For Mother's Day, pet stores have a selection of pretty vases with ribbons and bows tied around them and with graceful Betta fish swimming around inside them. Is this a good idea for the Betta fish?

The lovely presentation certainly is encouraging to many people to go ahead and take that step to adopt a Betta Fish - which is a good thing! Of course, you want to make sure that your mom really wants to be the adopter first. Taking the responsibility of taking care of a fish is a commitment to take care of the fish for its lifetime.

Once you are sure that your mom truly would love to have her own Betta fish, then you could present her new fishy child in the vase with the ribbon and bow as your way of wrapping her gift. This vase should not be your new step-brother's permanent home, though. You need to also supply him with an appropriate aquarium and everything he will need to not only survive; but also to thrive happily for years to come.

There is a selection of aquariums to choose from in petstores. You could start with a smaller aquarium to begin - one that has it's own filtration system to keep the water cleaner and thus make a healthier environment than a vase for him. You could start out smaller and upgrade to a larger and a larger one later, or just start out with a larger one from the beginning.

If you want to include the new Betta in a community tank, then you, of course, will need to make sure that the other fish in the tank are all peaceful fish and with no long, flowing fins like the Bettas - because you don't want anyone nipping at your new Betta child's beautiful fins, and you don't want him following his territorial instincts and nipping at the flowing fins of other fish in his new community! Not a good way for him to make friends and influence people! :)

Giving a Betta fish as a gift, such as a gift to your mom for Mother's Day, can be just one more lovely gesture that you can turn into time spent with your mom helping out with the aquarium. This, ultimately, is one of the best things about fishkeeping: the way fish can draw people together and create bonds between us and the ones we love by working together to care for them.

Together, we can appreciate how enchanting they are and the magic they work in our hearts as we love them and love each other as we care for them together. It's well worth it (for the Betta's sake and the people involved) to add an aquarium with all the trimmings as part of your gift to mom for Mother's Day or any other holiday you want to give a Betta Fish as a gift! :)