Terra cotta pots

[makoisland]

I've heard that you can break up part of a terra cotta pot and put it in an aquarium for hiding places. I've also heard that you have to be careful, as the edges can be sharp and possibly tear bettas' fins.
If the edges are too sharp once you break the pot (I know you can test it out with nylons), is there a way to dull or guard the edges so that they won't hurt your bettas' fins?
Thanks in advance!

[fishy friend2]

if you meant breaking the terracotta pot in half then it should do well in there just make sure that the edges are dug into the sand so he can rub against it and rip his fins, also you want to watch out for the hole in the bottom of the pot as it been common for bettas to get caught and injure, or kill themselves while they are stuck

[makoisland]

Actually, just now I realized that some of the pots I've seen in aquariums weren't broken at all, so that could be another option.

And yes, I've already thought about that little hole. :) Planning to do something about that when I put the pot I bought into a tank.

[fishy friend2]

It's a good thing you were aware of the potential that the pot could have, most people arent aware and have to go through the stressful proccess of losing or healing a betta

[Pitluvs]

Sandpaper :) Just file the edges down. I break the bottoms out of my terra cotta pots and then sand the edges. It's like a fine sand, very easy to sand down :)

[makoisland]

Thanks, I could try that! :)

[twinjupiter]

Originally Posted by makoisland

I've heard that you can break up part of a terra cotta pot and put it in an aquarium for hiding places. I've also heard that you have to be careful, as the edges can be sharp and possibly tear bettas' fins.
If the edges are too sharp once you break the pot (I know you can test it out with nylons), is there a way to dull or guard the edges so that they won't hurt your bettas' fins?
Thanks in advance!

I used a pair of wire cutters and trimmed the edges after soaking the pot in water. the water softens the terra cotta enough that it doesn't fly around like shrapnel when cut.

[Bombalurina]

Is it possible to plug the hole with a wad of java moss or something?

[Zappity]

I just have the whole pot in my tanks. I got really small ones so the holes are only about the size of a pencil. My fish love them!

[Tappy4me]

I have a few terra cotta (whole) pots in several of my tanks. I siliconed (using aquarium sealant) a piece of plastic canvas cut into a small circle into the inside of the pot. This way, it's not visible from the outside (so doesn't look as tacky). (Especially if you can't find any clear stuff. All I had was a piece of blue lol.)

End up looking something like this. Sorry for the reflection and glare.....was a bad angle to take with my phone.

I highly recommend doing this...I was one of those people that had to deal with a fish injury from a smaller pot (one of the 1 1/2 " ones a few months ago. He decided to try to swim through it. He's double the size of the opening....he got stuck. The betta is fine, but I learned my lesson.