Betta not happy?

[Emma1986]

Hello, Im new to this forum I have a male betta called sheldon, Ive had him about 6 months, he is in a 35L tank.
Over the past month or so he has jumped out of his tank twice and tried yesterday but hit the lid
Its a clearseal tank and the lid was broken so I have some special cut plastic as a lid with about 1cm each side for air, dont know how he managed to aim it right to jump through the gap!
Both times he has jumped about a foot away from the tank, lays there motionless till I gently get him and put him back.
Why is he jumping? he also used to make all those bubbles, loads of them but he dosent anymore
Is he not happy? nothing has changed recently.
Any advice please.

[kholder]

I'm fairly new here too, but maybe lowering your water level will be a second line of defense to your lid for safety. If he jumps while you are away, it will be disasterous.

From reading on here and my own experience it seems as though bettas do like some entertainment by way of things in their aquarium to explore and maybe some colorful things on the outside that he can look at through the glass.

Last night I put a small pudding cup sized plastic bowl upside down in my guys tank, mostly filled with water, and about 1-2cm space with air (which keeps it afloat). He was playing in it when I want to bed last night and it was the first thing he went to this morning when I turned on his light.

Good luck.

[Oldfishlady]

How much and how often are your water changes, additives used, filtration, live plants, water temp, anything else in the tank with him like fish, shrimp, snails and if so how are they acting, what is your source water? city, well...etc....

Bettas will jump, however, since this is a new behavior it make you think something in the water-either water quality, heavy metals, high ammonia, chlorine/chloramines, temp, stray volt etc.....

[Miharu]

I agree with OFL, sounds to me like theres something wrong with the water quality and he's trying to get away from it, How often do you do water changes?

[Tsuhei]

Not saying to ignore the water advice, I'd definitely check that...but this is what I did for my fish tanks since I'm a huge worry-wort.



I went to Michael's and got that white plastic mesh thing in the yarn section and cut it down to size...it only cost 79 cents And it actually doesn't block out any light...it also helped with dust collecting at the top of my water too at night.

(Hopefully the picture loaded.. for my demonstration...)

[Emma1986]

Water temp 25c
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
Water change about 8L weekly, and just add stresscoat and stresszyme to the water, I have always done this, I also have another tank, 65L with 8 tetra, have had them a year now.
There are not live plants unfortunately, they kept dying but he has got lots of silk plants to hide about in and a couple of large seashells. What else would you put in with him?
No snails, fish or shrimp in with him.
Water is from the tap is quite hard but not really hard, I keep my tetra fine
We're moving house this wkend so Im going to sort his tank out and buy him some new things and he'll have a nice water change then.
Hes actually made some bubbles today just the jumping scares the hell out of me!

[Aristophanese]

wow- like the craft mesh though- I might use that when I buy a second tank- my funds are a tad limited and I might not be able to buy a hood right away

[dramaqueen]

Originally Posted by Tsuhei

Not saying to ignore the water advice, I'd definitely check that...but this is what I did for my fish tanks since I'm a huge worry-wort.



I went to Michael's and got that white plastic mesh thing in the yarn section and cut it down to size...it only cost 79 cents And it actually doesn't block out any light...it also helped with dust collecting at the top of my water too at night.

(Hopefully the picture loaded.. for my demonstration...)

I like that lid. It's very creative!

[Tsuhei]

Originally Posted by dramaqueen

I like that lid. It's very creative!

Why thank you! And it was quite affordable... only $0.79! And it's not flimsy..it's relatively stiff so and it doesn't roll...it just comes in a basic rectangle shape maybe a few inches longer and wider than what I cut it to.

Like I said though... I'm a huuuge worry wort about my fish jumping out.. They're on my headboard for my bed and there's about an inch of space between the wall and the back of the head board...and if they jumped out and got behind there...I wouldn't know about where they landed until it was too late! But now, I can sleep in peace

[scootshoot]

Originally Posted by Tsuhei

Not saying to ignore the water advice, I'd definitely check that...but this is what I did for my fish tanks since I'm a huge worry-wort.



I went to Michael's and got that white plastic mesh thing in the yarn section and cut it down to size...it only cost 79 cents And it actually doesn't block out any light...it also helped with dust collecting at the top of my water too at night.

(Hopefully the picture loaded.. for my demonstration...)

Dang!@ This is why I love this site!! Lots of awesome ideas by fellow betta lovers. We have a Michaels nearby, will definitely be taking a drive there this weekend