# Betta behavior



## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

Apollo lives in a 5.5 gallon with no company as of now. (I may add 2 ottos soon) He has 3 live plants I bought and one that I transferred from my 29 gallon, and a small piece of driftwood. The water temp stays around 80-81 and the water parameters are all good. I try to run the filter at least once a day. It is too strong for him so I don't want to leave it on 24/7 and exhaust him. I am still trying to figure out how to fix that. Because the filter isn't constantly running, I find a thin coat of oil on top of the water which I have been soaking up with a paper towel (any other way to get rid of it?) For the most part, he is pretty lazy. he spends a lot of time hiding around the filter when it's off, or under/behind the driftwood and plants. He doesn't swim around much. My last betta and my brother's betta both were more active than Apollo. Is there something I am doing wrong and can fix?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

No filter running means ammonia or lots of water changes. Do you own an air-pump? You can put fresh carbon in a box filter (they are cheap if you can find them) with some filter floss and turn the flow down with a gang valve to a slow bulb and it should help with the oil and the ammonia without blowing him away.


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## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

I guess my water changing must be ok. I do a 50% water change at least once a week and the ammonia stays at zero. If I buy another filter, it will be the third filter I've tried with this tank. I wish there was something else I could do but that sounds like a good idea once I have money.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

buy either a box filter or a sponge filter..
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3954


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I usually go for sponge filters now (I used to have all box) as they are less messy and less work, but you can't put carbon in a sponge filter, so it is less useful for oil.


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## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

My brother's betta, Ares, is now doing the same. Apollo and Ares live in two different cities so I don't think it's necessarily a problem with the water right now. Ares has a running filter, a heater, and two live plants. They are kind of small so I thought he might just be hiding because of the movement going on around the tank (mostly just people walking through the room) but my mom added one more big fake plant to see if his behavior would change and it really hasn't. What can I do?


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

turn the heat down a few degrees to 77-78.


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## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

Ok, the temperature of the tank has been staying around 77-78 for almost a week now and his behavior hasn't changed. He still hides behind the heater and under the plants and doesn't move around a lot. He is still eating normally, at least he has been since I have been back. My mom has been calling me all week asking me what to do, so I told her to tape pieces of paper on two sides of the tank to block his view, thinking the motion around him was stressing him out, but that didn't work either. The water has been changed twice since this behavior started and that also hasn't helped. Any ideas?


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