BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Another new betta question.

Right, so. I've had my male betta Jack for about four months now, and he seems pretty happy. He's building bubble nets and all. And my sister, to show her apreciation for my helping her out, decides to buy me another betta. So, I come home and there's a lady betta sitting in a bowl on my counter. I set her up in a 2 tank, and she seemed ok. But now, two days later, Diane seems sort of sluggish. Her belly is bigger but there aren't any pinecone scales, her poop is white and stringy so I put some salt in the tank, and her stripes are standing out more today than they were last night. She mostly just sits at the top of the water and does nothing. Is she ok? I'm thinking possibly some internal parasites, but I'm not sure if the big belly is worms or if she's eggy. Jack enjoys showing off for her, their tanks are almost touching. I just don't know if there's something I could be doing? She's in a 2.5 gal tank. I'd like to get some more girlfriends for her, she looks so small and sad in the big tank but I want to make sure she's ok? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I hear everyone talking about their Betta making large bubblenests...or bubblenests in general. But my betta, (have had him for like 6 mo now), doesnt make nests at all. He seems happy though....


Any thoughts?

I can only give you a few general suggestions but they may help.

First give your two betas a little space from one another. It's alot of work to keep showing off for a possible mating partner and can get wearing on your fish. Although it is not a problem, her color is changing to be more attractive to Jack.

In terms of her being sluggish and hanging around the surface of the water... What else do you have in the tank with her? Do you have enough plants and hiding spaces for her? My roomate doens't have anything in her betas bowl except decortive jems at the bottom <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> He always seems so lonely and said without something else in there with him.

The last of the advice is to check your water temperature, if you need a water change, and -atleast for short term use- for the moment keep salts in the water too. It could be that she just needs to adjust to her surroundings since you just got her. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hope see feels better. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Fantails and Betas

IMO when in doubt just treat the tank for internal parasites. I do this with all of my new fish whether they have parasites or not since you can't know for sure about the internal ones. I use Tank Buddies Parasite Clear and they work very fast and doesn't stress out the fish either. TBPC is not crustacean safe though so if you have crabs/shrimp you need to remove them from the tank. I have a small separate quarantine/hospital tank that I use for all new fish. The small tank is cheaper on the medication because the dosage amounts are a lot smaller.