Betta Activity Levels?

[Phaedra]

First, a disclaimer. I'm a newbie to fish keeping and to bettas. I've done a lot of reading but I haven't found anything to address this one concern.
My new Betta, Darby O'gill is the most active little fish I've ever seen! Granted, I picked him out in the store because he was active and curious in his small 1g cup, but sometimes he scares me!

I'm sure he can see his reflection on both the right and left sides of the tank, and sometimes he gets VERY excited about it and will swim up, then down VERY fast, I'm afraid he's going to rip his fins on the little barrel decoration I have in the tank (not that he has yet, but it's only been 3 days in his new 3g). He's even done something of a "freak out" where he sort of shimmies around.
His tank has not cycled, params are all 0 atm and he's eating like a pig (and begs for more already any time he notices me) and water temp is staying around 78-80 degrees.
He also gets very excited when he sees me, he'll zoom back and forth in the front of his tank and make a general fool of himself.

He does take breaks now and then, resting on top of his silk plant or inside of his barrel or just lazily swimming around the tank before returning to his reflection, but I wonder- should I be worried? Is this normal behavior?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[jess6905]

i don't think its anything to worry about, but be sure to keep and eye on him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself.

 

[girl4God81]

I think it's great that you are watching so closely, sounds like he's very spoiled and is probably just very happy!!

Make sure to look out for any white marks around his face, just in case the "shimmy" is for a reason other than just pure happiness! Nice to hear someone spoiling their bettas like that!

 

[bymauldin]

I had a betta that did exactly the same thing when I first bought him. It totally freaked me out! I tried changing the color of the rocks. I tried putting his tank under a different light. It seemed like nothing helped. Finally someone suggested to me that I should add a little extra decholorinator to the water and if that didn't work then to try some Stress Ez. I added extra decholorinator and it seemed to help out a good bit. He's still one of the most active bettas I've ever had but I was concerned that he was going to hurt himself (like you are concerned). So, I'd say to try that and see if it helps any. I thought that if he was really seeing his reflection he'd probably be flaring at it.

 

[Phaedra]

Thanks so much everyone, I feel a bit better this morning after reading your posts.
I hope he is spoiled, I really do want him to be as happy and healthy as possible.

I have what I think might be good news though. I woke up this morning and it seems that one side of the tank is a layer of bubbles! I think Darby may have made his first bubble nest while I was sleeping. It's right across from the filter output though, so I don't want to get my hopes up too much in case it was just from the filter.

Speaking of the filter, I've noticed that Darby does his "nose dive" on the side of the tank that the filter is on. So I wonder if he's playing in the current. I'm going to slow it down as soon as I can get my hands on a pop bottle to use, but unless he swims directly underneath it, it doesn't seem to bother him. (He's in the Eclipse 3, if anybody else has experience with it.)
I got a video of him doing his nose dive this morning, so hopefully if I can figure it out, I'll have a clip to share with you all later today. His coloring doesn't seem quite as vibrant as I remember him being, either. *stress*

After reading your post, bymauldin, I added a bit of the aquasafe water conditioner to his tank in hopes that if there IS anything wrong it will help him. It's supposed to neutralize chlorine, chloramines and harmful metals, and enhance the slime coating on fish. In the five minutes it's been in there I haven't noticed any difference, but then again, I'm not standing in front of his tank to draw his attention so he's just lazily swimming around. I've checked his face for white spots (ich?) and although his scales look a little rough, I don't know if it's normal or not.

Blast my inexperience!

 

[barb-e]

Both of my female bettas do that from time to time. I think its pretty normal and they do sometimes so guess that is when they are excited(??). I've only had them for two months now but they seem healthy. I guess the risk would be greater with a male because of the long fins/tail.

 

[Jaded12]

He just sounds like a very spoiled, very active boy!! Would love to see some pictures of him though

 

[Phaedra]

Thanks everyone for the tips and info. I appreciate you putting up with my long posts lol! I got a nice bottle today from work that contained only water, so I'm going to be slowing down that water flow with that. Darby seems a bit calmer this afternoon.

And thanks for letting me know about your Betta's, barb-e, it certainly makes me less stressed to know that other bettas do the same thing.

As for pictures, although I have enough to start my own photo album almost, I can't figure out this blasted camera so I can hook it up to my computer. Hopefully I can get it all set up tonight though when the fiance gets home.

 

[Phaedra]

[Update] I can't seem to find the blasted cable to connect my digital camera to the computer! *pout* But I thought I'd post anyway and let everyone know that Darby seems very happy today. His coloring has improved quite a bit and although he's still doing the nose dive, he seems to have it controlled now and doesn't hit anything on his way down. He just does a graceful swoop and swims back up. I think he's just doing it to get more breakfast lol!

 

[Phaedra]

Finally got the video uploaded, but be warned, it's VERY big since I don't know how to shrink it down. (Sorry 56kers!)