witt0018

Hi All

I've got a male betta, siamese fighter, I've had him about 4 months, not had any problems until now.

He seems a little lifeless today, i've found him a couple of times resting on a rock, he looks very comfortable, and it's always the same rock.

During feeding, he seems perfectly normal,and when swimming he looks fine with no bouyancy problems.

All the other fish seem fine and are acting normally, I've had no new additions to the tank, and change 25% water a week.

I have a pair of clown loaches who are also fine, so I've almost ruled out a water problem, as they would be the first to get ill.

He's also not being attacked by other fish, as sick fish often do.

Anybody got any ideas?

Shawnie

first off, most will ask what are your water perimeters? how warm isthe tank? what size is the tank? betta's normally arent community fish and just get stressed from being with others..try feeding him some fresh pieces of garlic and if you can get some vita chem, that might spruce him up a bit.. I hope he does better !

Martinismommy

I'd try some cut up baby peas..The frozen kind...Thaw one and cut it into 6 tiny peices..Give him 2 small peices...He may be constipated...What do you feed him?

witt0018

He gets a mix of vit enriched flakes, bloodworm, and pellets.

Tanks is 30 gallon(uk) and temp is 82f.

Shawnie

I think hes having major stress issues because its too crowded, and he isnt a community fish..can you get him his own 5 gallon tank? he will be so much happier and he would love you for life

chickadee

Sounds like you are overfeeding him too. He should not be getting all that food. He should get either worms or pellets but not all the types at one time. This is one reason it is really better to have them alone is they overeat and then you have a major betta digestive problem. He may look like he is resting comfortably but if he is not in motion he is probably miserable. He needs to be fasted or preferably given nothing but peas for about a week to get him cleaned out and then put on a real betta diet.

Have you read the Betta Care Guide? It will perhaps give you an idea of how to feed your betta. They really are not community fish. You see they are never in with any other fish at all until they are purchased and perhaps put in with them in the home aquariums and then they just do not know how to act. It is not their fault or yours. They are just not ever trained to be with others. It is like putting a person who was raised on a desert island into a dormitory and say "well here you are!" They can sometimes freak out and do quite poorly.

Rose

COBettaCouple

I'd recommend no flakes for him. It's easy for Bettas to become constipated with flakes, especially if they're prone to that. Ours get only freeze-dried daphina (Hikari brand), Betta pellets (Ocean Nutrition brand) or bloodworms (Hikari brand). The bloodworms are either thawed, frozen worms or the freeze-dried worms soaked in vita-chem or garlic guard. 3 pieces 2x a day are the diet ours are on. That's one reason for a seperate tank for each Betta - controlling the food they eat is much easier that way.

witt0018

Sorry, I was a bit misleading with the feeding, he dosen't hav it all at the same time, I vary the diet between flake pellet and bloodworm.

He seems a lot happier today, not seen him laying on a rock today.

When I bought him from the pet shop, he was in a tank with mollies and plecos, think they were probably bred in a community, I will enquire when I go there next.

He's always been happy until yesteday, I'm thinking probably poor diet and constipated.

COBettaCouple

Did you try feeding him a few pellet sized pieces of a thawed & peeled, frozen pea?

Allie

Betta cannot be bred in a community. You can barely get a male and female to breed in a 2-10g without hurting/or killing each other

witt0018

sorry, perhaps i should have said raised rather than bred.