Betta Fish?

Question

I have 2 bettas' in a separated tank. I've had one about 6-7 months longer then the other. They are both males. Problem...one of them has been sitting on the bottom of the tank for about 3-4 days now and hasn't really moved...does anyone have any idea what might be wrong? This is not his normal behavior. There is no filter but there is a automatic bubble maker in the take for oxygen. Also, I do put the needed drops for the water in the tank everytime I clean the tank.

Answer 1

This is bad. A healthy betta is active for at least part of the day. This is doubling true aod a betta who can see another betta. People who claim betta are lazy generally had a betta who lived in a dirty small bowl. The poor thing was likely dying of ammonia poisoning. My betta do like to rest on things but when I come into the room they are up swimming back and forth trying to get me to feed them more food.

I'd clean your bettas tank a bit more often, and add something like melafix/bettafix. Also read the betta talk link and reexamine the fish. Things like velvet are very hard to spot.

PS-Betta don't need a bubbler. They don't have working lungs, an breath air from the surface of the water. People will argue back forth if it's good for a betta or not.

Answer 2

Don't need the bubbler in there for bettas, they don't need oxygenated water. They actually prefer the water to be still/calm. How often are you changing the water and what tank size? I'm guessing it's under 5 gallons, so really you should be changing 1/2 the water out every 2-3 days max.

Answer 3

You didn't mention how big the tank is....having 2 male bettas in a tank, even with a divider can be stressful for them. They're still close. Bettas, like humans, handle stress differently. I've heard of bettas dying after having a mirror placed next to them. Just a thought.....

Answer 4

Well I don't want to sound mean or anything but my betta did the exact same. He would just sit at the bottom and you could tap the glass to see if he would jump but he would just slowly move. He was also not eating well, i would give him his beta food and he would just sit at the bottom. The food would still be floating the next day. Needless to say he died a few weeks later.

Answer 5

1. Change 10% of the water every week - remove toxins
2. Raise the temperature to 80 deg F. - get a heater
3. FEED it 4 times a day - they have a small digestive track

Betta needs water temperature over the ROOM temperature of HUMANS.

Answer 6

Bettas are lazy fish, that's totally normal. They dont need a bubbler though btw, also be sure not to change the water to often, maybe once every week or so because it'll stress the fish making it more lazy.

Answer 7

How often do you clean the water, Changing it too often can harm your fish by removing essential bacteria. Also are you using tap water if so I would switch to purified ro water. I have had my fish in purified water for three years and havent had a single one of them die. Prior to that I was having fish die almost daily.

Answer 8

flush him, he's broken, or hungry, or old and dieing, or bored of being in a god damn cramped tank, just do him the favour, i had a beta fish once he did the same thing for about 2 months, then one day i cam home and he was floating at the top, so i went to go flush him, and not until i actually flushed the toilet did he open his eyes and start swimming, oh and he was floating for a few days i decided to let him be in case it was just a ruse... but he was cunning. just give him what he wants... FREEDOM!!!!

Answer 9

They do not need a bubbler. And it's ok, betta's are lazy lazy fish....

Answer 10

the problem is that your betta is getting sick...now sometimes it is serious... and sometimes its not. now, e-mail me... and discribe what else is wrong.

no... im not a vet... i just had a betta too.