posted 10-18-2003 07:07 AM         

Bettas have very strong personalities , and while they are probably one of most sturdiest fish in adapting to changing environments, they certainly have strong personalities in what they like and don't like.

I have 5 females, and 2 males.

1 male and 1 female are in a community tank (70 litres), and they virtually ignore each other and every other fish in the tank.

The other male is in a medium tank by himself (20 litres) , and the remaining 4 females in different combinations will kill each other and most likely nip any other type of fish (they took chunks from a few of my guppies fins). I have these 5 fish in separate tanks , about 20 cms by 10 cms. (I divided up a large tank just for these guys).

Quick anwser to your question:

A. You fish has basic needs which might not be met, like air (betta), good water and not water temperature fluctuations, and space which the fish feels comfortable with (some bettas like big other like smallish but not too small.)

B. You fish might be stressed due to the above not being met.

C. Your fish might be sick due to stress or another reason.

D. Your fish might be have a odd behaviour - but unlikey if he is constantly on his side. One of my males, will loosely flop over a plant for a few minutes a day, and to me, he is just chilling.

E. Diet. They love blood worms.

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I was lucky with my betas in the sense that I have an existing large community tank, and I used the water from that tank to set up the tanks for my betas.

However it took about 2 months to get the water right for my community tank (not 1 week) , until now I have had no deaths (4 months now) of over 40 fish and about 25 guppy babies and too many snails being born. During the first 2 months I lost about 1-2 fish a week.

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If this is your first fish, don't be upset if he meets the fish carer in the sky.

[This message has been edited by weird1973 (edited 10-18-2003).]