Scared Betta?

[atistang]

I've had my betta for over a year and he has always been very brave, active, and curious

if i am changing water and moving / cleaning things he would come right up to my hand and nip at it. when the light is on he would constantly flare at his reflection. he used to always swim around and check things out


but now for the last month or so he has been acting wierd, when i first get out of bed he is swimming back and forth where i feed him at. after he eats he will take a breath of air then freak out. he will take off real fast and slam into the sides of the tank and then finally just sit on the bottom and not move. when he needs air he will slowing swim to the top, then take a breath and shoot strait back to the bottom.

sometimes he will hang out about mid tank, but when he does this its always followed by him freaking out again and hiding in the corner. a few times he has jumped out of the water and slammed off of the hood of the tank.

when the light is off he will swim cautiously along the bottom a bit. about the only time he will stay near the surface is sometimes when he sleeps. its like he is scared of the surface?

anyone ever have one act like this?

 

[Honeythorn]

Have you added anything new to the tank recently ( plants ornaments, different brand of dechlorinator ect ) ? Changed the lighting? And how large is the tank and how often do you do water changes? Does the tank have surface floating plants at all?

Water quality can sometimes cause fish to dart about in distress, is the tank filtered, and also is it heated?

Some bettas are skittish/nervous by nature . They all have different personalities. But the fact your fish has started this behaviour only recently points to there being something amiss in the tank somewhere.

 

[silverrabbit]

To me it sounds like maybe a sudden water issue? maybe you need to give your filter a bit of a clean (you know, swished in a bucket of tank water).

 

[atistang]

water temp is and has been at 78

filter is good

5 gal tank

lighting has been the same since i got him

i added some things a few weeks after he started acting this way, i had ghost shrimp with him before and he pestered them quite a bit and would eat about one a month, but it seemed to keep him entertained. so i added 3 more, and he only pesters them if they have food, other wise he could care less about them

i just added some java moss a few days ago to try and give him more places to hide

i do 50% water changes every 2 weeks

I'll test the water tomorrow and make sure everything is fine

 

[Honeythorn]

The 50% water changes should be every week, not every 2. Also, try calling your water supplier and ask if they have added any new treatments in the time your fish has been acting strangely.

 

[loraxchick]

darting like that can be from a number of things-poor water quality, parasites, stray voltage in the tank.
firstly up your water changes to 2X a week around 30-40%. see if that helps things. if it does, then you can go to one 50% waterchange per WEEK (as suggested by honeythorn). in the meantime, watch him for signs of flicking or rubbing on objects in the tank or on the substrate. if you notice this behavior, time to consider treatment options.
shrimp/snails are often vectors for carrying certain parasites. it is possible that the shrimp brought something with them. as for the shrimp dying, the shrimp sold as ghost shrimp actually are made up of a number of species which range from strictly marine, to brackish, to freshwater. and it is almost impossible to tell the difference. likely were sold some of the non freshwater species. they are also VERY sensitive to ammonia and need very good water quality. two weeks between waterchanges may have also done them in, unfortunately.
cheers

 

[atistang]

the original shrimp died because my betta caught them and had them for dinner lol, this was almost a year ago

tested the water using the tetra test kit (NOT test strips)

ph- is between 7.5 and 8

nitrite - less than .3

ammonia - is 0

 

[Night61]

or it could be the fish getting old. My boy Storm has been a scaredy cat since he moved to his corner tank, he has been in the tank for over a year now, he will dart around then hid under an ornament, it is the funniest thing.
its not always a water issue just a betta issue. they are weird little fish and freak out some times.

 

[Meowmix]

I noticed everyone talking about whats inside the tank that's been changed... but did you happen to change anything on the outside of your tank? I used to have a betta a few years ago when I lived at home and I moved everything around in my bedroom. I noticed he became skittish after I changed the bedroom around.. turns out he was seeing the reflection (the sun shining on the screen) off my computer screen and it was freaking him out for some reason. I moved my computer monitor to the other side of the room and he went back to his old self.. I know that may sound weird but.. that was my experience.

Night - I noticed bow tanks kind of distort the tank if you look in.. so maybe when you moved your betta into the corner tank everything outside the tank got distorted. So.. when your walking in the room he's seeing distorted.. Anywho's that's my opinion.. lol

 

[Night61]

I noticed everyone talking about whats inside the tank that's been changed... but did you happen to change anything on the outside of your tank? I used to have a betta a few years ago when I lived at home and I moved everything around in my bedroom. I noticed he became skittish after I changed the bedroom around.. turns out he was seeing the reflection (the sun shining on the screen) off my computer screen and it was freaking him out for some reason. I moved my computer monitor to the other side of the room and he went back to his old self.. I know that may sound weird but.. that was my experience.

Night - I noticed bow tanks kind of distort the tank if you look in.. so maybe when you moved your betta into the corner tank everything outside the tank got distorted. So.. when your walking in the room he's seeing distorted.. Anywho's that's my opinion.. lol

quite possible he is a strange boy, but he freaks out ad the flat parts of the tank to, espeically in the morning...hmm maybe i have bad bed head.

 

[Meowmix]

lmao Sailornight........ too funny.

 

[atistang]

nothing outside the tank has changed much. somethings have changed after he had already started acting this way

i have even tried putting white paper all around the tank, and also i tried a backround. same results

i have considered swapping tanks, i have another betta in a 3 gal, the tank is set up different, i thought about swapping the two and seeing how he acts in a different tank

 

[Night61]

what kind of tank is it, a bow front a basic square or a hex?

 

[atistang]

bow front

he seems to be doing a little better today

hes been swimming around trying to eat everything in the tank, plants, snails, shrimp, moss lol

 

[Night61]

like i said before, they are weird little fish. sometimes i think a shift in the weather can freak them out as well.