The New Betta

[RattleSnake]

I purchased a new betta yesterday, a male blue betta. Well when I first puchased my female betta and put her in the tank if I were to put my finger on the top of the tank it would follow it and react very swiftly.. but my new male betta.. he doesn't care at all and just swims extremely slowly around the tank, its a 1/2 Gallon tank... Is he depressed or sad, or something....

I purchased it from Chinatown because it looked really beautiful.. the lady was nuts, she put the fish in the bag and flipped it like she didn't give a crap. The betta was flying all over the bag because she was tieing it...... it was cruel.

 

[Carolinesugar]

hiya, sounds like you have a soft spot for bettas who have been, or are being abused, and treated poorly.

what are the diamentions of this tank ?

some bettas react to humans differently, and in the cases where the betta has been poorly treated, it will take him a lil while to ajust and accept humans again.

my advice for you would be to:

add a few plants at the back of his tank (but i wouldnt go to far, or your neva see
him)

mayb get him either an apple snail, neon tetras, cardinals, or some little glow light tetras (their silvery clear, with blue tails that glow light blue)

hope this helps!

 

[LynX]

i had the problem with a betta being depressed too, he was in one of those jar sized containers for awhile until i could upgrade his premises.. which is now a 2 foot tank well anyway he got depressed, all i had to do was put a mirror next to him and he would flare at it and even blow a few bubbles! just remember bettas are very inteligent and like to see other bettas, doesnt mean u have to buy another one

 

[Inchworm]

Hi RattleSnake

It's not unusual for a new betta to arrive at an lfs in less than perfect health. They are shipped there in individual containers with barely enough water to cover them. They are swimming in their own waste products for goodness-knows-how long!

Give him lots of good nourishing food and clean water and see if he improves. It's possible too, that he may be coming down with an infection due to these bad conditions and if that's the case, you will have the best chance of curing him if it's treated early.

Good luck and please let us know how he does in the future.

 

[RattleSnake]

Well I put my females tank near the males and he goes ballistic lol.. he started to swim a lot more but now he's back to his slow movement.

He doesn't eat either.. so I guess I'll just starve him for a day until he gets hungry since there digestive system is really slow. Its the first time I've gotten such a beautiful male betta with big fins.. but he's a lot more trouble then my female.. she easily got used to the tank when I first got her.. lol

 

[jacblades]

i got a betta about a month ago that was absolutely lifeless. he just layed in the bottom of the cup in the store. i put him in a 1 gal container and he still layed there all day. he wouldnt eat except on occasion-even then he would only eat one pellet or one blood worm. he has just now began to perk up a little and actually swims a little bit. he eats now-still not as much as all of my other pigs...errr...bettas.
i probably should have given him some bettamax to begin with because he could have easily had a disease.
chinatown...hmmm...

 

[james..]

mayb get him either an apple snail, neon tetras, cardinals, or some little glow light tetras (their silvery clear, with blue tails that glow light blue)

Ok, sorry to say this, but it is REALLY bad advice.

The apple snail is ok, but all the other fish require a certain amount of space that a half a gallon does not provide.

 

[LynX]

lol, yer all u need is a mirror to get rid of the depression anyway, or if u r really keen on getting another male u could put their tanks next to each other

 

[RattleSnake]

lol, yer all u need is a mirror to get rid of the depression anyway, or if u r really keen on getting another male u could put their tanks next to each other

I have a female betta next to the male betta.