I have my betta, Nemo, in a planted 29 gallon tank. He's been in this tank since 11/27. When I first got him he explored the tank and would interact with me for the first couple of weeks. Now, he spends all day and night glass surfing. He does this on the sides and back of the tank, but not the front. He only stops to be fed, then goes right back to it. He rarely interacts with me or explores the rest of tank, unless it's at night with all the lights off. But, he gets bored of exploring and goes back to surfing.

I have taped white paper to the back and sides of the tank to help mitigate the issue, but it hasn't really helped. I have the light set at 50% thinking it might be too bright, but I don't want to go too low and discourage plant growth. There are about 40 to 50 neocaridina shrimp, 2 ghost shrimp, and 6 kuhli loaches, and a nice colony of random snails in the tank. Nemo and his tankmates pretty much ignore each other and go about doing their own things. The other tankmates show no signs of stress or odd behavior. I've only had one death. A ghost shrimp died after molting. All of my other shrimp molt just fine and I find molts almost daily. Three of my shrimp are berried and one of my Kuhlis has eggs!

The tank is fully cycled. I did a fish in cycle with Fritzyme 700 and added stability as an extra step/assurance. Fritzyme 700 is amazing and I always use it for new tanks because it works quick and I always end up with great daphnia colonies. I tested the parameters daily and ended up cycled in a week. This was back in early December. I now test about 2 or 3 times a week because I am nosy. The nitrates now read 0, but up until a couple days ago I usually had around 5 to 10ppm. The floaters really took off in the last week so that might explain the 0 nitrates.

I've included a couple pictures. The 1st is what Nemo looks like today, the 2nd is from last month, and 3rd is the tank set-up.

Listed below are tank parameters from the last pic left to right:

PH low: reads 7.6
PH high: reads 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitate: 0

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me pinpoint an issue, or give advice/steps to help Nemo stop glass surfing. I feel bad that he might be stressed. I've never had a betta before, so I'm unsure if this is normal behavior or not.

Thanks!

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1qdv327

Posted by ceramicscone6

2 Comments

  1. madnessdoesntplay on

    I was going to say black paper as well. It looks like you’ve done a great job with your tank and making a good life for all your little guys!

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