He's just sleeping...

[Jayngfet]

So my mother has this Beta fish, we've been feeding it, changing the water, gave it a bowl made for it's specific species and gender, added a shiny rock.

But every time I look at it it's lying down at the bottom of the bowl on it's side. When I check on it it rises up and starts swimming again, it's been like that for months, I'm wondering if this is common or it's sick?

[thubby]

i don't know about beta fish, but all 3 of my disturbingly long lived gold fish have done that.

*mind goes off on minor tangent* fish vet? :smallconfused:

[Jack Squat]

It's fairly common. My fish'll rest on the bottom sometimes. Not on his side, but still. So long as your doing everything right, there's not a reason to worry. However, you could head down to a (reputable) fish store and ask them if you're worried.

As a side note, bowls aren't really that good for fish. You've gotta add in oxygen stuff, and have to change the water more often because of lack of filtration, it's bad when you change the water because you're throwing the balance way out of wack, etc. Even when doing everything right, you're still better off half-assing with a tank. I may be slightly biased because I don't like betas in general though...

[Bayar]

Aquarium > Bowl

There is more space, and you dont have to change the water that often (heck, I changed it once a year). you need a good water filter that should run constantly, and an oxigen pump for a good enviroment. Be sure to have something to clean the poop. Oh, and a light source (I had a neon light fixed on it that ran all night).

[Mauve Shirt]

Ugh, I liked my bowl much more than my aquarium. Had to change the water once a week, yeah, but it was a lot more difficult to neglect.
That's pretty normal for a beta fish, they're not very active. It's when they turn white and get huge growths on their face that you have to worry.

[Dragonrider]

@Jack: Yeah, but bettas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_fighting_fish) are air-breathers. That's still no excuse for pet stores to keep them in miniscule plastic containers without changing the water, though... :smallyuk:

[reorith]

the betta splendens prefers kippin' on it's back!

[Midnight Son]

My mother bought a betta when I was living in Alaska. She put it in the small aquarium she had purchased and it did pretty much what you described. Just kinda lay there, hardly moving unless provoked. She was quite confused by this and asked what was wrong. I looked at the instructions and found the issue. Bettas are to be kept at general room temperature. She protested that it was room temperature, to which I had to explain that most people keep their rooms at 70F, not 50(yeah, I was always cold growing up).

The point of that story: Have you checked the water temperature in the bowl? My Mother ended up buying a tank heater and her fish started swimming around as normal almost immediately.

[Checkmate]

Ugh, I liked my bowl much more than my aquarium.

I think the point was that the fish like the aquarium more than the bow.

[Vuzzmop]

Must...resist...urge to...quote...dead...parrot...sketch...NYAAAHHH.

[Player_Zero]

QI told me that over-fed fish often lie on their side. People then often mistake them for being dead.

Something to do with being fed too much causing it to not know which way up is.

[Z-dan]

Oh.... he's a beta fish and he's ok, sleeps in cold temperatures and swims in hot

ha! weren't expecting me to paraphrase THAT sketch, were you?

[Doran_Liadon]

I had a fish with a big tumor on the side that swam sideways!

[Checkmate]

I had a fish with a big tumor on the side that swam sideways!

A tumor? Please tell me more, this sounds interesting.

[SurlySeraph]

I second the calls to put it into an aquarium. And I recommend getting it a couple tankmates, such as platies or swordtails. Fish tend to be more active when they have others to interact with.


I had a fish with a big tumor on the side that swam sideways!

I've seen that before. It's a swim bladder problem; the fish stops being able to balance.

I also saw an angelfish that started swimming sideways, because the light above its tank stopped working and it started considering the light from across the hall "up."

Either way, swimming sideways is not a terribly good sign, health-wise.

[Jack Squat]

I second the calls to put it into an aquarium. And I recommend getting it a couple tankmates, such as platies or swordtails. Fish tend to be more active when they have others to interact with.

