He was given to us in a sad 2 gallon bowl with colored gravel and fake plants. I cycled this 20(ish) gallon tank for him and it finally hit 0s yesterday.
We let him in after some temp acclimation and he darted around exploring for a few hours. He laid on the sword, ate some baby snails, and played around, but by the evening he had started doing this – wedging himself next to or under the sponge filter, or actively swimming in the water/bubble flow.
He's not stuck. If you tap on the glass near him, he'll dart off.
0 ammonia 0 nitrite 15 nitrate per test today.
8.1 pH, which is what he's gotten accustomed to over the past few weeks. I have stupid hard tap water.
80.8-81.2 °F in the tank. There's always been slight temp variation despite having an oversized heater – Fluval M100, claims it's good to 30 gallons.
Tried to feed him but he won't come to the top for food. I've seen him eating baby snails and the gunk attached to the filter (gross). He knows what the food bottle looks like, though, so I'll just have to get his attention if he's hungry.
So, to recap – is this odd behavior? I've heard Bettas prefer still water, and this is the first flow he's dealt with outside of water changes.
Bonus question: could I add some shrimp now to eat algae/leftover food, or should I wait a few weeks for the bioload to adjust?
Posted by TheDagronPrince
9 Comments
no its normal.
MY FIRST BETTA DIED IN THE SAME WAY…. so please make sure there’s clearance around the filter
When I first got my betta he hid behind my filter for 4 or 5 days. Now he’s a social little asshole butterfly
He probably just feels safe in the cover of the sponge filter. I would just make sure he is able to escape the corner and he will be okay.
He’s hiding.
FYI an oversized heater is dangerous. Oversized heaters will produce more rapid temperature variations because when they switch on they heat the water very rapidly. The problem is even worse in tanks with limited water flow, because the heater may heat the water around it fast enough to switch back off before the whole tank is actually heated up.
This is a much worse problem than it sounds like, because rapid on-off cycling is the fastest way to make a heater break. A heater than stays “on” 99% of the time will last basically forever. A heater that switches on and off every few minutes might last less than a year.
And when heaters break, SOMETIMES the thermostat is what fails. If that happens the thermostat can get stuck on, killing everything in the tank within a very short time.
In short, an over-powered heater is a time bomb. If you are lucky, it will fail “cold” and
Also, if that sponge filter came with a lift tube, it needs the lift tube to function correctly. The tube acts like the chimney of a fireplace, it is what generates most of the suction force to pull water through the foam.
Lastly, not everyone agrees on this, but I personally do not recommend keeping bettas at that temperature. Bettas are fine at those temps (78+ F) in the wild, but their native environment is a lot less heavy with potentially pathogenic bacteria than home aquariums are. Those pathogenic bacteria thrive most at temps around 80F.
I got suspicious about the standard 78-80F recommendation, so I did a poll that asked betta keepers if they keep their bettas at >=77F, or <77F, and whether their bettas typically lived for <2 years, 2-4 years, or >4 years.
Most people who said they keep bettas as >=77F reported <2 years. Only 7% reported >4 year life expectancy. But among those who keep bettas at <77F (most who specified an exact temp were around 74F, which is the temp I keep mine at), only 22% reported life expectancy <2 yrs. Fully one third reported life expectancy >4 yrs.
Lots of floaters in your tank … are they “Frogbit” 🐸 by any chance?
I had a gourami die because he got stuck like that. I learned to avoid those spaces now. Fish can be stupid
Bettas are just weird lol. Nothing unusual. He might want a spot to hide. Alot of people recommend frogbit as a floater but all of mine melted so I went with dwarf water lettuce and it’s doing great besides having to compete with duckweed so there another option. Then I just tried guppy grass and my betta seems to like it.
Floating plants should keep your aquarium water healthier, provide a safer feeling environment for the fish and shade some of the light as betta normally hide under leaves
Try adding Indian almond leaves to darken the water by a good bit.