Bun Berka
Founder and editor, Bunstay
Keeping bettas for 9 years · 4 tanks · Riverview, Florida
Biography
I’m Bun Berka. I keep bettas in Riverview, Florida, and I write everything on Bunstay.
I grew up in Rabat. The pet stalls there sold goldfish in glass jars, and I had one as a kid, and it died the way those fish always die. I got my first real tank at fifteen. Goldfish again, badly filtered, and I learned water chemistry by getting it wrong for about a year. I moved to the United States in 2014 and didn’t keep fish at all for three years.
In 2017 I bought a red veiltail betta at a big-box store, along with the one-gallon kit the staff recommended. He lasted six weeks and died of ammonia burns and fin rot. I had followed the instructions on the box exactly.
What changed was finding out where he came from. I live about twenty minutes from Gibsonton, in Hillsborough County, which is the center of the American ornamental fish industry, and ornamental fish for the home aquarium are Florida’s most valuable aquaculture product. So I went to see the operations, and they were nothing like what I expected: controlled temperature, real filtration, water testing, staff who know exactly what they are doing.
Those fish leave the farm healthy. They die in the last mile, in the shipping cup, on the shelf, and in the bowl the customer takes home believing it is enough.
That is the gap Bunstay is built to close. I’m not a vet and I have no qualification in fish medicine. I’m someone with four tanks who reads the welfare literature, tests his water, photographs what actually happens, and says so when he doesn’t know something.
If you’re here because your betta is in a bowl and something feels wrong, you’re not the problem. You were told wrong, the same way I was.
Areas of expertise
- Betta splendens care and welfare
- Freshwater aquarium setup
- Aquarium nitrogen cycle and water chemistry
- Fish disease identification
- Low-tech planted aquariums
Credentials
Bun Berka holds no formal qualification in fish medicine or aquaculture, and this site never implies otherwise. His experience is practical: 9 years of keeping bettas, 4 tanks currently running, and a habit of reading the veterinary literature before writing about it. Where a question needs clinical expertise, our articles say so and point to an aquatic vet.
Current tanks
Care guidance on this site is tested here first. These are the setups our parameters, timings and photographs come from.
| Tank | Setup | Occupants |
|---|---|---|
| 10 gallon | Planted, sponge filter, 50 W heater | Male halfmoon, Zellij |
| 20 gallon long | Low-tech planted, baffled HOB filter | Female betta with pygmy corydoras |
| 5 gallon | Bare-bottom, sponge filter, adjustable heater | Quarantine and hospital tank |
| 5 gallon | Planted, sponge filter, floating plants | Male crowntail, Souss |
Contact
Email [email protected], or use the contact page. Corrections go to [email protected] and are always welcome.
Published articles
- Silk vs Plastic Plants for a Betta: Which Actually Damages Fins?
- Do Bettas Get Bored? Enrichment That Actually Helps
- Cloudy Betta Tank Water: What Each Kind Means
- Betta or Goldfish for a First Fish?
- A Complete Betta Setup Under $100
- Betta Sororities: What They Require and Why They Fail
- Changing a Betta Tank Temperature Without Shocking the Fish
- Are Betta Fish Easy to Keep? An Honest Answer
- Brine Shrimp for Bettas: Frozen, Live or Not at All
- Can Two Bettas Live Together? The Short Answer Is No
- Nitrite and Nitrate in a Betta Tank: The Difference
- Signs of a Healthy Betta: What Good Actually Looks Like
- How to Baffle a Filter That Is Too Strong for a Betta
- Plakat Bettas: The Short-Finned Type That Swims Properly
- Betta pH: Why You Should Probably Leave It Alone
- How to Acclimate a Betta Without Shocking It
- Sponge Filter or Hang-on-Back for a Betta?
- Halfmoon or Crowntail: Which Betta Tail to Choose
- Betta Water Temperature: The Range and Why Stability Wins
- Your Betta First 48 Hours at Home: What to Do
- Betta Fish Care: The Complete Guide for Beginners
- How to Test Betta Tank Water: A Practical Walkthrough
- Can Bettas Live in Tap Water? Tap, RO and Well Water Compared
- What Size Tank Does a Betta Fish Need? The Honest Answer
- Aquarium Salt and Bettas: When It Helps and When It Harms
- Why Bettas Jump, and the Decor That Damages Their Fins
- How to Set Up a Betta Fish Tank: Step by Step
- Betta Fish Water Parameters: The Complete Guide
- What a Betta Actually Costs: Setup and Yearly Running Costs
- Betta Care Routine: Daily, Weekly and Monthly Tasks
- Preventing Betta Disease: What Actually Works
- Betta Tank Lighting and Substrate: What to Choose
- How to Cycle a Betta Tank: Fishless Cycling Step by Step
- What Do Betta Fish Eat? A Complete Feeding Guide
- Betta Fish Types: Tail Shapes, Colours and Patterns
- Leaving a Betta While You Are Away: Vacation Feeding
- Betta Fasting Days: Why One a Week Helps
- Betta Spitting Out or Refusing Pellets: Fixing a Fussy Eater
- Betta Colours and Patterns: Koi, Marble, Dragon and More
- Betta Tank Mates: What Actually Works
- Do Betta Fish Need a Heater? Temperature Explained
- Breeding Bettas: What It Actually Requires
- How Long Do Betta Fish Live? And How to Get There
- Betta Lying at the Bottom of the Tank: What to Check
- Columnaris in Bettas: The One That Moves in Hours
- Velvet in Bettas: The Gold Dust Nobody Sees Early
- Do Betta Fish Need a Filter? What the Evidence Says
- Betta Water Changes: How Much, How Often, and How
- Dropsy in Bettas: What It Is and the Honest Prognosis
- Popeye in Bettas: One Eye or Both Tells You the Cause
- How to Choose a Healthy Betta Fish at the Store
- Betta Constipation and the Pea Myth
- When to See an Aquatic Vet for a Betta
- How Much and How Often to Feed a Betta
- Best Betta Tanks: What to Look For and What to Avoid
- Best Betta Food: Pellets, Frozen and Live Compared
- Betta Fish Diseases: Identification and Treatment
- Betta Fin Rot: Causes, Stages and Treatment
- Swim Bladder Disorder in Bettas: Causes and Care
- Why Is My Betta Fish Not Eating? Causes and Fixes
- Setting Up a Betta Quarantine Tank: When and How
- Betta With Clamped Fins: Causes and What to Check First
- Ich in Bettas: White Spot Disease Recognised and Treated
- Betta Bubble Nests: What They Mean and What to Do
- Why Do Bettas Flare? What the Display Actually Means
- Male vs Female Betta: Differences, Care and Which to Choose
- Bloodworms for Bettas: How Often and Which Kind
- Betta Flakes or Pellets? Which to Feed and Why
- Ammonia Poisoning in Bettas: Signs and Emergency Response
- New Tank Syndrome in a Betta Tank: How to Recognise and Fix It
- Live Plants for a Betta Tank: What Actually Works
- Five Gallon or Ten Gallon for a Betta? A Straight Comparison
- Can a Betta Fish Live in a Bowl? The Straight Answer