How to Keep Your Betta Fish Active and Fit?

Keeping your betta fish happy is just as important as keeping them healthy. Betta fish are natural hunters and thrive when allowed to explore their tank and hunt for food. Keeping your betta stimulated will not only keep them happy but also help reduce their natural aggression towards other tank mates by giving them something to occupy their time. If you’re looking to make your betta fish care life more interesting, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will be going through some of the best ways to keep a bored betta active and fit.

Add More Live Plants to Your Betta Tank

While bettas are often known as the “angry fish,” they don’t get angry because they want to. Bettas are very shy and are only aggressive when they feel threatened. Keeping your betta healthy is usually as simple as adding a few live plants to your tank and providing them with cover to hide behind. Betta fish prefer groups of plants that are “floating” or “free-floating” in their water. This is because bettas are used to living in rice paddies and lakes where the plants are found at the surface of the water. You can keep your betta healthy and happy by choosing the right plants for your tank.

Try a New Food

Bettas are notoriously picky eaters. This can be a huge problem, especially when keeping your betta healthy is as simple as feeding them. If your betta refuses to eat their food, it may eventually starve to death. You can try introducing new food to your betta several times a week as a way to keep them active.

Some great foods to try out include bloodworms, brine shrimp, and black worms. If your betta stops eating their current food, try giving them one of these for a few feedings and then mix it in with their normal food. Bettas are often finicky eaters because the water in their tank may be too dirty. If your betta refuses to eat their food, try cleaning the tank and feeding them again.

Put Together a Knudsen Stream

Allowing your betta to swim through a Knudsen stream is a great way to keep your betta active while also giving them a place to hunt for food. You can make a Knudsen Stream out of a 2 L bottle and a few pieces of drinking straws. Simply cut the bottom off of an empty 2 L bottle and place the straws inside.

You want the straws to be deep enough that they are almost touching the bottom of the bottle. You can simply tie the Knudsen Stream to an anchor or hang the entire setup from the back of the tank with a piece of fishing line. Be sure that the Knudsen Stream isn’t too close to the edge of your tank and that it is out of the way of your betta’s dorsal fin.

Let Your Betta Dive During Water Changes

As we’ve already discussed, bettas are natural hunters. They are used to hunting for food at the bottom of ponds and lakes where they live. Bettas often get bored because their tank is too clean for them to hunt for food. Keeping your tank clean is important, but you can also let your betta hunt for food during water changes by letting them dive.

You can let your betta hunt for food during water changes by turning off the pump, removing the air stone, and draining a bit of water from your tank while your fish are still inside. You want to make sure not to drain the water too much because bettas are used to living in very shallow water.

Put in a Shifting Habitat

A shifting habitat is a great way to keep your betta active while also providing them with a safe place to hunt for food. A shifting habitat is a “shifting” tank that you can fill with sand, rocks, and plants. This provides your betta with a range of different terrains to explore, which will keep them happy and active.

Besides keeping your betta busy, this also provides them with a safe place to hunt for food because it is out of the way of your other tank mates. A shifting habitat is a great way to keep your betta active and happy. This will also give them a safe place to hunt for food where they won’t harm any of your other fish.

Conclusion

Keeping a betta fish healthy and happy is easier than most people think. If your betta is bored, you may notice them sitting at the bottom of its tank or swimming in circles. This is a sign that they are bored and need to be kept more active. If your tank is too clean, you may notice your betta swimming at the top of the tank.

This is another sign that they are bored and need something to do. Bettas are often misjudged as being “angry fish” when they are just bored. By adding more live plants, trying new food, letting your betta hunt for food during water changes, and putting in a shifting habitat, you will keep your betta active and healthy.