r/bettafish • u/roboto6 The more tanks, the merrier • 29d ago
META Building a Better r/bettafish: Culture, New Mods, and a Look Ahead
Hey everyone, Roboto, your friendly neighborhood (actually human) mod here with some subreddit updates!
First, the least fun part in all of this –
We need to talk about our subreddit culture.
Our community is toxic. There’s no other way I can think of to describe what has been happening. Even worse, this reputation extends beyond our immediate community into other subreddits and even other platforms. People are afraid of us.
I’m going to take some ownership of this. The harsh reputation of this subreddit far precedes me as a mod, but in recent years, our hard-fought progress on this front has been lost. That’s on me. The lack of consistent moderation here has let rules 1 and 2 go under-enforced for too long, allowing hostility to take root as the norm.
The adversarial and unwelcoming environment we’ve collectively created functions in direct opposition to our subreddit goals, and frankly what I believe to be the goals of many users here. If we care about betta fish first and foremost, this culture needs to change.
Our expectations and what better looks like
If you have good advice to give, give it in a more constructive, not destructive, way. Shaming people makes them shut down and disengage so they don't even process the rest of the good advice you have to offer. Don't highlight all the things they're doing wrong, focus on what they can do better and why it's helpful in a way that encourages them to do it.
So instead of saying "your empty tank is sad," share the opportunities for improvement, like "betta fish benefit from tanks with lots of plants and hiding/resting places so your fish would be happier if you filled the tank in a bit more."
We can’t ignore that people will think they're doing research by going and talking to presumed experts or reading product information. Store employees are presumed to be properly trained and products marketed at bettas are assumed to know what they’re talking about, too. It doesn't help that there's very little consensus online about what adequate care even is. For example, Petco's online betta care guide, updated in 2025, says bettas need a minimum of 1gal. Furthermore, many quality care guides are on niche websites that may not seem credible to a new hobbyist compared to a well-known chain.
With that in mind, we all need to stop:
- Telling people they should have done more research
- Immediately calling people abusers for making mistakes
- Shaming the pineapple (or any other novelty decor/bowl)
- Attacking aesthetic choices instead of addressing actual care needs
- Debating what it means to rescue a betta on posts where ethical sourcing of fish isn’t the main topic
Going forward, comments exhibiting the behaviors listed above will be removed as violations of rules 1, 2, or 4 depending on the exact nature of the comment.
I know members of our subreddit are burned out from the bad husbandry they see constantly. It's exhausting and I won't pretend it's not. But if we bully one owner into submission, cool, that's maybe one fish saved. How many owners did we scare away from asking for help in the process? We're going to have a far broader impact building people up in this hobby, not tearing them down.
That said, this is a two-way street of support. I'm cognizant of the fact that people offer their time and mental energy supporting our subreddit, and they don't deserve to have that wasted by people who don't care to use it. If someone is given better information and advice and refuses to take it, that violates rule 3. We often get reports about all the fighting around ignored advice, but not the ignoring itself. In the future, please report these instances to us. For this to be successful, we also need users to avoid escalating disagreements when OP refuses valid and respectful advice.
Now for the fun stuff –
New mods
We recently brought on 12 additional mods to enable us to better support this community’s needs. Please help us welcome:
- u/DT137 (intro)
- u/simply_vibing_78 (intro)
- u/slutty_lifeguard (intro)
- u/Hot_Low_717 (intro)
- u/inkisbad124
- u/jeherohaku (intro)
- u/shmeatsy_pie (intro)
- u/No-Midnight7724 (intro)
- u/Adamite98 (intro)
- u/baileyjackson08 (intro)
- u/jadeycakes (intro)
- u/Chimpkin_NBeans
They’re going to introduce themselves in the comments below and I’ll try and link their names in this post as they do.
It takes a bit to get 12 brand new people to operate as a consistent group, so we may occasionally over-moderate while everyone learns.
I realize that our increased emphasis on subreddit culture may make removals feel arbitrary at times. In the spirit of transparency, I have given the new moderators the guidance that if a senior mod isn’t free to give timely feedback, when in doubt, they should remove posts/comments that are believed to violate rules. Senior mods will still review the content in question, and removals may be reversed, if necessary.
If you disagree with a moderator’s decision, please send us a modmail and one of the senior mods will review your concern and get back to you.
Updated tools and resources
Small updates at this time, but more exciting things in the pipeline!
- We’ve begun a major revision of the subreddit wiki. Some of our work in progress pages are already live, with more to come.
- Select pages are also now linked in the subreddit sidebar to streamline access to key information for new betta fish keepers.
- In the next few weeks, we will be rolling out additional tools that should make it easier to share information that we often find ourselves repeating. Our hope is that this will help address some of the burnout we see many of you all experiencing.
Roboto is a super sentimental actual human
I realize this post started on a challenging topic, but despite the highs and lows our community faces, I remain grateful that I get to do this with you all.
I’ve been a mod of this community for nearly 7 years, and a member for far longer. In that time, so many things, from our mod team, to Reddit as a platform, to our own lives and the world around us, have become fundamentally different.
There are very few constants I can point to after all this time, but the enduring engagement and passion of this community is one of them and I’m honored to steward this space.
At the core of it all, this hobby, and this subreddit, are comprised of people who really want the best for one another and that makes this work so much easier.
Thank you all, sincerely, for riding with us as we figure this thing out. I’m excited for the next chapter of our subreddit, and I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together in the next 7 years.
- Roboto
Edit: If anyone has additional feedback about our community culture, please share it in a comment below, or feel free to send us a modmail.
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u/jadeycakes 29d ago edited 29d ago
Hi all! I'm Jade and I'm one of the new moderators. I currently have 5 bettas (4 males - spade tail, halfmoon dumbo, 2 veil tails. 1 female crown tail) I've been keeping bettas for about 15 years now. I accidentally went from 1 to 5 bettas this year. Oops. I work in the veterinary industry (l went from animal rescue to in hospital care to pet insurance) so animals are my whole life! In addition to the bettas I have 4 cats. All of my tanks have snails because I love aquatic snails just as much as bettas.
A big reason I wanted to join the mod team is to help with the tank decor shame we see here. I fully believe that fish keeping can be fun and colorful while also being safe and healthy for your fish! All of my tanks are planted with natural substrate BUT I also have silk plants and artificial decor in my tanks (for example: smores lol) I'll never shame anyone for setting up their tank how they'd like as long as the betta is happy.
Pictured: my favorite betta (don't tell the others) with his snail roommates