Betta Fish: Lost my betta Tsunami last week – meet Khan, a wild type (F1-F2) smaragdina settling into his new home.

Last week I lost my betta Tsunami, and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here for the kind comments and support. It honestly meant a lot.

This is Khan. After reading a lot of discussion about heavy line breeding and weak genetics in some domestic bettas, I decided to go a different route and bring home a wild-type Betta smaragdina. I included a photo of what he looked like the day he came to his new home compared to how he looks now.

When I first brought him home I was perfectly happy that he basically looked like a neon tetra with stripes. I just wanted a natural fish without a lot of the baggage that sometimes comes with heavily bred bettas. But the transformation has been incredible — those lines are already fading and the blue iridescence is starting to explode.

Transitioning him to dry food was a bit of a challenge at first, but he finally locked onto Fluval Bug Bites Betta Formula and now goes straight to the feeding corner for it. He’s even hunting for crumbs in the sand.

These wild fish definitely seem more territorial and intense, which is honestly how he got the name Khan. He’s ready to go, but he’s already calming down quite a bit compared to the first couple days.

He’s also claimed a little “secret garden” under the tiger lotus, which gives him some cover and a place to cruise.

Thanks again to everyone who reached out last week — it helped more than you probably realize.

Tank parameters (recent):

Temp: 76.8–79 °F

TDS: ~234–258 ppm

KH: ~7 dKH

GH: ~10 dGH

pH: ~7.6

Ammonia: 0

NO3: 5–10 ppm

PO4: 0.25–0.5 ppm

Weekly WC: ~1.25 gal