Very timid betta

[Sgooosh]

Hi! I just got a beautiful golden betta for like a dollar (the store marked him off for some reason) and he’s currently in a semi-temporary 2.5gal planted. He is super skittish and darts away whenever I approach him. I’m wondering what I should do in order for him to not be stressed out when I approach him so he accepts food?

 

[fishorama]

I would say go slow when approaching the tank. Let him know you are the "god of food" & reward with just a flake or a slow sinking pellet at a time. Don't overfeed, bettas can get overweight. But 2 or even 4 times/day should help him get over his shyness. He'll soon love to see you coming! Of course you'll need to vacuum out any food he doesn't eat. There's a learning curve for both of you, be patient..

We'd love to see a pic of him, he sounds pretty.

 

[Sgooosh]

I would say go slow when approaching the tank. Let him know you are the "god of food" & reward with just a flake or a slow sinking pellet at a time. Don't overfeed, bettas can get overweight. But 2 or even 4 times/day should help him get over his shyness. He'll soon love to see you coming! Of course you'll need to vacuum out any food he doesn't eat. There's a learning curve for both of you, be patient..

We'd love to see a pic of him, he sounds pretty.

okay! I’m used to big tank with tons of fish and not a single fish so i’m a bit nervous lol! I’ve already turned the lights off for his tank, so here’s a picture of another fish for now lol

 

[fishorama]

Nice! But I still want to see your golden betta soon...How's that for nagging? Back in our betta days, "golden" wasn't an option, mostly red & blue with some variations/combos of those.

 

[Colin_T]

make sure the water is clean
have a dark substrate on the bottom of the container
have floating plants to provide shelter
give it a few weeks so the fish can get use to the new habitat

 

[Sgooosh]

Nice! But I still want to see your golden betta soon...How's that for nagging? Back in our betta days, "golden" wasn't an option, mostly red & blue with some variations/combos of those.

lol I’ll make sure to do that first thing in the morning! Yeah! I’ve never saw anything like this one either, and to think it was on sale for 1.50

make sure the water is clean
have a dark substrate on the bottom of the container
have floating plants to provide shelter
give it a few weeks so the fish can get use to the new habitat

okay, I used river rocks for the substrate, and made sure to add lots of plants from my other tanks

 

[Sgooosh]

Nice! But I still want to see your golden betta soon...How's that for nagging? Back in our betta days, "golden" wasn't an option, mostly red & blue with some variations/combos of those.

make sure the water is clean
have a dark substrate on the bottom of the container
have floating plants to provide shelter
give it a few weeks so the fish can get use to the new habitat

Hey guys! I finally got a good photo of the fish! He is very very smart! I have successfully trained him (only after one trial!) on being hand fed with tweezers!

 

[fishorama]

Thanks. He's really different! That was fast learning curve after only a couple days. I'm thinking his shyness is gone! Your tank looks nice with live plants but what is that algae? clump under him in the last pic? Looks like something I try to remove from my tanks...I could be wrong...

Big gravel, small tank can be hard to clean well. Do you have a small gravel vac that you can stick down almost to the bottom? It'll take some time to learn the technique. But you said this was a temporary tank so do the best you can.

 

[Colin_T]

Did he have the black head and black patch on the side of the body when you got him?
The shop might have medicated him (overdosed) or chlorinated him and this could be bruising from chemical poisoning and should clear up over a month if the water is clean.