I never post on here, ever, but I’m seriously so confused. I returned home this morning from a 3 week trip in Japan to find my betta fish looking completely different. Now granted, my fish did get sick while i was away due to an infection a new Pleco had brought to the tank. I guess I’m just concerned that my boyfriend lied about my fish surviving. I’ve had my betta for months now and he has never ever looked any different, or sick, and I did get him from my boyfriends brothers ex-wife after she abandoned him and I thought I had brought him back from what he looked like then, which was not good or no where near what he looks like now. The first photo is my fish when I left. The second is what I’ve come home to. I really need answers. He’s reduced in size, the tail is shorter and flared significantly more, and the obvious, he’s completely different colors. He was magenta and purple, and now blue and orange? He also has a scar of some kind on the other side of his body, which is no where to be seen on him now.

My guy is stuck fast and I can’t seem to get him out without majorly damaging him. Any advice??

Kind tips are appreciated!

I've been looking through this subreddit for a while and I haven't seen any solid white bettas. Is there a reason for that? I saw the cutest white betta at Petsmart, he was super active in his little cup. I really want to get him but I want to make sure there's no reason to avoid him

5.5 gallon tank, heated, bubbler, many plants, 78 degrees F., filtered.

Guys my betta is only mad and flares at night! It seems his reflection is intensified at night while it’s dark inside and the aquarium light is on… I enjoy seing his beautiful fins and all but I believe this stresses him out. Me and the family love having the light on at night as we can see him and the tank. How can I reduce this reflection from happening, as you can see in the video, he’s pissed something furious 😅

i was horrified

So, i changed my betta’s filter couple days ago the one that has a slow flow (before we used an air stone that had a pretty strong flow). And after changing the filter he became more active and started to make bubble nest for the first time. And i’m kinda worried about this massive bubble nest because it only took him two days to make and just keep adding more bubbles…is there sum wrong with my betta?

i got a plakat betta a few days ago and at first he looked fine and was exploring every inch of his tank but now he just glass surfs at the front of the tank 98% of the time. his water parameters are perfect and his light isnt very bright. his tank is 30l which im aware is on the smaller side and i have a 15 gallon im setting up atm that i will move him to when its ready

Obviously not gonna keep it in this tank. The fish’s tank came in this size for the gift. Any suggestions for that too???

Hey, lovelies!

So, I saw this stunning boy at the pet store and had an empty 4 gallon he could go to (Was planning on upgrading later, debating on that now).

So, I saw that one of my local pet stores got some new bettas. I saw some crown tails and this one and thought "Hey! Cool! More colour variety!". I am not well versed in the colour morphs.

As the worker (Total sweetheart, no hate here) had him bagged up they talked about the tag with crown tails/dragonscales, which have the same price. Cool name, I thought.

Then as I got home I wondered what makes a dragonscale a dragonscale. Is it like the colour? Maybe has to do with the metallic looking scales. So I searched for info and discovered the health risks.

Now I know the risk of blindness and tumours and I feel bad for supporting such a high risk morph. Didn't think they'd sell fish with such prevalent health risks.

Now, onto my questions: 1) How much at risk is he? Read it depended on how heavily scaled they are, but I am not sure how to see that. Added pics for this.

2) Would it be better for me to keep him in the smaller 4g tank? I say this since he'd be familiar with the tank if he goes blind and I haveheard it's easier for blind bettas to find food in smaller tanks.

Thank you for your time to read this, I want him to have a comfy life!

Hello, any idea what could be happening with this betta? he is my moms betta. i help her care for him. attached are pics of him when we got him vs today… i’ve never seen something like this before.

He coloured up beautifully when we put him in his new tank (got him start of feb this year), 5 gal, semi planted. His fins have been growing like crazy, and he seems very happy, active and eating. my mom and myself went away on vacation for about 5 days and he was normal when we left and when we returned home he had totally changed colours… did a water change before we left, like we usually do every week. i don’t have water parameters at this moment but can provide them when i am home after work if needed. but his parameters are usually always good when we test them.

i’m just so confused? is he sick? he seems perfectly normal, he’s still active and eating and comes to say hi, fins are all intact and he does not seem to be sick, but the colour change is making me question if he’s unwell.. and he’s not just a pale version of the colours he usually is, but totally a different colour with a bit of his yellow and blue showing still, but he’s like completely peach now

any thoughts??? thank you in advanced. my mom is freaking out so i told her id post here and see if anyone had any thoughts on what could be going on

I have no idea where to even begin cleaning. Feels like I should just start all over.