Bettas (never knew it was spelled that way, cool. Chrome doesn't like it though) aren't what you'd call social fish. They can have some tank mates, but you've got to know what to put with them, so your other fish don't end up dead. Here's (http://www.oneworldinternetcafe.com/betta/betta_compatable.html) a chart that may help.

Your fish selection's fine, Surly, I just quoted you because you're the only one who mentioned tank mates.

[Dragonrider]

We used to have a betta in with a pleco, some neon tetras, and an albino rainbow shark. It didn't seem to have a problem with any of them, though it might just have been a mellow individual.

The only way bettas can get along with others of their species is if they're raised together. And even then, two males together in a tank=bad stuff. :smalltongue: Females, though, sometimes are okay.

[skywalker]

I second the calls to put it into an aquarium. And I recommend getting it a couple tankmates, such as platies or swordtails. Fish tend to be more active when they have others to interact with.



I've seen that before. It's a swim bladder problem; the fish stops being able to balance.

I also saw an angelfish that started swimming sideways, because the light above its tank stopped working and it started considering the light from across the hall "up."

Either way, swimming sideways is not a terribly good sign, health-wise.

My friend's mom keeps fish in about 4-5 aquariums in his basement. One tank contains one medium sized catfish and two big oscars. The oscars get into it sometimes, and once upon a time, the swim bladder of one fish somehow slipped out of it's body. Like literally, the fish had a massive blister full of air on its belly, and started doing everything upside down. Completely ignored the fact that it was supposed to die immediately. I don't see them often because he goes away to college. But when he was home for Thanksgiving, I was in his basement and saw two normal oscars in the tank. said "Oh, you got a new fish. It's about time that one died."

He responded: "Nope, same fish. It got better."

I looked closer and it was the same fish!

As for aquariums, I had no idea they were higher maintenance than bowls. We have an aquarium in a (heated) out building that never gets water changed or anything. We change the filters on occasion. It's full of fat, happy fish (they're fat cuz my granddad liked to feed 'em before he died.). All we do is feed them regularly. There's a little catfish type of thing in there that keeps the place clean. They seem fine.

[Syka]

Do NOT put a filter in with a betta, it's a bad idea. They breath from the surface, so they don't need highly oxygenated water and they don't like currents.

However, I second moving it from a small bowl to an aquarium. Most sites I saw said about 2+ gallons for a betta.

You can keep 3 or more female betta's in one tank, but don't get 2. If you get 2, one usually bullies the other. If you get 3, they get a pecking order and don't get bullied.

I might get a betta, and it'll be the most spoiled betta in existence- it'll have a 10 gallon tank pretty much to itself, possibly with a hamster neighbor.

Cheers~

[SurlySeraph]

As for aquariums, I had no idea they were higher maintenance than bowls. We have an aquarium in a (heated) out building that never gets water changed or anything. We change the filters on occasion. It's full of fat, happy fish (they're fat cuz my granddad liked to feed 'em before he died.). All we do is feed them regularly. There's a little catfish type of thing in there that keeps the place clean. They seem fine.

Don't tell me, let me guess. Is it a pleco? Because if you have a pleco, algae and uneaten food become much smaller worries very quickly.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I've had one before in a tank full of goldfish. It made life so much easier.

Now all I have in my fishtank is a dried piranha and a fossil from BC. And 2 halves of a coconut, that I bang together. That I found not in Mercia, but in the local park. I quite certainly don't live in the tropics, but in a temperate zone.

[skywalker]

Don't tell me, let me guess. Is it a pleco? Because if you have a pleco, algae and uneaten food become much smaller worries very quickly.

Yep, it looks just like that. For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to tell you I didn't know, and then give you a speech about how we classify fish in east TN: 3 categories: 1. Bass, 2. food for Bass, 3. Catfish. And that's as deep as the classification goes.

But wikipedia pulled me through. It seems to be a Pleco. If not a Pleco, then some other type of "armored suckermouth catfish."

