Editorial policy

This is the bar every Betta Dreams article is held to. If you spot a piece that fails one of these rules, email us and we'll fix it.

Last updated: 2026-05-01.

Sourcing hierarchy

Claims get cited to the most primary source we can find. In descending order of preference:

Peer-reviewed journal articles. PubMed, PLOS, ScienceDirect, the Journal of Fish Diseases, Aquaculture, Wiley's conservation journals.
Veterinary reference works. The Merck Veterinary Manual, fish-health dissertations, published monographs.
Taxonomic and conservation databases. IUCN Red List, FishBase, GBIF, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species.
Authoritative institutions. Thai Department of Fisheries, Biodiversity Heritage Library, show-standard publications from the International Betta Congress.
Documented hobbyist practice, clearly labeled as such. Breeder interviews, long-running forum threads with a named expert author, show-judging handbooks. When we use these, we say we're using these.

If a Wikipedia article is our starting point, we follow its footnote to the primary source and cite that instead. We do not cite Wikipedia itself as a source of fact.

The sources section

Every long-form article ends with a "Sources" block. The block lists specific references with URLs, not a generic "cited from various sources" line. Readers can verify every non-obvious claim.

Conflicts between sources

When two respectable sources disagree, we pick the more primary and note the conflict in the article. We don't paper over disagreement. Examples: disagreement over the minimum tank size that constitutes humane betta keeping, or whether aquarium salt belongs in everyday betta care.

Hobbyist lore vs. evidence

A lot of betta "common knowledge" traces back to nothing. "Bettas live in tiny puddles in the wild" is one example: the habitat literature (Taylor and Francis 2022; Seriously Fish; USGS NAS) describes rice paddies, ditches, and slow streams, not puddles. When a widely repeated claim has no primary source behind it, we say so and link the counter-evidence.

Corrections policy

Errors happen. When we find one or a reader reports one, we:

Fix the article text.
Bump the modifiedDate shown under the title.
If the correction is material (wrong dosage, wrong species, wrong citation), add a short note in the sources section describing what changed and when.
If the reader requested credit, add it.

Silent rewrites of material claims are a sign of a publication you shouldn't trust. We don't do that here.

Images and attribution

Photographic imagery for historical or species-specific articles comes from Wikimedia Commons, public-domain archives, or named photographers. Every image caption carries the source, the photographer's name where known, and the license code (CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY 2.0, public domain, etc.). Images are downloaded locally rather than hotlinked so attribution persists if an upstream source moves or is deleted.

Review cadence

Evergreen articles get a yearly review pass. News triggers (a new IUCN listing, a major taxonomic revision, a newly published treatment study) get an earlier refresh. Every article's modifiedDate reflects the last real editorial pass, not a cosmetic tweak.

What we refuse

Paid guest posts. The answer is no, regardless of price.
Link insertion into existing articles in exchange for payment.
"Collab" articles where a brand drafts copy we sign off on.
Coverage quid pro quo with affiliate or ad partners.
Removing negative reviews in exchange for ad or affiliate access.

Accessibility and reading experience

Articles target a WCAG 2.2 AA floor: real headings, descriptive link text, alt text on every image, colour contrast verified, keyboard navigation for every interactive element. Reduced-motion preferences are respected site-wide. We want this site to be readable by a screen-reader user as easily as a sighted reader.

Questions or complaints

Editorial-standard questions or complaints: hello@bettadreams.com. If you'd like to publicly cite this policy, a permanent URL lives at /editorial-policy/ and the date at the top reflects the last material revision.