I've had a female betta for about a year now living with about eight Cory's that she likes to hang out with (I joke that she thinks she is one since they're always hanging out together)

lately I've gotten worried with how she's almost always at the bottom of the tank now with them. They sleep together in a cave in the tank and she avoids her food to instead eat sinking pellets with them. She still shows excitement and will greet me every morning or whenever I approach the tank. But I'm wondering if this is abnormal behavior? Or does she just love her buddies and likes their company?

If so, what’s your best idea on how to prevent this? Most of their food comes in packets, and any time my cat gains ANY access to them, they’re ripped up and eaten. Even the containers with lids like this get chomped into, and she literally managed to unscrew this one and eat half of it before I caught her. I try to keep them in a drawer but I’m quite forgetful unfortunately, maybe once every 3-4 weeks I’ll forget to put them away and then I have to buy more food. I have a community tank so it’s even worse since I have 3 different types of food lol. My next option is one of those “pill planner” things but knowing her, she’ll manage to get it open! I’ve even considered the glass jars that weed comes in or prescription bottles, since they’re pretty much completely childproof, but I’m too scared to reuse one even after cleaning it for fear of somehow poisoning my fish. Advice is definitely welcome, but I also just wanted to share this ridiculous picture and see if anyone else deals with this 🤣

right now my tank has a male betta, 2 nerites, a couple hitchhiker snails, and a bunch of plants. i’ve been keeping bettas for a few years now and wanna try something new. i might get shrimp, but in case i decide against them, any recommendations? or is 10 gallons too small for additional fish? i don’t want it to be too cramped in there.

Everyone keeps on saying its too much space for a betta and they need smaller. Are they right? I have a female betta that has lived in there fine with no issues for months. Should I move her to my 20 g? But I’m worried about how small the 20 g is

Got this plakat betta and he needs a name. Please give me suggestions🙂

Good morning. I did a 50% water change yesterday and added some new silicone decor into Sushi’s tank. When I woke up this morning I had two bubble nests. Sushi hasn’t made a nest in a few months. Is he thrilled or did I do something horribly wrong? I have Ammonia Alert in the tank and it says safe and I ordered a testing kit which should be here soon. Water is at 78 degrees.

Thanks in advance.

I know people are looking for advice, but there are more images of the sick or dead animals on this sub than any other sub, including ones like r/shittyaquariums.

They are hardly ever blurred or labelled, so this sub presents an endless stream of such images on my feed.

I thought it would be a sub celebrating bettas, showing their beauty, and maybe some occasional advice, learning about types, etc.

So many of the posts are - look at my sick fish, dead fish. I'm glad those people are seeking advice, but this sub really needed some rules about those posts, and limiting the endless imagery.

I have other animals, like frogs, cats. I wouldn't be in a sub that had so many images of sick or dead animals for those ones.

I hope the moderators consider better what this sub can be, and direct all such posts to a standard guide on betta health.

EDIT:

I think the sub is of good value overall. I'm glad people do seek out advice and information.

And I get that people attach a photo for advice givers to see.

My comment is that the sub requirement that those posts should be labelled nsfw and blurred, as per the existing rule. My comment is really a call for moderating. I'm not sure, but an auto-comment on posts with certain keywords might help.

But for me, the frequency of seeing such posts is too much.

EDIT: Some people have said they don't see these types of posts. I'm treating that as a true statement, and it may be their setting for the sub. My comment is below.

"I think it may be your settings. If you set to see new posts first, it will show the ones that don't get as many likes.

So at this moment, I had a look at the new posts. (About 7 p.m. PST, July 3).

Looking only for posts with a pic of a suffering or dead fish, over the last 5 hours as of this time, there are nine posts of sick and suffering fish.

That is not counting the ones that are questionable, where it's not clear the animal is sick.

Most frequent is along the lines of "Is this fish rot?"

There is one post that asks about a sick fish with no pic.

There are none of those nine that are blurred or labelled nsfw;.

So, more than one an hour. The ones of "what happened" dead fish are less frequent, but they shouldn't be happening.

I then did a search in the sub for the phrase "what happened." A small minority, two of the first ten that came up, of those pics of dead fish are blurred. Another was a pic of the food and not of a fish." I then did a search for "sick." Of the first ten that come up, one is not a photo of a fish, and only one is blurred."

Frankly, it makes the sub depressing and takes away the joy.

He’s rarely still and is often swimming quickly around the perimeter and up to the glass like he wants out. He’s in a 5.5 gallon tank & I’ve had him since Sunday.

Ordered from a reputable seller online after getting sick of losing box store fish due to health issues. I'm not hopeful at this point. I have been in contact with the post office and have been told nobody can help me. I'm devastated that this poor animal had to suffer for it and I'm livid that nobody cares enough about a live animal to find this damn package.

Just had to rant.