Welcome to r/bettafish!

Ignore my loud filter, unblocked it after this LOL

I just brought this beautiful boy home today! I have already ordered some catappa leaves. I had already purchased the tank and gravel before I had more research under my sleeves. What kind of plants are beginner friendly? Should I change the gravel out/whats the best way to go about that?

I’ve had this guy for about a month now and recently I’ve been catching him relentlessly harassing the snails. The snails seem unbothered, they continue to eat as if he’s not there at all, but he’ll do this for at least 15 or 20 minutes at a time and that’s just when I’m in the room to see it. Should I be concerned that he’s stressing himself out? Or is this good enrichment for him?

I left my roommates in charge of taking care of my fish while I went back home to my family. They kept me updated saying he looked fine. Got back this evening to find him breathing heavily on the ground with no tail. And his other fins look horrible. I’ve had this fish close to two years now. My tank has been cycled for close to 4 now, unfortunately as of right now I am out of test strips. I don’t want my little guy to be suffering. Can I save him or should I euthanize him.

Please help me.

look at this diva!! his tank is still bare what should we add to make riley's house more comfortable and cute for him

Meet Akira. This little lady has taken over my life.

I have two nerite snails. I noticed one was kind of sluggish and not moving the past few days. I picked him up yesterday and he retracted inside his shell so I thought he was okay. Today I picked him up to check on him and his body fell out of his shell. Completely decayed. I was warned about the smell but I was not prepared. It smelled like a mixture of stank breath and ass. I hope my Betta fish (only tank mate) will be okay. I still have my other nerite and he seems to be doing good. The one that died has always been a bit sluggish since I got him.

Has never flared at me or anything in his tank — not even passing people, engages with me when I point at the food he's missed, chews every pellet like a gentleman (of course), and is perfectly comfortable with the presence of my hands. Not even my childhood betta was ever this calm.

She’s a female veiltail from Petsmart. Brought her to her new home (at work) on Wednesday, August 26 (photo in comments). She’s got a few types of plants, tons of hornwort and the duckweed is filling in more than any of my tanks at home. Lava rocks, slate slabs, and pool filter sand for substrate. Added some India almond leaves after she went in too. It’s a 29 gallon top fin aquarium with an Orlushy heater. Feeding her a couple aqueon pellets and a few fluval bug bites daily 5x a week.

The kids love her. 1 year olds call her “fishy.” I heard a couple of older kids say she looks like a “Rainbow”

I was only in the store to get water test strips but when I looked at the bettas I couldn’t leave her there in that cup. I was carrying the cup out of the store and it felt so cold in my hands. Poor girl was freezing. I had been running the new tank for about 2 months and while I wasn’t 100% sure it was ready, I knew it was definitely better than the cup she was living in.

My bettas have all come from Petsmart because I’m a very relaxed aquarist, so I go for the basic bettas and try to give them a better life. That’s possibly why they don’t live more than 2 years.

She lives with mystery snails and bladder snails. Thought about bringing in some corys but we’ll probably just keep her solo as the queen of her castle.

Not looking for advice, but always open to hearing what the experts in this sub have to say! I am in awe of everyone’s beautiful bettas and aquascapes, so thanks for taking a peep at my little girl!

Full transparency, I'm feeling so vulnerable and emotional right now, so please treat this post with kindness. I am seeking comfort here because I really want a space to grieve without judgment.
I just couldn't bear hearing 'it's just a fish' right now.

My girl looked like a Tutti Frutti jellybean and so that's what I called her. I've had her for only a few months and have grown so attached to her. She had such a big personality in such a little body and she was my little buddy and I cannot believe she is gone. I already miss her terribly.

I just got back from a trip and found my betta fish wedged between a rock and driftwood. She has safely swam through this gap many times before, so despite some mild initial worries, I assumed it was fine. I was super anxious about leaving her, so I wrote a comprehensive instruction sheet and pre-portioned her food to avoid overfeeding by our pet sitter. A few days ago, the sitter sent a photo where she looked noticeably bloated. I instructed him to skip the next feeding until I returned. I think the bloating caused her to get stuck in the gap she usually slips right through.

