What's wrong with my poor betta?

[Something Fishy]

I got my betta about 3 weeks ago. He is alone in a 5 gallon filtered hex tank. The water in the tank is clear and the tank is pretty clean. There are fake plants in the tank and plenty of open swimming area. Until yesterday he swam all the time, but starting last night and then today he will go down to the bottom and sit there for a minute or two and then start swimming again. He was also laying in a plant for a few minutes tonight. Is this normal?

What is wrong with him? The tank is clean and the water is filtered. There is a slight current in one corner that he swims against sometimes...could that be stressing him out? Could he be sitting on the bottom to avoid the current? I feed him flake food that says it's good for bettas. I can't think of what could be wrong here.

Any ideas? I don't want him to die!

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi...I don't think anything is wrong with your betta. From what you are describing -- swimming around, then lying on a plant, or on the bottom -- these sound like normal betta behaviors. That pretty much describes my betta's day!

Bettas do not like current. If that one spot is the only spot with current, though, then he should be ok. What kind of filter came with the hex tank? Maybe you could look into getting a filter with less current. I have a betta by himself in a 5 1/2 gallon tank, and my filter is a Jungle Jr. Dirt Magnet sponge filter, hooked up to a Tetratec 12 air pump using a gang valve, to further reduce the airflow. My water is very still. The bubbles come out of the filter pretty fast, but just the top of the water moves a little bit. This is how a gang valve works: The air tubing from the pump goes into the "intake" port on the gang valve. The valve has 2 or 3 "outflow" ports to attach filters to. I hooked the sponge filter to one of these, but left the other ones open. Excess air just goes out thru them, so you don't get an excess of airflow and current thru the sponge filter. If someone can explain it better, please do! (it's been a looong day!)
What kind of plants do you have? You may want to avoid plastic plants with bettas. They are likely to tear their long fins. I have silk plants in with my betta. Also, flake food for bettas is fine. My betta eats the BettaMin flake food. I also feed him HBH Betta Bites, and Hikari freeze dried bloodworms.

Are you also checking water parameters -- ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

I think you'll do fine with your betta!

 

[Something Fishy]

Hi! Thanks for your reply! Today I bought him a decent sized bowl so he can live somewhere a little more peaceful with no bubbles or current. He seems happy enough in it so far, but he still naps on the bottom a little. I used the Betta Buddies fizzy tabs...that ought to take care of the water, and I use only filtered water as well. The plants I had were plastic, but them won't be coming with him to his new home. I have some stones in there with him right now, but eventually I'd like to get a more betta friendly decoration in there, maybe like you said, a little silk plant or something.

I talked to a friend this morning, whose house I was at last night. His wife has a betta....the biggest one I've ever seen....and he told me about how she takes care of him. That's what lead me to get the bowl and take him out of the tank. Her betta always has a bubble nest going, and I'm hoping mine will build one so I know he's okay. I guess I'll get a few tropical fish for my 5 gal tank, which is what I tried to do initially before the betta tried to assasinate the dwarf gouramis I put in there with him. I had to remove them and put them in a tank at work before he killed them.

Thanks for your help!

 

[bettacove]

What size is the bowl you got? He should be perfactly fine in the tank, and if the current buggs him then just unplug the filter.
His behavior is pretty normal, but sounds like he might be getting a bit bord. You can try re-aranging his tank/bowl, or put a little mirror against the tank and let him flare for a while.

ashley

 

[LonerVamp]

I have two bettas at work, and they both sometimes sleep on the gravel or plants as well. When they were in very small hex containers, they tended to lay at the bottom resting a lot. Now they're both in 2.5 gal tanks and are much more active and seem much happier. Both of my tanks have one small decorative "rock" thing (blue betta has an incan pole, red betta has an egyptian statue), and a number of plants along the sides and back. I wanted something more visually appealing, but I didn't want to steal from their swimming space. In addition, both bettas seem to like the plants, sometimes swimming around between them and the tank walls.

One thing I've noticed, is that I now turn lights off over my desk when I leave at night, and both bettas have been less "sleepy" and resting on the bottom much less. I think this may have to do with them getting their rest at night perhaps, but I'm not sure.

Also, I have absolutely no current in my tanks (frequent water changing + no filters) and I make sure that some plants are either floating in the back of the tank, or sticking above the water. This seems to encourage and make my blue betta happy, as before he could just make bubble nests in the corner. Now he makes a lot more, and he's getting good at them, sometimes blowing 3 bubbles at a time! Making bubbles is a great pasttime for my blue guy, and not only is he so cute when he does it, but it's just great to watch the care and effort he puts into making his nests.

If you think the 5 gal tank is too large, you could easily fill it with a lot of decorations not only to help "decrease" the size of the tank, but also to add more decor and things to do for the betta. I would also maybe suggest covering him at night, and seeing if there is any change in behavior (or just turn off the lights or get a timer).

I'll take pics in the next few days. I'm moving desks in the office, so I need to snap some shots of my current one before it's torn down.