Female Betta Behavior

[emmanuelchavez]

OK, so I put Bonnie, my female Betta into her new 2.5 gallon hex tank on Thursday. Before, when she was in her 1 gallon fishbowl, she would just sit on the bottom, and not swim much.
When I put her in the 2.5 gallon, she became much more active... starting Friday, I noticed she would swim downward, and just float up... and she would just "float" underneath the leaves of her plant. Now that I put a new decoration (bridge) in her tank, she does the same in there... When she floats to the top, she sometimes "curls" her back fin...... is any of this "normal" female betta behavior? I've only had male bettas before, and I haven't seen this... I'm working on loading some pictures onto flickr to show what I mean.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

She does the same thing under the plant in the back...

She'll usually just swim like this...

And then she'll float to the top, and swim around a bit, then go back down, and repeat the process.

 

[Kissyboots]

The first picture...my Kissyboots does the same, she likes to get "stuck" to the castle walls and enjoys playing with the suction of the filter...? When the male, Juju, was still here, she would swim vertically sometimes near him. Mating pose maybe? I don't know. I would wait and see. Is she eating?

Nice setup by the way. I should get a plant in my 5g too...someday...!

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Yeah, she's still eating and swimming around.

All fish are acting great actually. I still worry about the Cories though, they just don't seem as active as I thought they'd be... still adjusting I'm guessing, and maybe the light is too bright.


I just hope she's still alive and well when I get back from Spring Break. I've got 4 days before I leave, but I'm keeping a close eye on her..

I wanted to get her 2 Cory Habrosus tankmates, since the buggards don't get bigger than .75", but she's claimed that bridge as hers now. lol. I may have to rehome her for a while, and re-arrange the tank, althought I dont know how much I could re-arrange in a 2.5 gallon, other than change the plant.

 

[Kissyboots]

Hehe. I'm going away too but luckily only for a couple days. I don't want to leave the cory fry alone that long.

Maybe you could get some otos or ghost shrimp as company for her.