Betta - Strange Behaviour

[justjon]

Is my little guy ok?

Not sure if he's sleeping or what, but he appears to to rest a lot on the bottom of the tank, is this usual? He's not got a coconut to hide in yet as i need to cut it tommorow....

 

[Phoenixbaby]

any heavy breathing?

 

[justjon]

Opening and closing mouth very slightly about once a second so appears to be normal?

 

[ReMz]

no. not normal.... are his gills going in and out?

you've treated his water correct? he could still be getting used to the tank, but that is not healthy behavior at all.

clamped fins? anything external that doesnt look right?

 

[justjon]

His fins are coming out etc so not glamped, hes moving around a little and came to top of tank when i went over, water is all fine and treated yes, no strange markins on him either....

He sits still for a while at the bottom, then moves a little, then moves a bit again.

 

[justjon]

I've just fed him a tiny bit of bloodworm (his first lot) he's now swimming about quite happily, he came straight up and came out of the water to grab it from me...

Perhaps he is just chilling?

 

[ReMz]

He's new and might just be getting used to things. They can be a bit timid and mopey for a couple days.

Just keep an eye out for extremely lethargic behavior (ie just sitting on the bottom not moving wayyyy more than swimming). I think a lot of the time putting these guys in a large, filtered tank is a big jump compared to just plopping them in a bowl. He should come around m8

 

[justjon]

Good news - he seems fine thismorning, a lot happier - i've purchased another big plant to cover the back. he is still sitting on the bottom for a little period but moves off again soon after.

I've cut the coconut, tried to scrape contents out but very hard, boiled it once already for about 30mins, so going to attempt to scrape out insides again... then sand it off properly.. once i've done this, will boiling it once more for about 30 more minutes be ok? I'm just going to lay it on it's side so he can literally go into it and rest in there if he wants to.

 

[justjon]

Got the contents out of it, sanded it off, its reasonably smooth (slightly furry in some areas but nothing i dont think that'll harm him)... just boiling the empty shell now.. will do that for an hour or something to be sure.. and then put in the water!