Do Betta Fins Regenerate?
Saturday September 15, 2007
Help! Has your Betta ever gotten frayed fins? This forum visitor could use your advice for her Betta with missing fins."I'm just curious if betta fish fins will regenerate. I noticed that my betta fish has a little bit of it's fin missing. I know it isn't fin rot because I've seen pictures of that. So if anyone knows if betta fish can or cannot regenerate their fins, any responses are welcome. Thank you. :) "
Photo © Shirlie L Sharpe
Comments
I have been keeping bettas seriously for nearly twenty years. I have noticed over the years that providing them ideal conditions is essential in the appearance of their fins. They like their water warm (75-80 F). They really enjoy frequent water changes and they like no current. They also really appreciate room to roam. I prefer a 5-10 gallon tank. I like to use sponge or box filters to keep their water really clean. The thing that they treasure the most is cover. I prefer water sprite it works really well.
As bettas age, their fins frequently start to look kind of mangled or frayed. This is normal. No matter how well you take care of your betta this will happen with age. Especially males. This could be what you are noticing. I have seen gaps in my fish “regenerating”. Usually better water conditions (water changes) and a little aquarium salt does the trick for me. About 1 teaspoon salt per 5 gallons.
Best of luck if you have more specifics just ask.
I don’t know about them losing the ability to regenerate as they age–though that makes sense–but I do know that they can regenerate, even in a fishbowl. I have two that I bought from fish stores (and I can hear the super-fish owners gasping, but they’re good fish, so there!) and they have both regenerated chunks of fin.
I make sure to consistently change their water, and I keep a little bit of aquarium salt in the tanks. I also use a little Stress Coat (mine doubles as a dechlorinator), and that seems to help. It took about 5-6 weeks for them to heal, by the way. Now they’re happy little fish, maintaining their bubble nests.
Good luck!
I am wanting to know if you can successfully put a male beta in a 5 gal. tank with 4 white clouds & 1 algae eater?I would appreciate any coments!
Thank you for your hard work and information. I think I have learned something here. I will defenitely visit soon. I love how beautiful Betta Fish are. They are very unique which is why they are so special.
All those comments are correct, but try this also. In Indonesia (where I live) we use “ketapang” leave, in natural habitat, make water of the rice field ditched or ponds turn brownish/yellow, this leaves reducing the pH and has natural antibiotic harmfull to small fish. The fins will surely regenerate faster (and for healthy fish make the fins harden/not easily mangled/frayed). Each time after breeding, I put the female betta in a dark brown color of water already put 3 or 4 “ketapang” leaves overnight. And the in a week, all the scale and/or fins which were damage are healed!. In America/Europia, I think there is an extract/liquid sold in a bottle of this “ketapang” leaves. This is THE SECRET of Indonesian and Thiland betta breeders!!!.
I was at a store looking at buying my 5th Beta. I picked up a cup with an all blue male. He displayed/flared-up and I almost dropped him. You see, I hate spiders and he was so torn up he looked like a spider with twenty arms. It was obvious he’d been in some fights. So I took him to the counter. The sales clerk and some people in line seemed to wonder why I’d buy such an ugly fish. I told them he had to have won those fights and deserved a good home to retire to (plus I already had 4 beautiful males at home). Well I cared for him and his fins all healed. He became a beautiful dark blue male. So blue he had almost a purple tint in the light. I’m not saying to buy a shredded torn up fish. As a matter of fact I had the manager give me a 6 month guarantee on the fish instead of a 30 day guarantee (even though he only cost me about 3 dollars). Good luck and happy fishing….errr….I mean….well, you know. LOL
ummmmm…..i know we went over the fin rot and missing chunks but my 3 fish are not gettin any better i have a 10 gallon tank ant they sometimes pick on each other but 1 female is missing a chunk out of her tail fin and the other female fins are like spliting apart and the male well his top fin is almost gone and the rest of the fins are dieing off to what should i do i love them a lot they are pretty fish………
separate them into separate tanks. they are probably nipping on each other. bettas’ should have their own tank except one male and one female when breeding.
yes they do i let two fight and fed them. they regenerate slowly . their fins show lightly colored fins growing back . they need to heal.
yes!!! i agree that it might take some time but they do regenerate though the regenerated fins may not be as pretty as before
I have a question. I have both female and male Betta fishes. I would like to begin breeding but when I put the male in the tank with the female. Immediately, he start to bite off the fins of the female. I took himm out, but how can I avoid this from happening in the future?? PLEASE HELP
Try changing feeding habits. Did your bettas’ fins ever turn pale? This could be malnutrition. My cousin had a male with fins that went pale and she started feeding him more food and that helped him recover.