Bored Mahachai Betta

Cyberfish

Cyberfish

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Hello,

I have a very bored Mahachai betta, and I want to do something so that he does not mope all day. I don't think he is sick, and my water parameters are fine.

0ppm ammonia and nitrates
7.1Ph
5ppm nitrates

I have tried showing him a mirror, giving him a ping pong ball as stimulation, but he still just sits in his corner and lays there until feeding time. His colours are still pretty vibrant however he is not as dark as he used to be and his body is more beige. I am adding more tannins to see if that helps.

My question is, how do I keep him from getting bored?

Thanks

edit: I fed him today, and he did not eat. He attempted to eat but kept spitting out the food.
 

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hi, he is wild cought, he needs stimuli, is your tank large enough for tankmates? I would try chain loaches that are active bottom feeders that often eplore all parts of the water, But cory cats, kuhli loaches or somthing else that stay at the bottom might be safer,

I highly suggest live foods for this fish sinse he is not eating. What are you feeding? Do you have live plants? I suggest that you add live or silk plants that offer places to explore. I have silk plants that are atttached to a pool noodle so that they float. You could make something for your better that offers a lot of floating plants to break up the menotomy of a bare surface.
Cut the pool noodle in half vertically then cut it to fit your tank, but make sure the betta can still reach the water surface .
 

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  • Thread Starter
  • #3
Hello,

He is captive bred. I have a school of cherry barbs (which he pretty much ignores) and a female Mahachai, it is gravel substrate so I am not sure I can but loaches otherwise I would add some chain loaches. He is attempting to eat, but he just spits it out and I am not sure why. I will try livefoods today. I have live plants and I plan to rearrange the scape today.
 
How long have you had this fish? Was he eating before this post, or did he never eat? What are you feeding?

I have kept loaches for 20 years. I have had the same smooth edged gravel the entire time I have just change the amount of gravel for random reasons a few times.. my oldest fish is a 18 year old angelicus loach. His fins and barbels are in perfect shape. The only fish that I worry about might be kuhli loaches that may want to dig through the gravel like worms?. I dont know, never kept them
My chain loaches are the most adorable litle monkeys! Just a warning, I read that they can be aggressive, but i have never seen them do anthing evan a little bit aggressive, I think its best to keep a good number of them, and keep them fed.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • #5
How long have you had this fish? Was he eating before this post, or did he never eat? What are you feeding?

I have kept loaches for 20 years. I have had the same smooth edged gravel the entire time I have just change the amount of gravel for random reasons a few times.. my oldest fish is a 18 year old angelicus loach. His fins and barbels are in perfect shape. The only fish that I worry about might be kuhli loaches that may want to dig through the gravel like worms?. I dont know, never kept them
My chain loaches are the most adorable litle monkeys! Just a worning, I read that they can be aggressive, but i have never seen then do anthing aggresive, I think its best to keep a good number of them, and keep them fed.
Click to expand...
edit: I don't think I can get loaches bc my tank is not big enough, it is a 15g Fluval Flex and I believe they need 20g long at least. I will try Dwarf Hovering loaches if I can find them

I have kept him for around 3 months now, he has been eating Bug Bites pellets and frozen bloodworms well until now. I am not home right now but when I am I am going to rescape his tank and try livefoods.
 

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  • #7
Fed him some Daphnia and he completely ignored it compared to when he tries to get bloodworms or pellets. Rescaped his tank tonight so we'll see if he explores. His fin colours are completely normal but body colouration is dull and brown, but his opercula is still colourful.
 
Fed him some Daphnia and he completely ignored it compared to when he tries to get bloodworms or pellets. Rescaped his tank tonight so we'll see if he explores. His fin colours are completely normal but body colouration is dull and brown, but his opercula is still colourful.
Click to expand...
Im sorry to hear that he didnt eat, many times fish dont eat new foods and you may want to try it again. But it sounds like your fish may have more problems then food can fix and im sorry to say that im out of ideas.

ok 1 more idea. Get some fresh garlic and grind it into a paste or get a freshly made garlic paste, mix and soak the foods in it. Garlic has healing benifits it is also tempting to fish and you may be able to get him to eat frozen or freeze dreid daphnia this way. Daphnia is also helthy anf has some medical benifits. Neither is a cure, but every little bit can help.

Oh, you can also add almand or catalpa leaves for the benifits that they offer.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • #9
Ok, I will try that. I added plants and rearranged the scape today, and it seems to have helped a bit. He swims a little more now, mostly just to the surface to get air and then back down though.

edit: I recently stopped putting tannins as some of my friends were complaining that they "couldn't see the fish" and it was too dark. That may be what caused this, as he became like this a few weeks after I stopped. I added some Indian Almond leaves and reduced the light level by a lot. Hopefully that helps. He has been swimming a bit more around since today.
 
That could help. It’s unusual and a bit concerning if a fish won’t eat daphnia,,.
 
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  • #11
I have a theory: The female is stressing him. I saw her flaring at the cherry barbs and the male and being a bit of a jerk, so I will try separating them and let you know how that goes.
 

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  • Thread Starter
  • #13
Hello again,

After doing some research, it appears he had kidney failure. Now it seems weird because I know Mahachais can thrive in 100% freshwater, and he was captive bred. However, he may have just been genetically weaker and/or the slight stress of the female being with him was too much.
 
How old was Spade? My dog died of kidney failure and it was very quick and absolutely nothing could be done. Please be assured that you took great care of Spade and gave it a great home and life.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • #15
How old was Spade? My dog died of kidney failure and it was very quick and absolutely nothing could be done. Please be assured that you took great care of Spade and gave it a great home and life.
Click to expand...
I don't know how old he was when I got him, but my guess is around 1-1.5 years. It was probably caused by his life in freshwaer conditions and he may have just been genetically weaker because my female is completely fine.
 
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