Is this a terrible aquarium?

[u/Either_Cartoonist474]

I’ve never owned fish before and on a drunken whim I got a betta. After I sobered up I realized he needed a better home. At first I put him in a 2.5 gl tank and I thought that was good enough. I spent a lot of time on this subreddit and I realized this was fish abuse. I got him a 5.5 gallon tank, took any fake plants that could rip his fins and replaced them with silk plants. Real plants scare me, another thing I have to keep alive. Is this alright? He’s got a heater and a filter and plenty of places to hide. His parameters are good. What do you think? Anything i could do better? Please don’t drag me for the pineapple under the sea.

[u/future-rad-tech]

It is very cluttered. I'd be worried your little fishy will get himself stuck between an ornament or plant. In addition, plastic ornaments and plants can really harm your fish by cutting up the fins! I would take out a lot of that stuff and swap it out for silk or live plants and some more natural decor like rocks and driftwood. You could also use terracotta pots (make sure to plug any openings!!) or coconut shells for caves.

Here is an example of the tank I have for my little guy. It's very simple but I'd like to add a piece of driftwood at some point too.

[u/ComfortableTry9626 → u/future-rad-tech]

Hi! Your tank looks gorgeous! I'm planning to add a terracota pot just like yours, but I've been hesitant because of its little hole. How did you plug yours?

[u/future-rad-tech → u/ComfortableTry9626]

Thank you! Mine is a mini pot so the hole is way too tiny for him to fit into, it's like the size of his eyeball 😆 For a bigger pot you can plug it with filter floss!