Balue Hates His Tank!

[FishFanatic04]

We have upgraded our Betta's tank after 2 weeks of jail cell size surroundings. But he hates it!! He stays in the back as far from the filter flow as he can and doesn't swim like I thought he would. We transferred all of his gravel and water and plant...so whatever bacteria he had in the tank went with him. But he is eating fine, and isn't clamped. He just stays away from the flow. Its probably the smallest filter on the market so I have no idea what to do. I'm not putting him back into a fish bowl!!!! I was doing 2-daily water changes and running an airstone in it....but that's not good enough.

Will he get used to the new filter flow?

hehe My 2 yo says Balue instead of "Blue" Help!

 

[Fishy friend2]

Have you tried baffling the filter?

 

[lil_phelpsy]

hi did u transfer some of the filter media over aswell as thats where the bacteria is not in the water and did you check the water perameters in the new tank soz dont no a great deal about keeping bettas

 

[FishFanatic04]

NOW I DO know about keeping Bettas. But I didn't know anythign back when I trusted the fish store employee when they said Bettas are fine in 1 gallon tanks!!! The tank box said it had an undergravel filter which turned out to be just an airstone and a piece of plastic for under the gravel...nothing else. I didn't know then how small the 1 gallon would be and immediately planned to replace it...I was NOT putting him back in a cup to go back to a store where he wouldn't be cared for and all the Bettas were lethargic and pathetic. So my unfiltered 1 gallon had to do the job for 2 weeks. It's better then the cup. I KNOW the bacteria is in a filter, but there was no filter so we did the next best thing by keeping all the water, gravel and decoration. {defensive rant over}

My problem is that the filter flow seems to strong for the poor guy and he stays in the back.

Please fishy friend2 how do you baffle a filter? lol

Oh also, where do you shop for fish related things Fishy Friend? I am in central TX too!

 

[LeiLana80]

Bacteria does grow on the gravel, so that part is fine (as long as it was good before, of course ).
He probably just has to adjust to the new flow... build some stronger muscles lol. When I switched my guy from a 3 gallon to a 6 gallon, the flow was much stronger and it freaked him out for a few weeks. But now he will often swim through the filter's strongest flow point just for fun! He will adjust, just give him time.
All my bettas needed time to adjust to the new flow strength. If after a few weeks he still doesn't seem to be adjusting, I would also suggest a baffle. Good luck!
(My two year old just calls our fish "Eeeeeee!" with a high pitched squeal lol)

 

[Cazgar]

You could try a sponge filter if he really hates the one you have, they're cheap, but you need an air pump for them

 

[LeiLana80]

This is a great guide for a DIY baffle: http/www.petfish.net/kb/entry/347/

 

[This Old Spouse]

You could try attaching some cheesecloth or ladies kneehigh nylons to the output of the filter to slow it down a bit. I'm sure the poor fish isn't used to any filter at all, so this would be a shock.

I wish I had the money to start a worldwide campaign on how NOT to keep a betta!

 

[FishFanatic04]

Bacteria does grow on the gravel, so that part is fine (as long as it was good before, of course ).
He probably just has to adjust to the new flow... build some stronger muscles lol. When I switched my guy from a 3 gallon to a 6 gallon, the flow was much stronger and it freaked him out for a few weeks. But now he will often swim through the filter's strongest flow point just for fun! He will adjust, just give him time.
All my bettas needed time to adjust to the new flow strength. If after a few weeks he still doesn't seem to be adjusting, I would also suggest a baffle. Good luck!
(My two year old just calls our fish "Eeeeeee!" with a high pitched squeal lol)

Oh I hope so! thanks a bunch! I didn't mean to be so defensive. Just trying to do the best we can for our fishes!

Two year olds are pretty funny. We keep naming our fish goofy things based on his silly words.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Oh me too! Someone at the store yesterday when we bought this tank actually said word for word "Bettas come from stagnant PUDDLES so they don't like a lot of water"

Even before I knew anything about fish, a little common sense makes that crazy!!! The 1 gallon I bought was definitely too small, but it didn't take long to figure out the errors with it...luckily it was less then $10 so we kept Balue till we could fix the problem.


I prob could have put him in the 46g with our platies but that tank isn't cycled {another issue caused by listening to employees} and I didn't want to ruin the tank balance because as of right now I've got a handle on the fish-in cycle and ammonia/nitrite levels}

 

[FishFanatic04]

OMG I would like to give a HUGE thank you to all of you. I just fashioned something in 2 minutes to calm the flow from the toe of a dress shoe sock. Balue is already swimming around and looking happy with his home. {Now I just have to test his water daily and keep up the changes to make sure his tank cycles}


Thanks again!

 

[Fishy friend2]

Oh also, where do you shop for fish related things Fishy Friend? I am in central TX too!

oh I go to Aquadome, but I've also heard that aqua tech is good too

And some other good ones that I've heard of are fintique and Alamo aquatics

 

[FishFanatic04]

Thanks! The shops we found near us are a little lacking..in everything including being clean. Other then petsmart, but that's where we got all the bad advice to start.