Hello, we need help!
We just got our new betta fish last week and he has not acclimated well it seems. We have tested our water and all the levels are in healthy parameters but all he seems to do is hide in corners and lay on the ground.
The clam in the pictures is a bubbler but it seems to disrupt the water too much and we turned it off to not cause him to tire his fins out more. We also have the filter on the lowest setting.
He was not eating him food the first day so we switched to a slow feeder tablet to let him eat on his own time but cannot tell if he’s eaten.
After a week he is still remaining in hiding spots and on the ground and has only ventured to the top of the tank once or twice.
Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations to help him be more comfortable or adjust his tank if needed?
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1t2ot4e
Posted by Ok_Werewolf9455
18 Comments
A lot of that decor looks like it could be bothersome to a Bettas fins. Any new resident of the tank is gonna be stressed for a little while till they begin to understand the space better, but that decor doesn’t look betta friendly to begin with, and the bright colors could be triggering to the betta fish potentially (think about how they’ve been raised to attack other colorful betta fish).
If he keeps laying on the ground, lower the water level to a few inches so it is easy for him to get air. Lots of pet store bettas come sick (they get that way from being badly cared for at the store), but it could also be the plastic decorations. Pet store aquarium decorations often contain toxic chemicals that will leach and kill the fish (it’s usually the bright paint). I would recommend testing for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia to gauge if your tank is cycled properly & if the decorations are leaching.
What’s your level of betta experience? Zero judgement, but just want to know so I can help you based on what you know/don’t know.
That looks like a lot of fake decor , and not a lot of real plants?
Also feed and watch him to learn how much he needs, if he doesn’t eat – uneaten food rots and makes water toxic. I feed with Zoomed tongs a bit at the time. He started eating on day 3.
Lots of real plants will make it less scary and bright. Moss and leaves = cozy shade.
Also real plants are soft and not obstacles for swimming.
That’s way too much food for a single betta. Try frozen food and see if that entices him, I had luck with North Fin 0.5mm pellets when I had a rescue doing same thing. Live baby brine shrimp would get it excited to eat but it’ll take quite some time to get them hatched and ready.
The light might be too intense for him, try raising it or reducing intensity. Mine like to tuck in under Amazon Frogbit.
Air filters and bubblers are generally the most gentle when it comes to water movement. It doesn’t seem to be a huge problem in your setup as there’s plenty of sheltered areas on the left side.
When you say parameters are healthy which parameters did you test and with what? That’ll be really helpful in trying to figure out what’s wrong 🙂
My betta was a weak swimmer when he first got out of his cup too. It takes a while for them to get stronger. Just make sure he eats. Those time release tablets aren’t a great feeding system. Try frozen food or floating pellets. Sometimes it’s trial and error to figure out what your fish wants. Make sure you are using an accurate test kit. Even the slightest amount of ammonia or nitrites will eventually affect your fish if exposed long enough.
A lot of those plastic plants will hurt your betta’s delicate fins. He’s going to want to try to hide in them. They love hiding. If you don’t want the hassle of live managing live plants, switch to silk. More hiding places are good, grab a betta log or betta bed for him to hang out around the surface.
Like the other comments said, I highly suggest removing those plastic plants and decor as they can damage his delicate fin. They will do more harm than good in the long run.
Add plenty of live plants as resting/hiding spots (java ferns, Amazon sword, Anubis,..) and some floaters could be great. Betta needs greenery in their environment to thrive. Boil some tannins (Indian almond leaves and alder cones), then slowly doze the cooled down mixture to the tank. Tannins acts as great stress reliever as it mimics betta natural habitat. It could aids boosting his appetite.
what are you using to test the water?
Test strips are notoriously inaccurate. I would not rely on them at all. Get the API freshwater kit.
A week is not going to be long enough to cycle a tank. Please go on Google and/or YouTube and search the aquarium nitrogen cycle. It’s going to take minimum of 1 month to cycle, I’ve found about 6-8 weeks is my usual unless I use already cycled filter media from another fish tank.
What you’re doing now is called a fish-in cycle. It’s a little more stressful but it can be done with the right tools.
No judgement here. I did the same thing when my daughter was gifted a betta for her birthday and I had no clue about betta care.
Here’s what I recommend:
1. Research the aquarium nitrogen cycle so you have a better understanding of your fish’s water.
2. Buy seachem prime. It’s a water conditioner that will also help to neutralize the ammonia your fish produces while your tank is cycling. You may also want to buy seachem stability to help the beneficial bacteria establish.
3. Buy the API freshwater test kit
Here’s a good link to educate yourself about the nitrogen cycle. The aquarium is like a space ship and your fish need an ecosystem that sustains itself. First we grow microbes that eat ammonia and turn it into nitrites and then into the less toxic nitrates that need to be removed either by plants growing in the tank or by weekly water changes. You’re going to need to do “fish in cycling,” which means you’ll need to do daily parameter checks (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates) to monitor how you’re doing , and you should have liquid drop kits because the strips are inaccurate and more expensive in the long run. The fish store people mislead you because you cannot cycle a tank in one week. If you don’t learn how to manage the microbes in your tank, you’ll end up with poor water quality that will stress out your fish and make him sick. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle?srsltid=AfmBOoqGfXXL_PvcuvLoEiwamLuAezHJsUt5ITCHGS47yGW20vgQaZ3h
Tanks take at least a month to cycle and wont cycle at all without an ammonia source. Google fish-in cycling because that is absolutely what you need to be doing. Im wondering what you mean when you say “healthy parameters” and if we can get a picture of new test results.
When I first got my betta from the store, he behaved like that and completely refused to eat any sort of dry food I fed him (pellets, flakes, freeze dried). I decided to get frozen food for him – bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia and he started eating and once he ate he started behaving normally. I figured he was lethargic from basically being starved 😔
You’ll want to fill the space your tank more, bettas really don’t care for big open swim areas the way many other fish do, they like to have a lot of cover.
I’d trade some of the fake plants for some live ones. The reason being that live plants just really do have nothing but benefits, especially when it comes to water stability. I don’t have beef with fake plants, I just think it’s beneficial to supplement them with live ones. Java ferns and Anaubis (I probably butchered the spelling) are very beginner friendly and great for gravel tanks because they prefer to be attached to decor vs. buried in substrate. You can also place cuttings from regular house plants like pothos, philodendrons, and even begonias into the tank (don’t submerge the whole plant, just the bottom part of the stem) and allow them to grow from the tank.
real plants
I know you probably like this tank, but it’s going to feel very uncomfortable for your betta. Too much open space, bright, not enough hiding places to rest in. Needs a lot more vegetation, less light, low flow filter.
Ok well first thing I’m going to say is your tank isn’t really betta friendly I’m sorry but u have way to much fake sharp decor . Bettas don’t like that they prefer real plants and real plants are cheaper than all this fake stuff and there so easy to keep alive all you need to do is super glue gel them to rocks or drift wood or tie them with thread or buy a plant weight .- anything Anubias, Java fern , El Niño ferns , bacopa , easy easy easy. Then you just buy a liquid fertilizer like api leaf zone . Now what kind of filter do you have ? And reason your bettas hanging out near the bottom is because you have no resting spots near the top and no floating plants to cover up some of the light bettas also don’t care for bright lights . I would suggest either getting floating plants or buying some Catappa leafs to darken the water slightly so they feel safer .
IMO your tank looks cute but is the completely wrong environment for the betta. You need real plants and mine loves his floating hammock and floating plants. I also have another betta in a community tank and she seems to love her wood log and real plants. Both eat flakes and bug bits