Have A Betta? Wanna Keep Him Healthy And Happy? Give Him Some Tea!

So recently I've tried converting my betta's 5 gallon tank into a blackwater environment to simulate the ponds and rice paddies they hail from. I purchased some Indian Almond Leaves and added them to my tank, and they worked. However, for the price they were, and the duration they last, I was wondering if there was an easier, cheaper alternative. And after some research, I found it!

Decaffeinated black tea. Full of tannins, safe, and only pennies to make a batch. I added 1 gallon of decaf tea (about 50% of it was water to dilute the original solution) to my 5 gallon and it looks awesome. With the weedy aquatic plants, wood, long dangling roots from the frogbit and leaf litter, it looks like a pond and the betta appreciates the darker, shadier environment. I plan to redo the aquascape a bit so that it is even more pond-like (remove the rocks, add shade-loving plants, etc).

Tannins are supposed to be good for betta health, and allegedly reduce stress, promote a healthy immune system, and, like many other fish, may stimulate breeding.

If you are a betta keeper and don't mind stained, tea-colored water, I recommend this. The water isn't dirty, just tinted. Just remove any charcoal or Purigen in your filter before trying this.

 

I like to go outside and harvest Alder cones and certain kinds of dried leaves for this purpose. I find they work really well, too

 

Is it organic? A lot of teas use bleach with them. I'm sure you thought of that though, I think it's a great idea

 

Bleach would affect the taste, I'm sure it's well rinsed of any contaminants

 

I'm sure it is too. I've seen it in some more common tea types like English Breakfast tea. So I thought it worth a mention in case anyone used something that did, and ended up with poorly betas.

 

It's just Walmart brand iced tea blend that I use, just a plain black tea.

 

Hmm, interesting. Thank you for sharing!

 

I heard tea has some antibiotics properties. in any case when my kid had small eye infection from daycare the farmacist recommended me to put pads soaked in tea and clean his affected eye and it worked. now I am wondering if keeping constantly betta in such environment would not actually weaken his immune system.

 

I heard tea has some antibiotics properties. in any case when my kid had small eye infection from daycare the farmacist recommended me to put pads soaked in tea and clean his affected eye and it worked. now I am wondering if keeping constantly betta in such environment would not actually weaken his immune system.

I don't think it will. Bettas naturally live in tannic environments. The tannins are acidic and that has something to do with reducing the ability of bacteria to survive. It just gives the betta's own immune system an advantage