? About Bettas In General + Feeding?

[kingmed]

I'm not a newby on fish necessarily, compared to alot of you I certainly am----however I was curious about a few things in general. I was noticing my male betta who is currently in a 5 gallon tank by himself (uncycled tank), and he was swimming mainly on the upper 3-4 inches of the water most of the time and I'd say maybe once every so often swim around and through the silk plants and then back up and around tank. Question is do bettas normally swim on the upper surface of the water in the middle or bottom part of the tank // or is it just a behavior that each betta does on it's on??
Secondly last night while feeding him betta gold pellets by Hikari (3 of them) he seemed to make a chewing motion with his head and jaw after eating them and then spit some out twice in a 3-4 minute period and then was or seemed to O.K. or stopped doing it. Did I feed him to much or is this quite normal at times + for Hikari pellets should they be soaked before adding to the tank to make them softer or does it matter?
Funny thing is I've had bettas off and on for around 3 yrs. and every wants in awhile it seems I notice things I've never seen before, there probably normal but thought I'd ask. Also he gets his tank cleaned aprox. every 7 days-tank has no gravel.

 

[stang1]

Bettas are anabantoids and have labyrinth organs which means that they can breathe air. It's perfectly normal to see your fish go to the surface for oxygen every now and again.
As for feeding, sometimes they do spit the food out but as long as he's eating then don't worry. My boys do the same thing now and again with their food, just remember to take out any leftover food as it will pollute the tank.
Do you have a filtered or unfiltered tank? If it's filtered, then cleaning once a week is perfectly fine. If unfiltered, may people do 30% water changes every 2-3 days and a 100% water change weekly.

 

[kingmed]

Bettas are anabantoids and have labyrinth organs which means that they can breathe air. It's perfectly normal to see your fish go to the surface for oxygen every now and again.
As for feeding, sometimes they do spit the food out but as long as he's eating then don't worry. My boys do the same thing now and again with their food, just remember to take out any leftover food as it will pollute the tank.
Do you have a filtered or unfiltered tank? If it's filtered, then cleaning once a week is perfectly fine. If unfiltered, may people do 30% water changes every 2-3 days and a 100% water change weekly.

I don't run a filter at the present time, and I think I'll go with your suggestion and syphon a small bit out twice a week or so to help him out a little more. thanks.