Male Betta Acting Strange

son · September 22nd, 2009

Hi,
I am currently doing a fishless cycle on a 5g tank. In the meantime I have my male betta waiting for his new home in a heated, unfiltered 3.5g uncycled tank. I have been doing weekly water changes but since the last water change (2 days ago) he seems to be acting strangely:

He seems to have lost his appetite (he eats but not like he used to).
He is no longer as active as he was. He hangs around on the bottom or sits on the top suction cup of the heater. He will swim to me when I come in the room.
He now flares his gills when he sees me or when I slowly move my finger to the glass. He has never done that before.

He seems OK physically (not signs of ICH etc.). It’s almost like he’s fed up with all these water changes and just wants to get into his new home. Any Ideas?

Tank Specs:

Volume 3.5g
Temp 78
pH 8.2
Filter System none
NH3 0 PPM
NO2 0 ppm
NO3 0 ppm

Shawnie · September 22nd, 2009

bored is my guess.....and are you making sure you are putting the same temp in the water changes? maybe add a toy or two for him to see if he perks up a bit......3.5 gals is big enough of a new home also so with 0 readings, its not his water thats making him different...what do you feed him?

Tony G. · September 22nd, 2009

+1 on the bored part. Its normal for bettas to get feisty

My betta flares whenever he sees me, so its just their little tude!

You can add a hamster tube so he can go through it and stuff, you can also get him some ping pong balls, that will make him chase them

Lucy · September 22nd, 2009

I'm sorry your little guy is worrying you.
Is the water a consistant temp?

son · September 22nd, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawnie

bored is my guess.....and are you making sure you are putting the same temp in the water changes? maybe add a toy or two for him to see if he perks up a bit......3.5 gals is big enough of a new home also so with 0 readings, its not his water thats making him different...what do you feed him?

Hi,
Yes during water changes the temps and PH are the same. He use to love Betta bits now he will just have 1 or 2 and spit the rest out. We have also tried flakes with mixed results. He use to get excited and come right to the surface when he was being fed now he just meanders around mid tank level which makes it hard to feed him

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony G.

+1 on the bored part. Its normal for bettas to get feisty

My betta flares whenever he sees me, so its just their little tude!

You can add a hamster tube so he can go through it and stuff, you can also get him some ping pong balls, that will make him chase them

I will give it a try ... Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucy

I'm sorry your little guy is worrying you.
Is the water a consistant temp?

As constant as it can be with no filter to circulate the water. Temp is around 79 near the heater end and 76 at the far end. I was thinking of adding a filter set to low with no media to see if I can stabilize the temp

COBettaCouple · September 23rd, 2009

They really are something how picky they can be about stable water conditions and how they'll get bored pretty easily. I'd recommend 25% daily water changes with no filter in the tank, and adding 4 drops of Prime daily after each water change, treating the water before adding it as you normally would.

chickadee · September 23rd, 2009

Firstly, you cannot do a cycle with no filter. The whole idea of a cycle is cycling the filter to build up a bed of beneficial bacteria to control the ammonia and nitrites to convert them to nitrates and get rid of them. You will forever be doing manual water changes unless you have a large heavily planted tank that does the job for you.
If you do not want a large filter system in there I would put a small sponge filter in there that will at least allow the cycle process to take place and give the water a little motion to keep the temperature consistent.

As far as the boredom goes, some quality time at mealtime and the aforementioned toys (hamster tubing and ping pong balls) do help but time with the main person in their life is the big plus.

Rose

Shawnie · September 23rd, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickadee

Firstly, you cannot do a cycle with no filter. The whole idea of a cycle is cycling the filter to build up a bed of beneficial bacteria to control the ammonia and nitrites to convert them to nitrates and get rid of them. You will forever be doing manual water changes unless you have a large heavily planted tank that does the job for you.
If you do not want a large filter system in there I would put a small sponge filter in there that will at least allow the cycle process to take place and give the water a little motion to keep the temperature consistent.

As far as the boredom goes, some quality time at mealtime and the aforementioned toys (hamster tubing and ping pong balls) do help but time with the main person in their life is the big plus.

Rose

I dont think hes trying to cycle the current tank the betta is in

just keeping it clean until the 5 gal is done cycling...and I agree bettas get very bored and require us humans more than we can ever realize

son · September 24th, 2009

Thanks to all who responded ... a couple of toys placed in the tank did the trick. Now if my 5g tank would finish cycling (patience is a virtue so they say).

chickadee · September 25th, 2009

You just learned the most important lesson in fish keeping....patience.

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