Lazy betta?

[DirectorTseng]

I've had my betta for roughly half a year now, he's in his own 5 gal tank with only a black nerite snail as a tank mate. Ever since we moved him from a his original 10 gallon tank he's been the laziest little diva ever. He discovered that he can lay against the filter intake and that is what we call his comfort spot, cause any time he is done swimming he will swim up and just flop against it and not move. Most of the time you would swear my tank is empty because he's up there on that filter intake.

He can swim just fine and will on occasion swim around, or if I come into the room he will swim up to greet me. If he isn't flopping against that he will flop dramatically against one of the flat rocks in his tank. He's a bloody little diva and he knows it.

Is this normal for a betta? his last tank he was always down in the middle and swimming but now he just loves that intake.

( 5 gal tank with hidden filter in the back, temp is 96-97 76-77 normally (opps wrote the wrong numbers originally) , he's fed every day only a few pellets at a time, all his water tests come back perfectly fine and we use the advanced testing kits. He's got plenty of hiding spots which he loves so i'm really stumped here. Don't know if there is something wrong or if he is really just lazy as heck now. )

 

[RinRin]

I've had my betta for roughly half a year now, he's in his own 5 gal tank with only a black nerite snail as a tank mate. Ever since we moved him from a his original 10 gallon tank he's been the laziest little diva ever. He discovered that he can lay against the filter intake and that is what we call his comfort spot, cause any time he is done swimming he will swim up and just flop against it and not move. Most of the time you would swear my tank is empty because he's up there on that filter intake.

He can swim just fine and will on occasion swim around, or if I come into the room he will swim up to greet me. If he isn't flopping against that he will flop dramatically against one of the flat rocks in his tank. He's a bloody little diva and he knows it.

Is this normal for a betta? his last tank he was always down in the middle and swimming but now he just loves that intake.

( 5 gal tank with hidden filter in the back, temp is 96-97 normally, he's fed every day only a few pellets at a time, all his water tests come back perfectly fine and we use the advanced testing kits. He's got plenty of hiding spots which he loves so i'm really stumped here. Don't know if there is something wrong or if he is really just lazy as heck now. )

75-80 degrees Fahrenheit is the recommended temperature for a betta.

If you don't have plants in your betta tank, you can think of getting one cause my betta loves swimming in the leaves of the plants, just make sure it won't damage its fins or tail.

If your betta don't have white/silverly spots on his body or complications he might really just be lazy or maybe he's not use to his tank yet

 

[DirectorTseng]

75-80 degrees Fahrenheit is the recommended temperature for a betta.

If you don't have plants in your betta tank, you can think of getting one cause my betta loves swimming in the leaves of the plants, just make sure it won't damage its fins or tail.

If your betta don't have white/silverly spots on his body or complications he might really just be lazy or maybe he's not use to his tank yet

Opps realized I wrote 96-97 instead of 76-77, what I get for writing this right before bed.

He has plants but completely ignores them, I even gave him one of those leaves to nap on but it might as well not even exist, his snail likes it more then him. He's got some white at the tip of some fins but I figured that was regrowth as he was originally moved due to a new fish in the 10gal nipping the hell out of him and the stress made him loose most of his tail and fins. He's been in the tank for probably 4 months now so he should be used to it.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Bettas are warm water fish, 78F-80F are the temps they need to be in.

Did you cycle the tank before moving him into it?

What kind of test kit are you using, and what are your readings for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte?

 

[betta fish]

It still sounds to me as though your filter may still be a too powerful for him, bettas are not strong swimmers and get tired easily, they come from very sluggish water in the wild with hardly any flow, flopping on the rock or sticking to the intake sounds like he is getting tired from fighting the flow as the tank is now smaller, is it possible to drop the flow a bit and see if there is an improvement or even turn the filter off just to see how this affects his behaviour you will probably find he swims around a lot more.

 

[DirectorTseng]

Bettas are warm water fish, 78F-80F are the temps they need to be in.

Did you cycle the tank before moving him into it?

What kind of test kit are you using, and what are your readings for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte?

I'm afraid to touch his heater as the sticker that was on it that said what heat was where seems to have come off. don't even know which way to turn it.

Tank was fully cycled before he was put in. and we're using the API freshwater master kit and every time we have tested it save for one time early on all the levels fall with in the normal range.

 

[DirectorTseng]

It still sounds to me as though your filter may still be a too powerful for him, bettas are not strong swimmers and get tired easily, they come from very sluggish water in the wild with hardly any flow, flopping on the rock or sticking to the intake sounds like he is getting tired from fighting the flow as the tank is now smaller, is it possible to drop the flow a bit and see if there is an improvement or even turn the filter off just to see how this affects his behaviour you will probably find he swims around a lot more.

I didn't even think of that, I'll have to see if I can figure out how to slow the flow. The pump is all the way at the very bottom of the hidden part and it's so narrow not even my fingers can get down there.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

Hi Welcome to the forum
too much water flow causes a lazy betta and a lazy betta gets fat then dies. sadly.
what model is your filter?
try feeding him 2x a day a few pellets at a time. also what food is he eating?
the water is a little too cold. do you have a heater?
sounds like a lethargic betta to me. that can be caused by numerous things, but I'm confident that it's the water temp or quality.

 

[Spyro]

I didn't even think of that, I'll have to see if I can figure out how to slow the flow. The pump is all the way at the very bottom of the hidden part and it's so narrow not even my fingers can get down there.

Like Someone said: if there is too much water flow, it will do that to rest. Or lodge somewhere.
Mine does that also, but only for a little while. Then goes on patrolling the tank.

It will do that if it gets bored or old as well.
Try putting some new decorations so it can explore it. Other fish keep Betta's engaged the best, but your tank might be too small.

Water temp. That's a funny one, it says everywhere warm water but in nature it lives in ponds that get as low as 10c in winter and 40c+ in summer. So, the temperature as a cause is debatable but could be the case with domesticated variety.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Like Someone said: if there is too much water flow, it will do that to rest. Or lodge somewhere.
Mine does that also, but only for a little while. Then goes on patrolling the tank.

It will do that if it gets bored or old as well.
Try putting some new decorations so it can explore it. Other fish keep Betta's engaged the best, but your tank might be too small.

Water temp. That's a funny one, it says everywhere warm water but in nature it lives in ponds that get as low as 10c in winter and 40c+ in summer. So, the temperature as a cause is debatable but could be the case with domesticated variety.

The majority of bettas sold on the market today are tank-raised

 

[KatieMR]

I'm afraid to touch his heater as the sticker that was on it that said what heat was where seems to have come off. don't even know which way to turn it.

Can you look up a picture of it online and see which way the knob is supposed to go? Otherwise, you could test it in a bucket.