Advice on fake plants

[Vbetta56]

Im looking to get new artificial plants for my betta because ive been worried about his fins getting ripped on the current ones any recommendations?

 

[DancingBetta]

Silk plants are soft enough for bettas. Or live plants.

 

[Kyle E.]

Live plants would be by far the best. They help remove harmful chemicals from your water, they help oxygenate the water, they look amazing and feel the most natural for your betta. That being said make sure you get really easy to grow live plants as I assume you won't have a high tech setup.

If you don't want to grow that route as live plants can sometimes be tricky to grow then get silk plants. They are soft for bettas. Never get plastic as these will tear the bettas fins.

 

[Octopink]

Yes, I recommend live plants too They are not as hard to grow as you would think. I really like anubias nana for bettas. It's a slow-growing plant, so you'll have to be patient while it establishes itself, but it has broad, firm leaves that bettas like to rest on or hide beneath. It also is really hearty, so if you have to treat the water with salt or something, that plant can usually weather through it really well. They also don't need a lot of light. They are a very gorgeous plant and widly available at all places that sell fish. Petsmart has them in those plastic tubes for like, $8 or so.

 

[heatherpooreks]

Silk plants only! However after my female fantail got caught in the stems, I switched to live plants. Not terribly difficult or expensive. My bettas love Java fern.

 

[itiwhetu]

Live plants. Lots of easy ones for your tank.

 

[mcordelia]

In addition to the anubias and java fern mentioned above, easy plants to keep alive that your betta may like include amazon sword plants and water wisteria or water sprite (two different plants that look the same). Some plants that stay smaller include plants from the cryptocoryne family, and I have personally recently surprisingly found luck with dwarf hairgrass and tiger lily bulbs as well. Another option that is commonly found in the US (and possibly in canada, not sure) is a plant called a "banana plant" These plants look like they have a bunch of bananas floating at the roots.

I am by far not a plant expert, but so far in my research it seems that common pitfalls on plants are: 1) planting incorrectly or too deep (easiest way around this is to quickly google the name of the plant you buy, often a "plant guide" will come up telling you how to plant it) and 2) water parameter mismatch. The second is unfortunately not as easy to avoid since there is not a lot of good data out there on what type of water is best for what plants, and opinions seem to vary widely. I would say any of the plants listed above should be fine in nearly all types of water that a betta will also live in.

I would say try one or two plants, see how they do a week later, post a picture in the forums with questions if you have concerns about them, and then if they're still alive a week or two later you can consider if you want to get something like root tabs or liquid fertilizer to make the plant really pop. Most plants on this list do not need any kind of supplemental anything