The Most Low Maintenance Pet?

If those pupils are going big to small to big to small...don't put your hand within range-you will get nailed.

LOL parrots sound like Pernese dragons. I've always insisted that a parrot is as close to a dragon as you'll ever get to keep in the real world. Well...fire lizards at least.

Paula

@sallya, what a beautiful bird.
 
 
I think the lowest maintenance animal I've had, besides a few beta fish.. are degus! I simply loooove degus. They are a relative of the chinchilla, and they are incredibly social and very interesting to watch and handle. You have to get atleast two, as they will become bored and depressed if left alone.. and basically you just have to handle them, clean their cage weekly (depending on how large of a cage and how many you have..) top up food and water.
 
 
 

ORIGINAL: willowchow

Yeah, those vases aren't good with the plant on the top.  The plant blocks oxygen and Betta's breathe at the surface too.  Also, they don't prefer to eat those roots. 

I also wanted to add about finches.  They breed very easily.  So, something to keep in mind.

LOL.  Not that that is funny, but I it reminds me of my days working at a pet supplies store. Customers came in all the time wanting bettas with the vase and plant, "so they don't have to feed it."  They'd also come in wondering why their betta died, 
Senario:
Customer: "My kid's betta died.  I came in for a replacement."
Me: "Sure, here are the bettas."
Customer: "Oh, you don't sell them with the vase and plant."
Me: "We sell the vases but not the plants."
Customer: "But isn't that what they eat."
Me: "No, they eat Betta food."
Customer: "Oh, you mean I'm supposed to give them betta food along with them eating the roots."
Me: "They don't eat the roots."
Customer: "oh my gosh.  That's probably why my betta died."

On the finch topic.  If you provide a finch with a nursing box, they will produce chicks.  Even so, you house will have to be very warm for the chicks to survive, or you'll have to also provide an incubator.  If you do not, they will still mate, the female will still lay eggs, but they will not hatch. My mother has had her pair of Zebra fiches for 6 years.  No babies yet.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

Bettas are the easiest. They don't even need an aeration stystem such as a filter or air pump. All other fish do. I clean my betta bowl out completly about every other month, but I don't time it. I just wait until the water is really dirty, then I know it's time to change it.

That's actually not a very nice way to keep a Betta. Just because they CAN live in a small amount of dirty water, doesn't mean it's GOOD for them. My dog CAN live in a small, dirty space, too, but I tend to work for more than existance, for my pets.

My Betta has a ten gallon tank with an undergravel filter. I've got a divider in there, and I'm going to put something on  the other side, when I decide what, and where to buy it from.

Did you know that bettas in the wild live in puddles in rice fields?  They naturally live in small amounts of dirty water.  Also, did you know that bettas, as they live in small, stagnent puddles in the wild are not strong swimmers and therefore, do not do well with stong aeration stystems, as it makes them fight against a stream? 

Don't accuse me of animal abuse because I am taking care of my betta, which by the way has lived for 4 years, the way they do in the wild.  And, honestly, you can't compare a betta who naturally live in dirty puddles, to a dog living in small dirty conditions. 

My bettas do not live in muck. They live in 2 separate vases (not including the plant) in my living room.  I wait for the water to get brown before I clean them because cleaning the vases too much will kill them.  Fish are sensitive to changes.

I worked at a pet store for 4 years.  I used to feel bad for bettas in their small dishes in the pet stores until I did some research on them.

never mind

Did you know that bettas in the wild live in puddles in rice fields? They naturally live in small amounts of dirty water. Also, did you know that bettas, as they live in small, stagnent puddles in the wild are not strong swimmers and therefore, do not do well with stong aeration stystems, as it makes them fight against a stream?

Did you know that dogs in  the wild recieve no vet care, whatsoever? Did you know that they are NEVER fed and never bathed?

Undergravel filtration does not make them fight. I never acused you of animal abuse, and I don't know why you're feeling so defensive. I've done quite a bit of research on Bettas, and mine tend to live five years or better. I'd never let the water turn brown before I changed it. Fish don't have eyelids. They're swimming around in ammonia. YUM!

Does anyone even remember the plant that supposable you never had to water at all and it stayed green, was like an air plant but could even live in the driest of environments. It turned out it was just a dried see weed that was spayed green and put in a pot

 
oh, oh, I had one of those and managed to "kill" it-- my cat ate it.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

Did you know that bettas in the wild live in puddles in rice fields? They naturally live in small amounts of dirty water. Also, did you know that bettas, as they live in small, stagnent puddles in the wild are not strong swimmers and therefore, do not do well with stong aeration stystems, as it makes them fight against a stream?

Did you know that dogs in  the wild recieve no vet care, whatsoever? Did you know that they are NEVER fed and never bathed?

Undergravel filtration does not make them fight. I never acused you of animal abuse, and I don't know why you're feeling so defensive. I've done quite a bit of research on Bettas, and mine tend to live five years or better. I'd never let the water turn brown before I changed it. Fish don't have eyelids. They're swimming around in ammonia. YUM!

 
there is no dogs in the wild. Humans made dogs. Animals int he wild know how to survive. You cant really domesticate a fish. bettas dont like large tanks at all. And thrivein sall vases. i used to always have them. i though that it too would love a larger tank, so I put it in a 10 gallon with filer air bubbles tons of roacks and plant. that fish never left a corner very ften and just looked upset, he only lived for about a year then died. Al the rest have livedin small bowls and have thrived.

