Making Her Comfortable

[Miss Wiggle]

We've an old lady betta, Sardinia, we got her when she was handed into our lfs, she was fully grown when we got her and we estimate maybe 1yr old, we've had her probably 18 months now so we know she's coming to the end of her natural lifespan.

we've had betta's pass on from old age before and they've always started to look a bit tatty (for want of a better word) when they're coming to the end, she's started to go this was over the last few months, fins look a bit tatty, she's lost a few scales. she's still feeding and active as ever and looks reasonably happy. No specific illnesses or problems, just she's generally not looking brilliant.

Now I'm fairly sure that's normal, all animals can look a bit scruffy in their final years/months and humans do too!

She's in an understocked 60gal community tank, there's no aggressive fish or anyone she has squabbles with or anything like that.

I was just wondering if there's any suggestions you lot can make to make her last few months with us as comofrtable as possible?

 

[bronzecat]

Hi
I would say, if she's been happy in there up till now, then leave her where she knows Might be a bit stressful to move her anywhere. I suppose if she starts struggling then a floating breeder would help?

Best of luck

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah. the tank's quite tall (2ft) so I imagine it may get difficult for her to breathe towards the end, but we've got a really big piece of wood which goes right to the surface (actually sticks out an inch or so) so she's got somewhere to rest herself near the surface if needs be.

i've got a spare 8gal tank (but not really got anywhere suitable to set it up) I'm toying with the idea of moving her into that as it may be better for her, could set that up with the trickle filter so next to no current and that's only 1foot tall so it may be easier for her. But we're in the middle of renovating the house so it really would be a struggle for space to find somewhere to put the tank, and moving her may be enough to finish her off.

I think I'll leave her where she is for now but if she starts struggling I'll try the little tank.

Am I right that it's normal for them to look a bit scruffy towards the end? When they do look like this, roughly how long do they have left?

 

[bronzecat]

Yeh, they can start to loose their colour and basically look a bit poorly. Sort of like a human going wrinkly and grey

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Yeh, they can start to loose their colour and basically look a bit poorly. Sort of like a human going wrinkly and grey

thats pretty much what i thought