Is my beautiful boy unwell? (New to caring for bettas)

[Sparrowhawk]

That's awesome to know he's all good!


I got him from a small, independent aquarium a few train stations away from me. They seem to be very serious about the wellbeing of the fish they sell. Yay!

[Kevron56]

Originally Posted by Sparrowhawk

Thank you everyone!

Yep, Falkor was the dog-looking thing.
He was the luck dragon! As soon as I saw this boy in the store (after what seemed like an endless search for a place accessible to me via public transport that knew a single thing about bettas and didn't torture them) I knew he had to be a Falkor. His scales match the luck dragon perfectly and he seemed to have such a boisterous personality. So he's my own luck dragon. Yay! ^.^

(He already follows my finger, and has eaten a pellet off it. That startled me! I wasn't expecting that so soon in us getting to know each other!)

I'm so glad to know he's doing well.

I have another question though. I made a mistake when preparing his home, and hadn't discovered the benefits of a bare-bottom tank. I'm thinking this option could be better for a new betta-keeper like me, so I can monitor waste properly etc. as the gravel and pebbles make it very hard for me to see what needs to be vacuumed, so it's a whole lot of guesswork and just trying to vacuum everything I can. Do you think on his next water change I should do a full 100% and remove the gravel and replace it with some larger stones to anchor the plants to? Or will it stress him out too much? I can always wait until he's settled in properly if that's a better option.

Once again, thank you for your replies everyone, it's good to know I'm just being super-paranoid and not causing him harm.

Oh how hearing about that movie brings back childhood memories, lol!