Strong Current?

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ZZButch

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Greetings, i've recently gotten a betta and it seems(at least to me) that it puts great effort to swim in certain places at least. What do you thing? Is my internal filter too strong? The danios and the platys don't seem to mind it. Even the platy fry seem to be doing great in it.

 
Most Bettas are raised in jars, for aggression reasons, but also so that swimming won't cause fin tears and affect their value to buyers. When they first go into the tank, they have the muscle tone you'd have if you were raised in a jar! It can take them weeks to get to strength - your fish may never have had the chance to swim since he was sexable, until when he was put in your tank.
Add to that his fins, which are not natural, but are bred for sales. Yours isn't too handicapped, and should recover enough to get around.

Problem two is that danios are racers who need a current. Platys come from rivers as well as stiller waters, and have a body shape to enjoy a good current. Your Betta looks like it's fallen into a creek in a wedding dress. The drag from the breeder selected finnage is considerable.

So you either cheat the danios and platys by reducing the reasonable flow, as the Betta will be exhausted. You set the filter flow differently, so he has some quiet protected surface and rest areas to go to. Or you get him a quiet, heated and filtered tank.
 
Gary put it well. Unfortunately the tank conditions don’t work for all your species of fish. Bettas can enjoy some flow every once in awhile, but they need mostly calm water with minimal flow. It’s all about their natural environment, bettas live in still water (they even can breath surface air, the still water has less oxygen so this is needed) while fish like Danios live in flowing water with current, which is usually much more oxygenated. :)
 
Greetings, i've recently gotten a betta and it seems(at least to me) that it puts great effort to swim in certain places at least. What do you thing? Is my internal filter too strong?
I agree with the above responses. You have a really nice tank and I bet that betta is happier living with you than in an unheated, pet shop 'teacup' container. If starting another aquarium is not an option, I would find a way to provide a calm area at the surface, within your existing tank. Floating plants help. Cork also works well. How large is your tank and what type of filtration does it have?
 
I agree with the above responses. You have a really nice tank and I bet that betta is happier living with you than in an unheated, pet shop 'teacup' container. If starting another aquarium is not an option, I would find a way to provide a calm area at the surface, within your existing tank. Floating plants help. Cork also works well. How large is your tank and what type of filtration does it have?
In addition to these ideas, some filters have ways to turn the flow output down
 

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