BEFORE you upgrade your betta to bigger tank

[Nisha]

I had a similar bad experience. My betta Jasper got very stressed and bit his own tail when I put him in the 6 gallon eclipse tank. He was not happy.
He's much happier in his smaller tank with no currents.

My female betta Opal though is quite the opposite. She's in a community tank with a fairly strong filter and she enjoys playing in the stream at times. They all have their own personalities.

I guess the lesson is to not make too many changes with bettas too quickly. If they seem happy where they are, leave them be.

 

[Chrissy]

Yikes! I'll have to be careful when I move Sushi to a larger tank. I'm not going to move him right after I get it, I'm going to let the plants grow and cycle the tank, so I'll have time to see if the current is too strong, and if it is, I'll try to figure something out......

 

[GuppyDude]

iv heard alot of storys of people haveing bettas who chew off their tails becasue of stress but iv nvr personally experianced it. i know all of my bettas have been put throgh extream ammounts of stress at some point in time or another but still no tail nipping, i wonder if its just a habit some develope and others dont

 

[BettaMomma]

You have a Jasper also?
Sweet

 

[BettaMomma]

Just a quick update - Amos isn't doing well at all.
Unfortunately, he's at the office and I'm home for the evening so I can't keep an eye on him.
When I left him at the end of the day today, I was pretty sure it was the last time I'll see him (alive, anyway).
The poor little guy. I guess I'll post in the morning and hopefully it will be good news but I doubt it.

 

[Kittycat]

I think the focus of the warning is a little off--the problem seems to be water movement, not tank size. So the warning should not be against upgrading to a larger tank, but against a strong filter.

 

[BettaMomma]

Well, right - but in upgrading to a bigger tank with a betta, because of the amount of water changes they require, you will need a filter, therefore they go hand in hand...

I guess that was my point in posting this.

And by the way...
Amos is right now laying on his side on the bottom of his tank.
I wouldn't be surprised if he dies before the day's over.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Awww... How long have you had him? At least if he dies he has had a much nicer life than dieng of finrot/ich in Walmart or getting slowly starved and suffocated in a vase.....

 

[BettaMomma]

Well, I've had him since November of last year.
I went out and got him as sort of our team's mascot at work.

I'm so very sad.

Well, he just got up off the floor of the tank and swam around a bit, and he ate some bloodworms so I guess there's still hope. It's just so pitiful.

 

[newfishies]

i hope he perks up for you!

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Jeez, BettaMomma, I come back from Florida and specifically wanted to check and see how your new guy was doing, and sorry to hear Amos didn't take the change too well! I hope he comes out of this, eating is good!

How's the new guy? Maybe I've just missed the post.....

All the critters here were fine while we were gone....

 

[BettaMomma]

The new guy Jasper has had an amazing road to recovery.
Today's the last day of his Tetracycline treatment, and I'm going to do a water change for him tomorrow so I can see him again! (his tank has gone kool-aid red with the tetracycline meds ). I'm hoping he'll make a full recovery.

Amos had a salt bath today and he's back into his tank - laying on the bottom again. His tail is shredding off - every time I peek into his tank there is another shred or two laying on the bottom of the tank, and he's lost some of his color. His appetite has NOT been affected, however which keeps giving me some hope... And every once in a while he gets a burst of energy and he goes for a lap or two, then back down to rest. He even comes over and stares at me for some attention every once in a while, too. I really hope I can get him to pull through, too. I was so excited for little Jasper but then Amos really took a turn for the worse.

It seems like it's neverending. If one of them isn't sick, another one is.
I'm just going to keep doing what I can for him and wait and see what happens.