Bettas in the wild do not come in gorgeous, vibrant colors. They're brown. They're quite different from my blue and lavendar, irridescant, fantail Betta boy.

There are dogs in the "wild". There are lots of feral dogs. Dingoes are wild dogs. There's a fascinating group of wild dogs in Africa.

Those betta "puddles" are acres across of interconnecting pools.  No one is going to make me believe that an acre wide plant filtered marsh is the same as a pint sized glass jar with no temperature control. 

I kept a short tailed Fighter betta in a 50 gallon tank with assorted other Asian blackwater fish, and he had no problems, even with a turnover rate on the tank of 10 times an hour.  He lived for roughly 4 years, same with a long tailed betta in a 20 gallon.  None had problems having space, and they left alone their tankmates.  As long as the other fish aren't bite sized, and don't fin nip you can keep bettas in community tanks.  Any time I've tried to keep them in less than 5 gallons they die within 6 months. 

As to other fish tanks you should actually NEVER drain a fish tank to the dregs and "clean" the gravel and ornaments.  You'd be restarting the cycle that keeps the fish alive, and killing off the beneficial bacteria.  Fish tanks should have 1/4 - 1/3 drained off about every two weeks, and replace it with dechlorinated water of the same temperature.  I've had upward of 15 fish tanks running at any one time, and water changes are essantial for happy breeding fish. 

As to low maintinence pets, I second corn snakes.  Feed once a week, clean as needed, change water, enjoy.  But I've got two corns, a ball python, a ribbon snake, 2 leopard geckos, a crested gecko, a white's tree frog, a cockatiel, a cat, two dogs, and 11 fish tanks currently running, so low maintinence is kind of a non issue. 

--Mia

ok so if i have my betta in a 2.5 gal tank that is aerated but not filtered, and i'm not supposed to "clean" the gravel or remove the water completely, then what do i do about the schmutz that accumulates on the heater and other spots?  i realize that this schmutz is probably caused by overfeeding so i'm trying to feed less and see if it accumulates less, but in the mean time?  and if it doesn't go away?  what you're saying about stopping the cycle makes complete sense to me, but in such a small amount of water, i'm worried he'll start to suffocate or get some bacterial infection.

It is very unlikely a betta will suffocate unless you block off all access to the surface.  Bettas breathe atmospheric air, they swim to the surface and take a gulp of air.  They generally don't need the water aerated, but many of the bacteria that process fish waste do need aeration to thrive. 

If the "stuff" growing on the heater and such is sort of a coppery brown color don't worry about it, just diatom algae, it won't hurt him.  Diatom algae shows up when there is a low light situation.  You can generally get it off with a paper towel. Technically any kind of algae that's growing on tank surfaces won't hurt him in the least.  If the stuff sort of drifts around the tank than that is fish waste and needs to be siphoned out during the water changes. 

Bettas need small amounts of food If you feed them pellets, anything from 3-8 pellets per feeding depending on pellet size.  Fish are cold blooded, and as a result eat fairly small amounts of food to keep going.  If he's noticeably fat behind his front fins then he's getting too much food. 

--Mia

thank you very much for that info... i was trying to gague his "fatness" yesterday and he doesn't appear to be fat but i think it's tough to tell without a "fit" betta to compare with. 
 
i would say that his water begins to look dingy in less than 2 weeks, although i admit to not having a schedule for water changes.   do you recommend a schedule or is my non-schedule sufficient?  and am i interpreting correctly that aeration is a good thing?  what is your position on the lack of a filter?  and if i intend to move him to a larger tank, is there a process i should follow besides treating the new water and bringing it up to temp?  i know this may sound ridiculous, but i've read that bettas need to be "socialized", even if it just means a mirror, or they may become depressed.  any thoughts on that?  also, what are some compatible tank-mates i can add when i upsize that tank?
 
i know very little about fish.  i really got him because i was trying to rescue him from walmart...

I would say that these pets are low maintenance:
 

• Pet Rock
  
• Stuffed animal
  
• Fresh water fish

Pet Rock
Do I even have to explain this?
 
Stuffed Animal
Cute, cuddly, clean.  What more could you want in a pet?
 
Fresh water fish
Goldfish are nice, I guess, but I hear that they're messy and kinda dumb.  I have 1 Tiger Oscar (the last survivor after 6 years[]) in a 55 gallon tank, and she is very low maintenance.  She is also smart, pretty, and clean.  We never actually gave them names, but since there's only 1 left, I want to name her.  My family can't agree on a name.  My dad wants to call her co-pilot (long story), and I want to name her Opal.  What do you think?
 
 
Sorry for going a little off-topic at the end.

ORIGINAL: cairnterriers
Goldfish are nice, I guess, but I hear that they're messy and kinda dumb.  
 

Well, Tiger, our Comet, is very smart! (Snif!) Actually, of the two goldfish we've had, she was the more apparently intelligent, she comes to the corner of the tank where I feed her and slurps or bangs the lid when she wants to be fed. I don't really know what more to expect of her! As for stuffed animals, around our house they are an endangered species with the dogs!