When I was REALLY little, (like 4 or 5) I used to keep a Betta in a small 1/2 gallon unfiltered, unheated bowl. So while I've kept betta's before... I didn't actually do much for them back then. Since then, in the past year or so, I've started keeping a variety of fish at home (mostly live bearers and some tetras/danios). I'm at university, living in residence, and wanted a pet. About all we're allowed is fish, and so the Betta set up was born.
The tank is 5 gallons, measuring 41cm long, 22cm high, and 20cm wide.
It's filtered with an Elite Stingray 5, and heated with a 25 Watt Heater to a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius.
The _only_ inhabitant is a Male Veil-Tail Betta, named Alpha. (He did have some neon tetras in with him, but they contracted some seriously bad ick on their first night in the tank and despite treatment, have all died in the past 12 hours.
He's been fairly active, constantly moving around, but seems to enjoy squeezing into small places. My filter is suction cupped to the back of the tank (as it's entirely underwater), and he's already tried squeezing in behind it. He also seems to enjoy resting his head on top of the suction cup for my thermometer.
The flow from the filter creates a bit of a current, so I've aimed the flow at a wall in order to break the current. The betta seems to always be "sitting" on top of my filter, letting his fins flow with the filter current. When I approach the tank and am in his line of sight, he instantly swims away effortlessly to flare at me, or see if i'm there to feed him. I'll attach a few pictures of what I mean by sitting on top of the filter.
I know he's eating, as I watched him eat the pellets last night. The tank is still cycling, but is receiving every-other-day water changes of 15%-20%.
Is it normal Betta behaviour for him to be doing this?
The tank is 5 gallons, measuring 41cm long, 22cm high, and 20cm wide.
It's filtered with an Elite Stingray 5, and heated with a 25 Watt Heater to a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius.
The _only_ inhabitant is a Male Veil-Tail Betta, named Alpha. (He did have some neon tetras in with him, but they contracted some seriously bad ick on their first night in the tank and despite treatment, have all died in the past 12 hours.
He's been fairly active, constantly moving around, but seems to enjoy squeezing into small places. My filter is suction cupped to the back of the tank (as it's entirely underwater), and he's already tried squeezing in behind it. He also seems to enjoy resting his head on top of the suction cup for my thermometer.
The flow from the filter creates a bit of a current, so I've aimed the flow at a wall in order to break the current. The betta seems to always be "sitting" on top of my filter, letting his fins flow with the filter current. When I approach the tank and am in his line of sight, he instantly swims away effortlessly to flare at me, or see if i'm there to feed him. I'll attach a few pictures of what I mean by sitting on top of the filter.
I know he's eating, as I watched him eat the pellets last night. The tank is still cycling, but is receiving every-other-day water changes of 15%-20%.
Is it normal Betta behaviour for him to be doing this?
