male betta in some kind of "heat" or just doing some strang things

[Rokl33t]

so i get my new ct betta the other night and i put him in a 2.5 tank next to my female betta hex and they seem to flare at each other all th etime so time to time i see my male betta go up to the filter and try to get sucked up by the filter, its kind of weird cuz its as if he was mating with a female at one point he had his body wraped around the suction part like it was a female...lol it was kind of weird maybe its natural i dunno

 

[DarkElf_Mairead]

I heard someone here once say that they're betta liked getting sucked up by the filter. Maybe it feels funny. Are you sure it's not just too strong and he can't help it?

 

[Rokl33t]

its not strong at all, my fish swims around freely all the time but every once in awhile he'll swim up to the filter and let his fins get sucked up its intense! lol

 

[jka]

I have a betta in a five gallon tank with a filter. He does the same thing... It's not a strong filter, and he appears to enjoy doing it.

I wondering if anyone here would know if it would be all right to add another fish or other fishes in my tank? I don't want to overcrowd the betta because he's active with a lot of space. (plus I think it would be cruel to add most other fish to a five gallon... someone mentioned something to me about paradise fish or something? Does anyone here know anything about them?)

 

[ashleigh]

paradise fish should not be kept with bettas- they are closely related and will fight. In a five- I wouldn't add more fish. but what you could do is get an african dwarf frog (be sure it's dwarf not clawed) or some shrimp.

 

[jka]

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into that.

 

[jka]

I was looking at different types of shrimp online... I was wondering what kind of shrimp you were refering to, what they would eat, and how many you should get. Any reccomendations?

 

[ashleigh]

Most of them are detrivores, meaning they eat "leftovers"Some will feed on algae. I woudl recommend amanos or ghost shrimp- I have found amanos to be really hardy, I've had mine for over a year. I just got a cherry red shrimp last week, he's really pretty. there are a lot out there- I would say just to peek around, find what you like and read into how well you can accomodate it. they are really cool pets. I enjoy watching mine as much as my fish. I should probably ask a little more about your tank- is it filtered and heated? shrimp are pretty sensitive to fluctuations in temp and water quality.

 

[jka]

The tank has a filter and it's heated. I keep the tempature at a min. of 74 degrees for the betta.

 

[ashleigh]

cool. but I would start very slowly raising the temp.

 

[jka]

Probably somewhere around 80 then?

 

[ashleigh]

yup- I should have been more clear about slowly too- raise the temp overthe course of a week or so