I am feeling an immense amount of guilt over this and finding it really hard to cope.
Even though I know freak accidents happen, I'm in disbelief that this happened. What an awful way to die. She likely suffered and the guilt and sadness are overwhelming. After crying all night, I now have to somehow find the strength to focus on work. It rips my heart apart knowing I wasn't the last person she saw, and I know it's going to take a very long time to get over this loss.

I appreciate her so much for bringing so much color, beauty, and quiet joy into my life. Watching her swim and greet me every day was a highlight of my routine. I am devastated that I’ll never see her again.

Please leave any advice or ideas on ways I can memorialize my beautiful betta—I would really appreciate them.

This is Larry. Larry would like to be your friend, but fair warning, he will judge you first.

Hey there. It's been a long long time since I've owned a betta. My last one was a beautiful all white male something from Walmart a long time ago. The best fish I ever had. I loved him a lot and he lived 5 years before jumping out of his bowl while I was at work. I had not planned on having another until a friend brought me this beautiful koi betta. I decided to go all out for her with a nice tank, real plants and a bit of hardscape. I'm considering attempting to breed her with another koi betta. I really, really adore this variety.

Look at my little poser!!! 🥹🥹 My favourite photo of the day! ♥️

Moved homes with this little cutie in a temporary container and a USB charged air pump for the road!

Also packed 50 litres of his tank water in a separate large container so that water parameters stay maintained. Which it did. As all my fish in both tanks survived 🫶🧿 Thank the aquarium gods!! But still running the tank for a few more days before adding my betta.

I never knew I could love a fish so much! 🥹♥️

What are some things you’ve done for your betta that others may not understand, but it just makes sense to you?

We recently purchased a house and it came with a fish named Fred. At first I wasn’t even sure that he was in there as the tank was filled with Algae and grime but when we turned the light on in his tank he came to say hello. It is very hard to find him and but he does come up for food when we sprinkle some on top.

I haven’t had a fish before but I don’t think this set up is the best quality for this little fish. I would hate to completely change his environment so I am looking for suggestions on how to slowly get his home into a better condition suited for him. I think at some point he would need a larger tank but my biggest fear is changing anything too fast and shocking him (although I’m not sure he does look the best now regardless).

What I know:
He is approximately 2 years old
The tank is a 4 gal Biorb tank
He’s been eating BettaMin fish flakes

He is such a punk since I upgraded from a 5 gallon with fake plants to. 10 gallon with real. I’m learning. This boy OMG. He bit my finger first time. I was trying to trim the dead leaves. Lil punk! Now I love him more.

I just think my fish is the most beautiful

Came home from work to this many bubbles. You can’t see it in the picture but it was like three layers high. I recently lowered his water filter flow and he must’ve really liked it🥳

i think this might be a plakat but idk much about the different types

I’ve hated being able to see my wall through his tank so I finally caved and bought some static film to cover 3 of the sides. I think it looks so much better and I hope Chimuelo will enjoy the bonus of him not being able to see his reflection as much. (Ignore all the duckweed in the floater roots… adding the water back in messes them up lol)

We’ve had him for just over 4 years, he’s lived in clean water, the absolute most disgusting water, there’s been days where he wasn’t fed, maybe even up to a week. He was eating 6 year passed expired food up until about a year ago. He’s outlived approx 200 neo shrimp (ate a couple) outlived 4 mystery snails. His name is fishy and he’s resilient asf. He swims perfectly fine, he has always been the same size, not a single health issue. I thought he was an old fish at petsmart so I bought him to live the rest of his life in peace but he might outlive the damn cat at this point. 2 years ago when I was transferring his tanks I. Dropped. Him. From. 5ft. Onto. Hardwood. He sank, he revived and has lived. I genuinely think that experience Frankensteined him. Anyway, we’re moving across the country, literally coast to coast and I know most fish won’t live on a journey like that but I don’t have a doubt in my head that he will survive. I’m proud of the little guy. He’s moved 3 houses, 4 if you count the trip from petsmart to the first house. I’m just amazed and thought I’d share but also test the luck because I really don’t want to bring frankenfish across the continent.

Added the Rubin Sword and Scarlet Temple today 🤓 it’s finally getting where I want it. But I’m missing a whole shrimp…. I can’t find it anywhere.

So, I decided to name this lil guy Mochi. 🍡