Customer Reviews

Caring For Betta Fish

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Caring for Betta Fish by Marcus Song is thorough and complete, and I couldn't imagine owning Rufus, my betta fish, without it. I'd gone to the pet store and bought all the betta books they had there, but they weren't up to date with alot of their information, and they weren't all-inclusive and step by step. Nor did they help with the specific problem I was having.

My problem was that Rufus looked bloated was floating on his side at teh top of the water. I was upset and agonized over what to do. I went on a spending spree buying all the betta books I could find. Finally I got Caring for Betta Fish and found out that Rufus was constipated, and that bettas can easily become constipated from feeding them too much. The solution was to give Rufus a cooked pea with the outer skin removed, which acts as a natural laxative for bettas. So I gave Rufus that remedy, and he felt completely better again, as did I!

Thanks to Mr. Song's book, I have also moved Rufus into a larger tank. Mr. Song recommends 10 gallons per fish, and since I put him into a new 10-gallon aquarium, Rufus has been much livelier and even has been dancing and frolicking in his water.

This book is A+ and 5 stars all the way!!

this book is the best book that i have found of it kind. the book is very detailed and tells you what you want to know in stright forward terms and in detail without going over and confusing you.
this book i did not put down untill i had read it from cover to cover and it is a very good refrance book which you will go back to again and again.
To me this is the only book that i would recomend to other betta lovers or people that want to start in the betta hobby and are afraird to because of what people have said about bettas.
with this book if something did go wrong with your betta you would be able to find out were you went wrong and sort it out quickly. this book is a BIG must for any betta lover.

I respectfully disagree with another of the reviewers. With the way my betta practically dances in his tank, 'Caring for Betta Fish' is easily worth 10 times what it costs. However, if you're strapped for cash, you can probably find most of the info for free through extensive internet research. It all really comes down to how much your time is worth. You can spend 100 hours of web research, or you can get this book for $25 and read it in 1 hour. I know I was a complete beginner when I first got my betta fish and then got Marcus Song's book, and now I have a confident grasp of how to take good care of my little guy.

This book is the absolutely BEST book I've seen on betta fishkeeping. It goes the extra mile that other books don't go. I especially liked the part about breeding bettas - I plan on breeding my quality pair soon, and that was a great help. If I ever have a problem with my betta, I'm sure I will have no problem finding out what the cause and solution is in this book. This book makes the other ones look nothing like books.

Other than the fact that this very thin "manual" is incredibly expensive, the material covered, the manner of presentation, the depth of the material et al is impressive. Marcus Song has done a wonderful job in assisting you in the setting up and care of Bettas. He has a superb section on problems and solutions and some nice web links to followup on.

I am sure that with enough searching and digging and less money, you could find all of the information in this book, but why when Marcus Song has done it all for you.

This book is perfect if you're completely confused about what to do to take care of your betta fish. It's a one-stop shop for all the information you'll need. It even talks about overcoming the grief at the death of your betta, which I appreciate since I get very emotionally attached, and, as the book says, have to face friends who think it's silly to get upset over the death of a fish. But fortunately, thanks to this book, I'm confident that my future bettas will live longer, happier lives.

I read the author's Website on this book and was convinced that it would be the next best thing to having a betta specialist in the family. Not so much. It's okay ... I'm a beginner enthusiast and am therefore hungry for knowledge, but this book didn't dive deep enough for me. That said, it is easy to read (I read the whole thing in one night), but I was left with unanswered questions (on topics like tank cleaning and tankmates). When I got to the end to find an ENTIRE CHAPTER dedicated to GRIEVING THE LOSS OF YOUR FISH ... please ... are you kidding me? Tell me about my fish ... don't pretend to be an expert on human emotions now, too.

In summary, it was good as a first-book purchase about bettas. It did not supplement my previous reading and I felt I'd wasted my money.

I have to say I was very disappointed in this book. I read it in less than an hour and got absolutely no new information than what I have already read on-line during my own research. And I would not call it "extensive research" either. I've only owned a betta for a couple of weeks. My first betta died in a matter of days (probably bought him with an illness) so this prompted me to research how to better care for my next betta. I researched on-line, bought a book about aquariums in general, and bought this book. My general aquarium book has been much more useful to me in how to set up and maintain an aquarium for my betta. (The Simple Guide to Fresh Water Aquariums)

As far as the problem/solution section of the book? Very specific problem descriptions with very, very general solutions. Especially, one solution to check the oxygen level in the water. Just exactly how is one to do that? Is there a kit? Test strip? What? No indication whatsoever on how to do some of these tests.

Aged water? Why? No other resource I have seen speaks of the necessity of aging water. This sound very, very impractical and unnecessary if you are trying to maintain a 10 gallon tank. It would be helpful if he can list the benefits of this practice vs. simply treating your tap water and using it immediately.

It was also very, very simply written, terrible use of grammar, and sounded more like a school paper, rather than an expertly written, researched, edited book. Save your money and spend a couple of minutes researching whatever specific questions you have regarding bettas. It is out there in abundance.

I liked this book quite a lot. I've had my betta for 6 months now and is doing really well. There are a lot of tips in this book to help take care of a betta. I would have liked a better understanding of how to treat the diseases that bettas get and greater understanding of how to identify them.

I recommend the book. I like that it was consolidated into one location. This book was far better than anything I found in my pet store.

It contains good information and a lot of details, but for the price it should at least be a hard bound book with color pictures. It should be priced at around $15 to be fair to consumers.