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Can Betta Fish Regrow their Fins?


Jack White, originally uploaded by
Tiara Damage.

Q: NR wrote,

Can bettas regrow their fins?

A: Yes, bettas will regrow their fin tissue once it has been lost due to fin rot, physical injury, or tail biting. When the new fin tissue begins to grow it is often clear resembling Saran Wrap and very thin. Over time the regrowth will begin to look more like regular fin tissue becoming thicker and regaining color, though often it will appear a different shade from the original color. The new tissue is extremely fragile and susceptible to damage or loss. It is especially important, if your betta lost the fin tissue initially due to fin rot caused by poor water quality, to fix the water problems and keep the tank clean while the fins are healing. Test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and increase your water changes while your betta is regrowing his damaged fins. While the tissue grows relatively quickly (similar to the speed of fingernail growth) it is often the case that the new growth takes two steps forward and one step back. If the new tissue is lost or damaged again continue to treat your fish by keeping the tank water clean and toxin free. In severe cases where more than half the fin is lost, it may be helpful to treat the fish with an antibiotic for bacterial fin rot or an antiseptic for physical injury, depending on the cause.

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Maddy: Christie F is a Betta splendens hobbyist that enjoys spending time caring for her fish and helping new betta keepers learn the ropes.

View Comments (44)

  • I have a beautiful betta bright blue and i named him blue. one of his little fins on his side is missing a little part of fin not sure if he tore it or if its fin rot. i think he tor it . he,s alwayes rubbing his body against the gravel and swiming threw the plastic plants.. anyway he is so cool. he gets all exicited when he sees me starts swiming all crazy. I had him now like 3 months from walmart. I think he is happy , I have a molly and a guppy fish in wiyh him and they have made friends. Is this cool? any suggestions?

  • Albert, it sounds like he may have ick. Ick usually presents with tiny white dots on the fish but not always. Wild swimming and purposely bumping against gravel or plants are symptoms. I would suggest a water change and maybe some medicine if you notice the white spots.
    Also, as far as other fish go, bettas like to be the prettiest fish in the tank. Make sure any fish aren’t too fancy or a similar color to your betta. He may feel threatened and hurt them. Good luck with your tank!

  • I bought a Betta from walmart because some genius decided he wanted to put two Bettas in the same bowl to watch them fight. Well I bought the one that DIDN’T win – wanted to let him die in peace I suppose.
    Anyway, he’s lost just about all of each of his fins. It’s been three days and he seems much better. I don’t know anything about fish, but I went out that same night after some quick research and got Betta Bowl to condition the water, BettaFix for his injuries, Betta Food & tropical flakes. I mixed a batch of water with the conditioner & Betta Fix. I have been cleaning his bowl out every 24 hours – I read to only change out about 50% of the water, which finally is becoming clearer. Although he appears to be swimming around and appears to recognize me – he won’t eat. I give him one Betta food granual and a small flake and he doesn’t make a move. What can I do? What else can I do to help him heal? I really didn’t think he was going to make it past Monday night & I bought him Monday afternoon. I’ve named him Scaley since that’s all that seems to be left of him. Please help him.

    • I have a less dominate male that nearly starved himself. I now feed him betta food for fry ( baby betta’s) along with the bloodworms and freshly hatched brine shrimp (really easy to do) . He’s still on the thin side, but he is eating now and becoming more active. I found that he isn’t a dominating male and when intimidated by a more aggressive room mate (even if seperated) he’ll regress. Filter and aeration also aid greatly in his regaining an attitude. Also, he will barely eat the betta bites and non of my betta’s eat the flakes.

    • come on people dont buy your fish from walmart those people do not care about the fish.bettas need very much care but walmart just puts them in a filthy bowl they dont even feed them i know the others put them in a nasty bowls but they feed them and give them water treatments. walmarts fish are very prone to sickness and problems i know you want to save them as do i but chances are the betta will not have a happy and healthy life however some people havehad good luck but you will be much better off getting them from a breeder or a petsmart i know some of you dont have eather of those around but go the extra mile for your fish your tank will thrive in the long run however if you diagree i would like to hear because i would like nothing better to know that walmart is treating there fish better.

      • I thought you would like to know that I bought my first Betta 3 years from Walmart, and he is happy and healthy. I al sobought another from Petsmart a year later, and he is not so well. The last year he has lost most of his fins stopped eating from time to time.
        I have tried bacteria treatments, frequent water changes to no avail. Jerry is his name. I am considering that maybe it is useless, and I should put him to rest…

      • Outside of Reno, My red Veil tail…the poor guy was the result of a cruel person putting him in the same bowl as a larger male…Itcha, my solid orange veil tail was also purchased from Wal-mart. I’ve had him since he was roughly 6 months old (a guess based on his size overall when he was bought) and he’s currently pushing 6 years old now, has calmly survived two moves and even in his old age still has all the energy that he had when I bought him.

