Hyper betta?????

[louisvillelady]

I have a lifetime experience with fish, and several years (15-20) with bettas. I have just received a giant gold dragon male from thailand. He is absolutely gorgeous and seems to be in perfect health. (he has no noticable ailments.) His appetite is tremendous, typical of giants. He is in full fin, not as much as a single tear, nor a single scale is out of place.

So, Here is the problem. Ever since I received him, Thurday morning, he has not stopped pacing his tank. He was in a 10 gallon planted tank with a cave and rings (a bird toy that bettas seem to enjoy), and IAL. I have since removed him from that tank and place him in an empty tank with IAL. I placed another betta that came in the same shipment in the ten gallon, and he immediately settled in and I think believes he is in heaven.lol The dragon on the other hand, is still pacing. So I have now moved him to a blue plastic container, and still no change. I am starting to wonder if he is just a hyper betta.

I have never know a betta to have this "ailment" although, he seems to otherwise be fine. Its not anything to do with environment or water, because other bettas placed in his previous containers/tank, settle in right away. He is in constant partial flare. Meaning he holds his fins up, but does not do the fighting or flirting stance, dance, or swim. He is not holding out his beard. But he has not once let his fins down. He has not once laid down, or even stopped.

So I am totally at a lose here. I got him thursday morning, this is now Sunday afternoon. He has to be tired, and I am afraid he is going to make himself sick from not resting. He will now focuse on me when I come to the tank, but I cannot hold his attention, like the other bettas will do. He will come to me, then swim around his tank, then back to me. He does this as long as I will stay there.

Any suggestions, or if anyone has had a betta normally behave this way, I appreciate the response. This guy is absolutely beautiful! I have emailed to person I brought him from, and they have a hard time with english. They simply told me to do the typical things, change water, add IAL. Things that if you are experienced you do automatically before getting stumped and asking for advice.

Thanks for the help in advance! Gotta get this guy settled down.

Oh yeah, one more thing, he was in partial flare even in the bag when I pulled him from the box!!

[DreamerHorse]

I have a baby female named Azure who never stops pacing her tank except at night. She just keeps going. She has always done this, so I just think of it as part of her personality.

[Seaman2012]

My bettas love to pace their tank. Mine are just really active and always have to be doing something unless at night. Then they rest more on the hammocks. I think it is a good thing when they are really active and swimming around. :)

[louisvillelady]

Thanks for the responses.

I like it when they are active too. Encourage it really by changing things up and giving them things to explore and such. But this fellow has yet to stop! I mean seriously has not stopped! I work weird hours, and well, someone is always up at my house. Everyone has said he is pacing the tank the whole time. I guess time will tell with this one.

[Stone]

My king/giant is more active than all of my other bettas combined, so he is either really active or the rest of my battas are really lazy, he was extremely active the first few weeks of being here and he has settled down but is still more active than his smaller cousins, I have even left his filter in his tank on high and un-baffled he enjoys playing in the current, it's his little roller coaster ride

[shellieca]

I have one that paces as well. He was in a 10g tank & every time I saw him he was pacing back & forth in the same area, low to the ground. I swapped with another male who was in a 5.5g tank thinking it might help but no, he does the exact same thing in the smaller tank. I do know that he does rest when lights are out. Does your Betta get a dark tank at night? You may want to cover his tank for some time over night if there are lights on 24/7. I would say he is probably resting at some point, no living creature can go without rest. I have a Betta at work & I know for a fact that our office lights don't get turned off night, but Krusty will go into his cave & rest every day around the same time. Sometimes I'll cover his tank when I leave work to give him a break from constant light.

[louisvillelady]

I have three other giants, and received two other giants along with this gold giant in the same shipment. The others seem to act the same as the normal sized bettas. I really see no difference in them.

I am the one that is up at night. He is in the living room and the only thing on is the tv. He really doesn't get much light at all from it even because of the angle it is at. I put him in a small solid blue container for a while to try and get him to rest, and still he just went back and forth even though he really could swim too far forward. I have placed him back in the ten gallon. I'm hoping in time he will settle down. I have one more day of work, and I'm off for four days. I think I'm going to try and focus his attention on some trick training. Maybe this will help him exert some energy, and be able to relax. He doesn't seem to focus as well as the others though. If I go up to any of my other fish, they intently watch me,hoping for a treat.lol He will look at me, take a trip around his tank, then back to me for a second, then around again. He will keep doing this as long as I stay there, but its like he can't sit still.

The stillest I have seen him, is when I feed him live food. He will sit still to watch and "hunt" the food, but as soon as he spots it, he is off again.

He ha a cave in his tank, and he hasn't even as much as looked at it. Most bettas are very inquisitive. He doesn't seem to be so. I've also added a dose of stress coat hoping it may help him, but no response. Wish I could have some of that energy! I know one thing, he is beautiful! And I certainly love seeing his fins held like he does, but I feel sorry for him. I'm hoping that maybe he is anxious from the trip. I left him in the ten gallon for two days before trying other containers. Wanted to give him a chance to settle down, and when he didn't I moved him. Maybe a couple weeks in the same environment, he will settle in a little. I can only hope.

[GailC]

I have a plakat male who does the exact same thing. He is constantly moving back and forth against the glass near the bottom.
He shows little to no interest in things around him and feeding can be difficult since he never seems to look up and see the food.
He is nearing two weeks of this behavior, I really hope he settles down some.

[louisvillelady]

Gailc, how long have you had him? You said it is going on two weeks, has this behavior just started, or is he a new fish to you? I'm very concerned with the way mine is acting. I don't see him having a very good, or very long life like this.

[Sakura8]

Does your king dart or rub, or is it just pacing and glass surfing?

Can he see other fish from his tank, especially females?

For the most part, unless he is showing indications of external parasites, I don't know if I'd worry too much. The exercise is good for him. Only be concerned if he starts to lose weight even if he is eating normally.