Depressed betta

[eudielynn]

I am a little concerned about my new boy, Batista. (Adopted him last Friday) I set his 2 gal tank up in a quiet corner of my bedroom away from kids and cats to try to make it less stressful for him. He just lays in the corner of his tank unless I am there with him. When I check on him he will start swimming around and do his little snaky dance for me, he flares beautifully when I hold a mirror to the side of his tank, and he seems to really enjoy the daily water changes. He is very active for a little while afterwards. But once he is left alone he goes right back into the corner and lays on the gravel. I have noticed that the current from the filter seems to bother him when he is at the top of the tank. It will catch him and carry him sideways at times. Could this be why he is staying at the bottom? I do not have a control on the filter to turn it down. It is a little UG filter that came with the 2 gal tank. Any suggestions? Or is it just that he is social and needs more stimulation? I could move him into a higher traffic area, but I sure do like having him in the bedroom.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

It could be the current from the filter. They prefer little to no surface movement. You could get a gang valve to put in the air line for the UGF so slow the air flow, or you can bend the air line and find some way of holding it where you want it like a small rubber band or something, or you could just take the UGF out completly and do bi-weekly water changes. HTH! GL!

 

[eudielynn]

Gang valve ... great idea! I will try that. I already tried to bend the tubing, but it is so small I either get all or nothing. Gee, I kind of thought he loved me so much he was pining away when I was gone.

 

[BettaMomma]

I have to manually twist all my airline tubing.
I have used everything from ponytail holders to office binder clips!
Just dig thru your junk drawer and then bend it slightly until you get what you want!

 

[eudielynn]

Will I ever get as smart as you guys? I have a million (give or take a few) binder clips. They should work fine. Thanks, BettaMomma!

 

[BettaMomma]

heh, no problem!

 

[eudielynn]

Just reporting on my depressed boy. I dug out a binder clip and played around with the air tubing last night and got the current down to about a third of what it had been. I believe that might have been the problem. He still sleeps in the same corner, but he is coming out much more often and swimming around at the top quite a bit more. Thanks for the good advice.

 

[BettaMomma]

Awesome!
One thing I should probably warn you about - keep an eye on the bubbles. As the tubing gets more "used to" being bent over, the bubbles will shut off completely. You just need to scoot it over and bend it in a different place every once in a while.

 

[eudielynn]

When I checked on him this morning the bubbles had almost totally stopped so I made an a little adjustment. I also showed the hubby what to do in case it happened while I was at work. I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks!

 

[rdd1952]

You can also buy a valve that has a handle to open and close or adjst the flow of the valve. I bought a 2 way for my 5 gallon tank and a 3 way for my 75 gallon. I got mine a petsmart for about 3 dollars. If you can't find a single one with a shut off on it, you can get a double and just close one completely and adjust the other to the flow you need. I have the 2 on the 5 gallon set at about half way to keep it from producing too many bubbles.