My bettas hates “large” tanks

Hey all! I got a betta fish almost 2 years ago. He has been the most difficult fish to keep happy. Every time I keep him in a larger tank, he sits on the bottom most of the time and has developed a horrible fin biting habit. I originally kept him by himself in an 8 gallon. He hated it so I assumed he needed something bigger. I moved him to my 16 gallons with a couple corydoras. He saw him chasing his tail frequently or he would sit on the bottom for days. So I moved him to an emergency 0.5 gallon bowl (no filter) and he quickly recovered in a couple days. I moved him to a 5 gallon fluval chi for a few months and he got worse than ever. Never moved (I frequently had to check that he was alive) and chewed his fins. He also seemed to have developed a slight swim bladder issue. I have moved him back to a tiny bowl and he is swimming around and making a bubble nest within a day of being in there! The swim bladder issue is gone. What’s going on?? How do I keep him in a tank while making him happier?

more details:
Yes, the water parameters are fine. The tanks were all cycled. No clear signs of illness beside the swim bladder issue. May have been constipation from not moving at all. No medication were given to him. The filter in all 3 tanks was extremely quiet.
There are live plants in all of the tanks, and I keep a little plant in his recovery tank.

 

I have heard of this before, so not a total surprise, really.

 

Have you tried a bigger tank but kept the water level low? It is possible he is having trouble swimming in deeper water. If he is biting his fins it could be because they are weighing him down thus making it difficult for him to swim to the top.

 

He is getting older. If he likes a tight space, I would just give it to him.

 

SImilar thing happened with my betta. I keep things very densely planted in a 5g and very dark (it's blackwater and low light). Seems to be doing him well. When I moved him to a 1.5g, though, I was like, "Is everything I every researched about bettas wrong???" I like the low water level idea above, though. Since they're top swimmers, they really just need length, not a whole lot of depth.