I take excellent care of my fish :)
I don't mind taking in another little guy.
The spine is permanently bent, just as the picture, yes.
It's pretty sad, all he does is lay at the bottom of the bowl inbetween rocks and than when I open the lid or give him so food (I've been giving him brine shrimp), he swims up and eats happily and plays around abit.
Than he goes back to the bottom :(
It's possible that with his spine deformity, his organs aren't properly sized. If his swim bladder is smaller than normal, staying afloat or swimming in place could be much more difficult for him. I'd say try to make the bottom of his bowl interesting to look at so he doesn't feel bored, and do what you can to encourage him to exercise and move around as much as possible to build up his strength.
It's possible that with his spine deformity, his organs aren't properly sized. If his swim bladder is smaller than normal, staying afloat or swimming in place could be much more difficult for him. I'd say try to make the bottom of his bowl interesting to look at so he doesn't feel bored, and do what you can to encourage him to exercise and move around as much as possible to build up his strength.
Any ideas on how to entertain him?
He's growing a little, and he is showing a sky blue on his fins. I can't tell if it's a female or male yet.
Def. Also, this may sound strange, but I have experimented with therapy, putting a fish in a small jar with an obstacle in the middle with barely enough room for them to turn around, so they have to move in a circle, and it helps with minor spine probems and muscular issues, and I used it on a fish who was blind in one eye to keep her spine from bending.
Lettign him flare at a mirror, rearragning his decorations an dgettign new ones regularly, plants with flowy leaves that wave around, and live foods are all good ways to keep your betta intrested.
What a cutie. If its just a deformity I think with the extra swimming room he'll probably build up some muscle & learn how to get around pretty well. One suggestion, I would be very careful about how much you feed since he's not as active he won't be burning as many calories as a "normal" Betta would & his digestive system might not be as well "oiled", for lack of a better term. Does that make sense, it did in my head. LOL
I was in the same situation. I had one baby with a curved spine and one that was normal (separate tanks). Unfortunately, the baby with a curved spine died a week ago (normal one is still fine). I'd recently moved both to slightly bigger tanks, so maybe I should have left it in the small tank. They just looked like they were growing and needed more space. Hard to say with these little ones: bigger space for exercise vs difficulty reaching the surface.
The single bit of advice I have, is that I found a plant with a massive tangle of roots and the little one loved it. The roots provided dozens of perches at all levels of the tank. And it could hide amid the roots.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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