Hi everyone! I’ve had my betta, Shiro, for about 2 months now. His main diet is mosquito larvae (5 pcs once a day), but whenever I run out of stock, I feed him micro pellets (3 pcs in the morning and another 3 in the evening).
When I first got him, I noticed a small tear in his tail. I thought it would heal after a week of adjustment, but I was wrong — another tear appeared. I reached out to the betta shop owner, and he said that Shiro has clamped fins, but not fin rot, since he’s still active. He advised me to do a 20–30% water change daily if possible.
After a few weeks, I noticed some improvement, but his fins never looked as nice as before. Then, another tear appeared again, and the shop owner told me it might be tail biting (this happened around the time I ran out of mosquito larvae).
The first two slides are from when I first got him, and the last two are his current condition.
I also noticed that his color has stayed vibrant, or maybe even more vibrant than before (or maybe because of the lighting). Another spot of color near his eye also appeared or became larger over time.
Here’s my setup:
5-gallon tank, no filter
No heater (I live in a tropical country)
Plants: Anubias nana (attached to rocks), Hydrillas (they pearl every day — I’m amazed seeing photosynthesis in action! 😄), and floating frogbits (planning to add Salvinia soon)
No substrate yet (planning to buy aqua soil)
One nerite snail named Mizu to help keep the tank clean
I really want to make sure Shiro lives a happy and healthy life, so I’d love to hear your advice or recommendations on how to help his fins recover and prevent more tearing.
Thank you so much in advance! 💧🐟
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1o7wt75
Posted by Present_Elk_7225
3 Comments
Many fin issues start with water quality, without a filter there’s likely no nitrogen cycle addressing ammonia. What’s your regular water change schedule like.
How often / how much you remove.
Honestly to me he looks pretty healthy. To me those don’t look like tears but maybe fin shape? But from what you described it sounds like he’s doing well. Active, more colors, more vibrant. As long as he’s eating and active. A filter would be nice but filterless can be done. I love seeing plants pearl too it’s so cool!
get a filter asap. Years ago when I know nothing about betta care, I had a betta in a 4g cube with no filter, and he had a prolonged fin rot issue despite changing 1/3 every 3 days until I bought a filter for him. A stable water parameters cannot be guaranteed with a small and still water volume, no matter how frequently you change waters.