HELP: Siamese fighting fish and filters

OK, yesterday we got a lovely dark blue (with 2 perfect red stripes) Siamese fighter.

however, after a short time he went over to the filter (fluval 3+) and looked like he was either leaning against it or seemed to be stuck.

I moved him off and then after a while he did it again, and again, and again.

I went to bed hoping he wouldnt be dead this morning and thankfully hes not, so, anyone else ever had problems similar?

Is this normal for these fish or what?

He's done it a couple of times today and has then just moved away from the filter by himself so......?

He might just like it. Some bettas get freaked out by water movement, others enjoy it. Strong water movement can be a problem for heavily-finned bettas.

The other possibility is that he's got skin irritation and the filter suction is scratching his itch, so to speak. I recently had an ich outbreak in my barracks, and one of the fish took to lying all day in the stream of bubbles from the filter.

Vicki PS

I'm surprised he can get away from it own his own - one of these days he won't. By adding a foam pre-filter, it will keep him from getting stuck, and stop the solid waste from decomposing in yout filter. ...... Frank

You added female bettas? How is that working out? What other fish did you

> Siamese fighter. > however, after a short time he went over to the filter (fluval 3+) and > looked like he was either leaning against it or seemed to be stuck. > I moved him off and then after a while he did it again, and again, > and again. > I went to bed hoping he wouldnt be dead this morning and thankfully hes > not, so, anyone else ever had problems similar? > Is this normal for these fish or what? > He's done it a couple of times today and has then just moved away from > the filter by himself so......?

I think it's temperature

Sometimes???

Boy, are you an optimist .

I've got two in a divided tank and they (one especially) spend most of their time trying to find a way through the divider so they can kill the other one .

one possiblity which has yet to be explored; maybe he's too tired to move away. i've seen simular posts here from time to time regarding this same topic, one response in particular which comes to mind- and seemed to have been well thought out- was that they are exhausted. here are these fish, confined to one cup of water for a very long period of time. naturally, like a person who has been bedridden for a long time, it takes a while to regain the strength of mobility needed to fully navigate their surroundings.

I fight mine regularly and I am thinking about learning more about breeding bettas so I can breed for fighting ability. I feel that this is a neglected area of breeding.

That's exactly what happened with one of mine - he recovered in a day or two and the problem went away.

But it turns out he's psycho about the current. Drives him nuts. He paces like a tiger in a cage. Turn off the filter and he's fine.

But the divided tank isn't working out like I'd hoped, so I'm moving him to his own 2.5 gallon tank and removing the divider.

I'm not sure I even need a filter in the 2.5 with only one betta in it. I'll have gravel for biological filtering and a gravel vac for mechanical filtering.

If I do get a filter, I'll have to find one with a very gentle water flow. A sponge filter has been suggested, but they're driven by an airlift and the last time I looked at an airlift (in a UGF) the bubbles coming out the top created quite a bit of turbulence.

Suggestions, anyone?