Lucky Betta!

[twotone12valve]

I was doing some cleaning on my 125gal tank the other day, I have gotten into the habit of poring the water from the canister filter into a 5gal bucket. So I can check for fry or anything of that sort that may have gotten sucked up, but what I found this time had me in awe. I found my long lost Betta sp. Female she was healthy fat and seemed to be doing just fine. I had figured that she was long gone as I have many fish in my tank that can make a quick meal of a dead fish. I hadn't seen her in about 4 weeks.

Now what amazes me about this is that she was still a live. How was she able to breath? I thought they needed to be able to get air from the surface?

[ScottFish]

Great story! I've always heard bettas were tuff.

[Diana]

It may be that the high flow rate in the filter was bringing her higher oxygenated water. Is your intake near the surface, or do you have a surface skimmer attachment?

[twotone12valve]

Not at all its all the way at the bottom of my tank. It is the normal fluval intake well I would guess normal it came with it.

[C. Andrew Nelson]

Wow! That's incredible! Surviving for a month in the filter. I bet that fish is happy to be back in the tank.