Beta hiding for weeks on end is it normal?

Question

I got my second fish about a year and a half ago. It was a very young betta with a super delta tail and huge elephant ear fins. I put this fish at first into a 6 gallon tank I had been cycling but it broke so I had to very quickly set up a new 5 gallon without the luxury of cycling it. I had no other choice sadly. The fish was fine coming out to greet me often for a quite a few months. Then it came out less and less and began hiding behind the filter or the heater. Then it started hiding in its hut and now only comes out every few weeks to eat evendors though i put some pellets in there for hI'm and the snail every othe day. I also chage the wate once a week 25%. There is an air bubble inside the hut that he uses to breathe. I'm afraid of muscle deteriation and such. Is this normal or healthy? What can I do to have him come out? He is too pretty to be hiding 24/7.

golden lyretail · Accepted Answer

Kudos to you for getting a regular tank for your Betta. Also well done; if it has hiding places or even better plants to hide in.

Um, have you looked to see that he is still there?:)  I once beat myself up doing extra maintenance on a tank only to discover  there was nobody home any more! ;)

At a year and a half, though Bettas can get older, he may be aging. You probably do almost all of the following but maybe there is something that could be done better and will bring him out again.

Is the water at 80F? If not, raise it a degree a day until it is, If you have a sponge or box filter, rinse it gently every couple of weeks.

Water quality may be an issue (usually for all of us.) If you didn't do a fish-less cycle with that first tank, just letting the water sit does nothing to cycle the tank, though some oxygen is absorbed and some noxious gasses are released.

After a couple of months with the fish in, the tank should be cycled if enough nitrates are removed through partial water changes. If you wish, take a water sample to a pet shop that does water tests for a nominal fee. If ammonia test 0 PPM (parts per million), if nitrites test 0 PPM and if nitrites (only toxic in numbers) are under 20 PPM, you are doing a great job on the clean water front.

If those test numbers aren't ideal, ask the shop people (manager or fish department manager) for suggestions.

Whatever they say, gravel vacuum some of that fecal dirt out once a week. Replace the water taken out with treated water of the same temperature.

If you could pick up an inexpensive small glass cereal bowl, put that in your aquarium. Buy a small portion of blackworms from one of the better independent pet shops. Rinse them until all whitish stuff and dirt is gone. Store them in the refrigerator in a shallow dish. Use your turkey baster (dedicated to all things fishy to put the worms in a little of the tank's water to warm them yup. Then put the 6-12 worms in that cereal dish.

Black worms are a pretty rich treat, but Bettas and many fish have a hard time resisting them. They may draw him out.

Have you ever taken a small hand mirror and faced it towards your Betta? Short bouts of posturing and dancing (also called flaring) where he sees his "rival" will  not hurt. And when his rival disappears from the scene he may be delighted with the re-assertion of his Betta machoness. ;)

Good luck and all the best!

noselessman · Answer

Check that the water temp is stable all day and at a temp between 78 and 82.

Offer him is favorite foods and new and tempting foods like frozen, not freeze dried blood worms, brine shrimp, food with garlic in it.  new life spectra betta pellits.  And look for live or frozen daphnia, it is very good for bettas.

Check the water and get results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.  keep the nitrates in the 20s, or lower.

Keep the hood lights off., good luck!

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Beta hiding for weeks on end is it normal?

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