[Dragonrider]

My family used to have a 50-gallon tank (we had a turtle, a big red-eared slider) and in it we kept a pleco that got to be about a foot long. He was a big ol' guy. And once when we were cleaning the tank (it was necessary to completely overhaul it once a month, due to grossness of turtle poop) and when we went to take him out, he jumped out of the net and landed on the carpet. Poor guy. We managed to get him back in and as far as I know he's still alive...I think he's now living in someone's fishpond during the summer and in a tank over the winter....

[Jack Squat]

My family used to have a 50-gallon tank (we had a turtle, a big red-eared slider) and in it we kept a pleco that got to be about a foot long. He was a big ol' guy. And once when we were cleaning the tank (it was necessary to completely overhaul it once a month, due to grossness of turtle poop) and when we went to take him out, he jumped out of the net and landed on the carpet. Poor guy. We managed to get him back in and as far as I know he's still alive...I think he's now living in someone's fishpond during the summer and in a tank over the winter....

Catfish are very tough fish. It's not completely uncommon for ones to be a live hours after they're taken out of the water.

Also, if you ever go down to some docks, you'll see guys bring in a catfish, fillet it, and toss it back in the water. Even without most of it's muscles, the catfish will swim off before realizing it's dead.

[tristanj]

I haven't got a beta fish as a pet yet. But I could tell that by looking at it's fins and mouth when lying at the bottom of the aqua, it's just sleeping if his mouth and fins are moving. Dead fishes usually float in the water.

[Death, your friend the Reaper]

Well, it's only a beta fish, when they release the full version, they probably have a patch for that or something. Just remember, don't panic.:smallsmile:

[AslanCross]

My family used to have a 50-gallon tank (we had a turtle, a big red-eared slider) and in it we kept a pleco that got to be about a foot long. He was a big ol' guy. And once when we were cleaning the tank (it was necessary to completely overhaul it once a month, due to grossness of turtle poop) and when we went to take him out, he jumped out of the net and landed on the carpet. Poor guy. We managed to get him back in and as far as I know he's still alive...I think he's now living in someone's fishpond during the summer and in a tank over the winter....

I once had a pleco, but it never grew that big. The tank used to sit on the patio, where my grandpa spent the day relaxing.

One day, my gradpa went to his favorite seat and noticed a rat running down the stone path that leads to the backyard. He went after it and tried stepping on it, since it was moving rather slowly. It was only then he noticed it was the pleco. He put it back in the tank and it was fine.

Unfortunately, plecos got loose in the largest lake in the Philippines. They're wreaking havoc in fishing pens, and they're thriving on all the industrial detritus in the lake. I saw on the news once that the fishermen were just trying to make do with catching enormous armored plecos.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Well, it's only a beta fish, when they release the full version, they probably have a patch for that or something. Just remember, don't panic.:smallsmile:Excuse me sir but I am here to revoke your pun license.

[ForzaFiori]

Midnight Sun is right. Its probably water temp. Bettas need to be kept in water around like 80 degrees or something. If it gets much cooler (75 or less i think), they get really lazy.

This is all based off of a friend of mine (who owns a betta) though, so its not exactly an expert opinion.

[SurlySeraph]

My family used to have a 50-gallon tank (we had a turtle, a big red-eared slider) and in it we kept a pleco that got to be about a foot long. He was a big ol' guy. And once when we were cleaning the tank (it was necessary to completely overhaul it once a month, due to grossness of turtle poop) and when we went to take him out, he jumped out of the net and landed on the carpet. Poor guy. We managed to get him back in and as far as I know he's still alive...I think he's now living in someone's fishpond during the summer and in a tank over the winter....

Yeah, plecos are more or less invincible. I read an account by someone: his jumped out of the tank in the morning, he ripped part of its tail off trying to get it back in the tank when he came home late afternoon, and it was perfectly fine within a month.

My pleco lived at least 13 years before it got sick and died. I miss the big guy. :smallfrown: