advice. In turn, the presence of living plants in the aquarium requires additional lighting (lighting is needed precisely for plants, and not at all for fish, well, you can watch the fish).
We briefly got acquainted with the aquarium, water, plants and equipment, it is time to talk directly about the fish. Cock is not in vain called a fighting fish. Cockerels are quite hot-tempered - territorial fish, they do not accept rivals of their species, so the cockerel in the aquarium must be kept in a single copy. Two males in one aquarium are unacceptable, they will fight among themselves, which often leads to the death of one of the rivals. Also, you should not constantly maintain a male with a female, in most cases the female will be depressed. The joint maintenance of several cockerels is allowed only in aquariums equipped with partitions. But with some other aquarium fish, the cocks get along pretty well. Do not contain cockerels with sedentary fish and especially veil forms, in particular with veil-tailed, male guppy. The most popular types of aquarium compatible and not compatible with Betta Splendens are described on the Compatibility Cockerel page.
Feeding - it is also necessary to pay not little attention to this issue. It is desirable to feed the cockerel in a variety of ways using live feeds 1-2 times a day. It is unnecessary to feed cockerels.
Here is a summary of the content. For more information on feeding, preparation of the aquarium, use of aquarium tests, how to equip the aquarium to contain more than two cockerels in the aquarium and many other answers you can find on the corresponding pages of our site.