Hi all,
I will admit I know nothing about normal betta behavior. I read up on care and feeding, etc. before I got my fish but not much about how they normally act. This is not my first fish tank, but it's my first betta. He's on my desk at work right next to me.
My fish has been doing a lot of resting on the bottom of the tank this morning. He will swim around for a while, looking pretty normal as far as I can tell, exploring. Then he keeps coming to rest in the same area behind some plants. He doesn't seem to be laboring to breathe or anything. He's not on his side or anything, just sitting with his belly on the gravel for several minutes, then he'll swim around, rest, repeat. I am not sure if this is normal or not. He could still be a little stressed from being moved. He appears healthy - no missing scales or white spots or clamped fins, etc.
Jetta is in a heated (76 degrees), cycled 4 gallon tank. He has 2 nerite snails as tank friends, several live plants, a pot for a hiding spot, a hammock. I literally just got him yesterday, but I have been cycling the tank for a week using gravel and filter media from an established tank. I did verify using ammonia drops (BEFORE the fish was in the tank) that the tank is cycled. Water parameters - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, maybe a hint of nitrate, ph is 7.4, medium hardness. I did try to give him a couple of pellets yesterday, but he didn't show any interest.
I will do a water change today. I also bought a new heater because the one I have in there won't get the water any warmer than 76, but I haven't put the heater in yet.
So questions:
I will admit I know nothing about normal betta behavior. I read up on care and feeding, etc. before I got my fish but not much about how they normally act. This is not my first fish tank, but it's my first betta. He's on my desk at work right next to me.
My fish has been doing a lot of resting on the bottom of the tank this morning. He will swim around for a while, looking pretty normal as far as I can tell, exploring. Then he keeps coming to rest in the same area behind some plants. He doesn't seem to be laboring to breathe or anything. He's not on his side or anything, just sitting with his belly on the gravel for several minutes, then he'll swim around, rest, repeat. I am not sure if this is normal or not. He could still be a little stressed from being moved. He appears healthy - no missing scales or white spots or clamped fins, etc.
Jetta is in a heated (76 degrees), cycled 4 gallon tank. He has 2 nerite snails as tank friends, several live plants, a pot for a hiding spot, a hammock. I literally just got him yesterday, but I have been cycling the tank for a week using gravel and filter media from an established tank. I did verify using ammonia drops (BEFORE the fish was in the tank) that the tank is cycled. Water parameters - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, maybe a hint of nitrate, ph is 7.4, medium hardness. I did try to give him a couple of pellets yesterday, but he didn't show any interest.
I will do a water change today. I also bought a new heater because the one I have in there won't get the water any warmer than 76, but I haven't put the heater in yet.
So questions:
- Could this just be stress from the move and new digs?
- I know he can go a while without eating, but how do I entice him to eat? I have both betta pellets and frozen brine shrimp.
- At what point should I worry? I'm used to danios and glofish and guppies who literally never stop moving around like little crazy fish, so I don't know how active other fish are.
- Is there anything else I can or should be doing?