    • He might be cold. They don’t eat when they’re cold.
      Try putting him somewhere warmer or putting a lamp near his tank

    • Get Bloodworms. It’s the only food my sick beta will eat. He finally seems to be recouping and growing his tail fin back. I use a turkey baster to suck up a little water then gently suck up a few bloodworms . Then slowly put the baster in the water and squeeze bulb to put the bloodworms in the bottom of tank next to your betta. Hope this works for your fish.

    • ask people about salt ...it cured mine of fin rot and i read that is generally helpful....i only do 1-2 teaspoons per gallon, dissolved in warm water (no granules in fishes water) look it up ....i could believe it helped!

  • I have a Halfmoon male betta. I’ve had him since Valentines day this year. He’s been living in a 2.5 BettaBow with silk plants. The silk plants however have plastic “stems” that are rough, he got himself caught in it one day and tore his tail all up. I took him out and put him in a small goldfish bowl with some warm water, aquarium salt and Bettafix. That was over a month ago now and his tail hasn’t gotten better. I occasionally will medicate him with some Maricyn2 which is for fin rot and other things. I change his water every other day but the ridge of his tail, or what’s left of it turned black and looked dead. I did some research and heard that cutting the black from his tail would help to in turn regrow his tail to how it should be. I’ve had many bettas (i have 8 right now) and they have all had problems here and there and Bettafix has helped right away, but i’m at a loss for what to do for him now.

  • ive had my veil tail for almost 2 weeks and noticed the ends of his fins were a whitish color and curling. He is a vibrant red color and has been a very active healthy fish since i brought him home. As ive tried to raise 2 other bettas a few yrs ago and they died within a wk of getting them im just getting the hang of the water changes in a 1gal tank with a small carbon filter. I thought u were supposed to treat fin loss or fin rot with melafix first before using the antibiotic so thats what ive been using but then he started acting very lethargic and tucking his fins to his body and was floating towards the top barely moving so i changed his water without the melafix and now he is back to his old happy active self and fanning his fins again. while in the cup i keep him in while doing water changes i examined him closely noticing his fins are starting to grow back and he didnt seemed to be stressed anymore. He immediately started spreading his fins and leisurely swimming and reacting to mewhen in his tank earlier he was jumpy and lethargic. I’m guessing i just need to do more frequent water changes as i have only a 1 gal tank until i can obtain a 5gal in a couple weeks and just watch him closely ??

  • My friend’s fish just died.
    We put him with a female fish and they fought.
    Unfortunately, the female was more dominate.
    The male’s fins were badly injured.
    We put some medicine in his tank.
    He was always trying to breath, he couldnt swim around
    much.Not only with his front fins.
    He lost his color, you could almost see through him in the light. When we checked on him in the morning, he died.
    I guess his fins got infected.

    • Yeah you should never put bettas together, even the females are aggressive. The only time you can keep bettas together is if you have a 20+ gal tank, that is heavily planted and decorated, then you can keep multiple females together as long as they are all purchased at the same time and introduced at the same time. This is called a betta sorority. But, this is very hard to maintain, and the females can still be aggressive towards each other, and is only recommend to experienced betta keepers. But other than that, under no circumstances should bettas be kept together because they usually kill each other.

  • I got a betta at Petsmart and I thought maybe he was young and under developed, well doing more research I think maybe he was attacked. I made a video would love to get feedback from anyone who knows enough to tell me what may be wrong and what I can do. Oh he’s supposed to be a halfmoon.

  • My betta fish Franklin is very active and attentive but ive noticed that he has minor tears on his fins yet my bowl is rounded i currently have no plants (i plan on bamboo) i change his water weekly and his decor of rocks are smooth as silk could it be from the pet store?

  • I have had my betta for about 2 years now. Over labor day weekend, my sister’s cat got a hold of him. Needless to say his beautiful top fin is missing. Spunky was a little shaking for a couple of days and not eating. Then he seemed to be his normal self. Now, he is hiding at the bottom of the tank and will only come to the top once a day for food. He can barely swim and when he does it is on his side and he seems to have a fractured like body. I am not sure what is going on or what to do…. Can you help?

    • My 3 year old got into the tank and ripped the tail fin completely off of my betta. He could not swim upright and would float on his side. I thought for sure he was not going to make it! I lowered the water level in his tank to about 3 inches, put a lot of silk plants that he could lay on, and kept the water absolutely pristine. I also would drop his food(pellets and blood worms) right next to his mouth so he would still be able to eat with out struggling to get to his food. It took months, but he is back to his beautiful self. His tail fin is still a bit shorter then his other fins. It took a lot of TLC but that fish definitely surprised me. He still thinks he needs to be hand fed though.

  • My half moon betta has been attacked by my dwarf frog!!!! He has a scratch on his face near his left gill and a huge chunk out of his back fin!!!!! What should I do to help him!!!!