LizOliver

This is the first time I have used this forum! I hoping someone my be able to help me.
I live in a fairly remote area, there is only one shop selling fish and the lady although very nice doesn't know much about fish.
Five months ago I purchase a male Betta, he is lovely, has three different colours with long feathery fins. I have him in a bowl about 5 litres in size.
About 2 or 3 weeks ago he started getting rather lethargic, he still eats his bloodworms, flares up when I put them into the tank, but once he has finished eating he returns to the bottom and rests there, it appears to be an effort for him to swim to the top. There doesn't appear to be any fucus or other growths on him. I change his water every week, his colour is still good, but I am worried that something isn't right.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Cheers Liz

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

First, you'll want to get him into a heated tank with a filter, at least 10 litres. Acclimate him slowly to the new tank by floating him in a cup with water from his bowl and adding a little tank water every 5 minutes until the cup is full.

What are you using to treat the tap water with? I would recommend Prime. It will help him during the tank cycling. Also change about 30-50% of the water daily until the tank is cycled.

If you can find products called Vita-Chem or Fish Protector or Garlic Guard those will help him out. He may simply feel bored or cold in a bowl and moving him to a tank with water of 78-80F and a filter will be good for that.

Bettas also like air bubbles to play with, and like to have a cave or two and some plants. Silk plants or live plants are best and for the caves, just check to be sure no holes are smaller than your thumb (Bettas can get stuck squeezing into small holes). Also check for any spots that are rough or scratchy. Betta fins snag and tear as easily (if not easier) than pantyhose.

If you are feeding him freeze-dried bloodworms, I would recommend soaking them in a little dish of some tank water to get them more plump before feeding them to him. 3 bloodworms, twice a day is what we'd recommend on those. They are so dry that they can cause constipation in Bettas. If you can feed him 3 pellet sized pieces of a thawed & peeled frozen pea once a week, that would be super for his digestive system.

Betta Food pellets (made by Ocean Nutrition) are good for him if you can find those. 3 pellets per meal, 2x a day.. just like the bloodworms.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...9&pcatid=15529

LizOliver

Thanks for your suggestions, I will look into getting a larger tank, bit of a challenge because no one here sells them, will have to try and get one shipped here and will also try the pea, the bloodworms are frozen, perhaps I should give them a chance to defrost before I feed him, how many times a day would you suggest I feed him, currently I feed him night and morning, which he seems to expect, if I am a bit late feeding him, I often find him glaring at me, if thats at all possible!

LetDiceFly

Dr Foster and Smith sells the eclipse tanks with filter and light built in that are great for bettas and the cost of shipping isn't significant. The link to their site is one of the ones on the top of this forum.

LizOliver

Hi those fish tanks from Eclipse look great, unfortunately I live in Western Australia, so can't get one from there, will have a look on the internet to see what I could get from here! Appreciate your suggestion though.

LetDiceFly

If you don't find another practical solution, I run an eBay store and ship things overseas all the time. If you wanted to pay for it with PayPal I would be willing to order it and then reship it to Australia.

LizOliver

Thanks very much, I'll see how I get on!

COBettaCouple

It's definitely possible that he's glaring at you if meal time is late. Our Bettas know when it's meal time and start dancing for food in their tanks when it is.

What I do with the bloodworms is take a small sealable container and put a bit of treated room temperature water in it. Then I put a piece of the frozen bloodworms in the container and put the lid on. Shake it up and pretty soon the worms are thawed. You can feed him a few worms each meal for up to a week and store the container in the fridge. If the container develops a bad smell when you open it, toss the rest of what's in it.

I feed ours twice a day, 3 worms per meal.