betta pacing rapidly on gravel in one corner

[kulain]

hey guys,

my little double tail betta Kaelthas - I've had him for two-three weeks and he's acting weird all the time unlike my big veil tail (who had an ick outbreak but is now ok and in my 5g), I am wondering if its just normal for him or if he's unhappy with something. He sticks to the bottom of his 2g tank and swims rapidly back and forth across the gravel only in one corner by the marimo moss ball. Ive looked at him carefully and he doesn't have ick or any fin rot or any signs of sickness. He swims up to eat when I feed him but he's definitely not as interested and will sometimes ignore the pellets :/ until i make them sink and sometimes he catches them or sometimes he just lets them sink to the bottom. He flares up randomly but does not move around when he does so, and he doesn't seem to care when i put a mirror outside his house.

feeding: twice a day, 4-5 new life spectrum pellets, sometimes a little powdered brine shrimp or blood worm - i have to cut these as he's too small to eat a whole one.

tank: 2g zoo med betta house. Heated with 25w theo at 78. It has 3 small java ferns, 2 small anubias, a marimo ball, 5-7 cabomba, 3-4 anacharis, and a water sprite. No filter or airstone. Substrate is floramax.

water: 0.25-4ppm ammonia - it somehow rises over night to 4ppm which I don't really understand as that doesn't even happen in my 1g. I do water changes every other day, usually 50-75%. 0 nitrite 0 nitrate as it is a fairly new tank.

I don't know, maybe I'm just paranoid because my first betta got sick, but I'd just like to confirm that it is normal behavior or there is something I can do to help him or something :/

[inveritas]

I can't really say if your betta is sick, but I'd try putting in some aquarium salt and tannins (Indian almond leaves or blackwater extract). My betta was at times lethargic, restless or seemed stressed and a few drops of blackwater extract into my 2G tank always does the trick.