You Should Gift Betta Fish With These Precautions

Usually pet fish are not considered as a good gift. However if you are gifting someone who loves fish and will take care them properly, such gift can be unique and great.

Betta fish are the best of all the species of fish for gifting purposes. They are beautiful, they are not very expensive, they are available very easily and the maintenance and care they require is minimal.

Here are some precautions while gifting Betta fish -

1. You should pick up healthy Bettas. Never go to a large departmental store for buying them. They may not be able to keep the fish in ideal conditions. Instead, go to a local pet shop. You can get a personalized service there and you will get friendly advice from them for their transportation and care.

2. While buying your fish, look at them carefully. Find out whether they are lively, their colors are bright and their movements are swift.

3. You should never gift Betta fish in a small bowl. If you do that, the person receiving the gift may not be enthusiastic to go immediately in the market to buy an appropriate aquarium for them. So he will be keep them in a bowl and that could be a very insufficient and suffocating place for them. So you should get a suitable tank with appropriate filtration accessories. Ideally, you can buy a tank of about 5 gallons.

4. There are a lot of accessories in the market for the maintenance and care of Betta fish. However you should consider your budget also! You may consider buying a few of them which will be very convenient for the new owner.

5. There are some peculiar habits of Betta fish. They prefer to come to the surface of the water a few times for breathing. They would like to sleep near the top of the tank. So if you set up a tall plant in the tank, it adds to their convenience.

6. You should give sufficient quantity of fish food with your gift so that the new owner need not rush to the market at least for the first few weeks. It is good to avoid flakes for feeding Betta fish. Instead, you can consider buying pellets or blood-worms which is the favorite food for them. You should also pass on suggestions about the quantity of feeding them. Overfeeding will always create health problems for the fish.

7. It is a good idea to give a book on Betta fish along with your gift. The new owner will have instant information for care and maintenance of the fish. The book may not cost a fortune and it will enhance the value of your present.

8. If the new owner of Betta fish is already keeping an aquarium, you have to make sure that he really wants this fish for accommodating it in the existing aquarium. Once you confirm his wish, you may give a small tank just for transition period and you may not give the accessories along with the tank.

While giving a live fish as gift, you should find out whether your gift is going in the safe hands and in caring home. That will make your gift great and it will be appreciated.

Chintamani Abhyankar is a goldfish enthusiast and has been raising and breeding goldfish for many years. He is an expert on their care and an advocate for raising healthy goldfish the natural way. His famous digital book, "Secrets on Keeping Beautiful Goldfish", offers simple, easy to follow instruction for raising healthy, long-living goldfish. Visit his website http://www.goldfishcaretips.com to learn more about expertly raising your goldfish and to receive your FREE copy of his special report, "Fish-Keeping Hobby Secrets Revealed".