Are plastic plants safe?

[Amehzes]

I know that the regular fish store plants aren't good for bettas, and this question isn't about those. My question is, are the plastic plants from crafts stores like Michael's safe to use as floating decor? I liked having a floating live plant, but it died very quickly. I'm not looking to take care of a live plant anymore, since I'm inexperienced, and am stuck on campus 6 days a week. I found a flat, leaf only plant at Michaels, made out of plastic, that has no sharp points or anything, and it looked like it would work as a floating plant. I wasn't sure if the plastic would be safe for a betta though. Any thoughts?

[Sweeda88]

You can use pet store plants that are silk or SOFT plastic. You can use the craft store kind ONLY if it doesn't have ANY metal in it, and most of them do. Things like fake vines usually don't though.

[Amehzes]

Yeah, I always use silk plants. This plastic plant thing doesn't contain metal, and its kind of like a vine, so I'll assume its good to go then. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any chemical issues with it.

[Sweeda88]

Just make sure to rinse it really well. I doubt they use very different materials for the pet store plants vs. craft store plants.

[Amehzes]

I gave it a hot water bath in a cup. After I put it in, my betta seemed intrigued by it, but is already bored of it. Oh well.

[baylee767]

Lol that's what my Betta does.

"Put a pingpong ball in your tank! The Betta will love pushing it around and playing with it!" *A few minutes later* Neon looks at the ball, flares at it, and swims away.

[Amehzes]

Haha, yeah. My female veiltail did the same thing when I did that to her. Haven't tried it with my boys yet. The only thing that seems to interest my boys is a dry erase board maker. If I get it anywhere near their tanks, they flare up and start trying to get at it.

[danifacetastic]

I use plastic and silk plants both in my tanks. Mainly plastic though. You just have to make sure that they're not too sharp or jagged for bettas.