# Bobbing Betta?



## ScurvyGoat (Dec 1, 2011)

Just curious if anyone else deals with this. Once in awhile one of my Bettas will bob at the top of the tank, unable to swim down without great effort and only to float up when they stop. This will continue if fed frequently and will go away usually after at least one day of fasting. I used to see it A LOT with one female I fed everyday, before I started fasting. She'd bob for days and finally it'd work itself out. That was years ago before anyone really started using real tanks. Now I almost never see it since I fast them on Wednesdays. However! My mum "feels bad" not feeding her Betta Mick and he's been bobbing most of the week. He is otherwise fine, if a lil tired. I'm gonna tape over the feeding hole AGAIN and see how that goes. But yeah, just curious if it has a name or anyone knows anything else to help prevent it.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yes this is swim bladder disorder.It is caused from overeating.Not sure if you know but a bettas stomache is about the size of their eye,so its pretty small.

What food is being fed?Flakes will cause this issue quite a bit but pellets will do so as well if fed too many.If she insists on feeding him daily then see if she will soak the pellets in some tank water for about five minutes before feeding them to him.This will let them swell before consumption causing less issues.Also ask her to cut back on them to only a few pellets at a time.if she feeds flakes see if she wont switch to a high quality pellet and soak it for him.


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## ScurvyGoat (Dec 1, 2011)

We feed pellets, Hikari Bio-Gold I think they are called. Awhile back they were one of the best foods available so we got that. We just stuck with it through the years and it was after I bought their huge pouch o' pellets that I learned the ingredients had been changed and it was no longer a good food (So I took from the thread). I have been trying to use up the rest as fast as I can but there's so many. @[email protected]


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yeah they used to be one of the top brands.I feed my bettas atisons betta PRO,and regular.Great food.The main ingredient in pro is brine shrimp,and I cant remember the main in the regular.


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## horizon1015 (Dec 6, 2011)

Remember only feed your fish how much it can eat in about 3 minutes.


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## ScurvyGoat (Dec 1, 2011)

Well then I'm waaaaay underfeeding. I usually feed about 5 pellets a day, fasting on Wednesday. They're usually done in a minute or less.  mum feeds the same amount. I have her down to everyother day for now. Gonna QT him and add some ES if he's not right by tomorrow. He lives in a 3.5 gallon tank with lots of fake plants of all sizes, one right to the surface so he has a bed. We switched him to the only other kind we had. They're called New Life Spectrum or something of the like. I was told they are good but we were losing most because they sink FAST.


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