Hi everyone, I am new to this subreddit as I am with fish in general. I recently discovered this past weekend that one of my tenants had purchased a Betta fish for their 4yr old and had kept it in the same tiny cup they purchased him in. Let me start by saying that the child does not live with the tenant and has no intention to care for it based on the condition they left him in. They fed it oatmeal flakes only and has not changed the water since having him! I don’t know exactly how long they’ve had it but once I saw the condition of his cup, I had them release it to me. I don’t know anything about fish or Bettas, but I want to do right by this little guy and give him the best life he deserves. I purchased a 1.5 gallon starter tank just to get him out of that cup. I conditioned the water and added some fake plants and I already saw a major improvement with his demeanor and activity. He looks so much happier having moved to a real tank with space to swim and hide, it instantly warmed my heart.
I added some pictures so you can see his body and tank size. Does he look healthy or sick? How are his fins? The fins don’t look normal to me, but I also don’t know anything about these fish. I got some Betta food pellets. He will eat it, chew and then spit it out. Is it too hard for him? Should I crush it? Should I move to flakes? Should I upgrade him to a bigger tank? He is the only fish in the house. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!!
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1ex41lv
Posted by xMusiicAddictx
2 Comments
oatmeal flakes ?? I’m happy you have him now, if he doesn’t want normal fish food -maybe look into frozen fish food? Like blood worms or brine shrimp. To sorta entice him to transition to normal foods. Maybe down the line replace sharp plastic plants with silk? They look ok to me . I think more important stuff is learning about cycling a tank (5+ gallon size) can be found on helpful YouTube videos ! I think his fins are fine probably a crown tail. I will say though his right eye looks to be puffy(popeye disease) which is treatable just keep an eye on it !! I could also be wrong.
He looks relatively healthy, rough around the edges but with proper care he will recover. His fins are ok, he is a crown tail so he has been bred to have fins like that. Betta pellets are good, he will eat them he may just be figuring out whether or not it’s food.