# Glass surfing questions



## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

So my new Betta Heathcliff seems to be doing well, other than a fair bit of glass surfing, and I just have a few questions about this.

Obviously, he's been from a jar in Thailand, to an airplane shipping box, to a transhipper's quarantine tank, to a postal shipping box, and then into my 7g glass planted cube within the space of a week. I understand that he will be a bit perturbed by this, and all things considering he is a very healthy colour and there's no sign of fin biting or lethargy.

But he has largely been going back and forth along the glass sides of his tank since he discovered them yesterday, apart from last night when he slept in the floating plants once the lights went off.

Here is the tank... those floating plants form a layer across the whole surface to break up the light, plus there's some duckweed and salvinia minima too:









As you can see I've done my best to plant it up for him. I cycled the tank before he came, parameters are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates between 5-10ppm, pH 8.0, temp 80F. I added stress coat the morning before he arrived. I recently did a hardness test on both my tap and tank water and it was crazily high, but there doesn't seem much I can do about that. I drip-acclimated him over 2 and a half hours. There isn't any sign of darting/rubbing that would give me concern about parasites, although he's attempted to attack the glass once or twice, so I think it's a reflection issue. I have added some indian almond leaves in there but the tannins aren't as pronounced as in Arthur's tank, since I only added them last week.

So my questions are:

Is this likely to settle down once he gets used to being in a larger space/a glass tank? Is he just getting used to his territory?
How long before I should get worried about this behaviour stressing him out? He hasn't really been flaring much, just swimming back and forth and wriggling, like my other fish does if I hold a mirror up.
Is there much I can do from the outside? I know about the Krylon Fusion inserts but it would mean completely breaking down the tank, which I'm reluctant to do :/

P.S. He hasn't been doing it as much at the back where I have the airstone, mostly on the front, which is bowed, and a little at the sides.


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

I'd say your tank looks just about perfect. I would just give him time to settle down, he's had a rough trip.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

Thanks Mike. I hope so. It's just disturbing to see him going back and forth, back and forth, like he's in jail or something! I'll give him a couple of weeks and observe how he settles


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

I know, when they pace it can be a little nerve wracking. You could try some paper on the outside of the aquarium, black seems to work for me for some reason. Maybe limiting the lights in the room you are keeping him in might calm him down. 

But in all honesty that fish has very little to complain about.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

I may try that if he hasn't stopped in a few days. Maybe when more tannins have leeched in the water it'll chill him out a bit too, I'll add another half IAL today, since it's his first 25% water change.


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

dannifluff said:


> Thanks Mike. I hope so. It's just disturbing to see him going back and forth, back and forth, like he's in jail or something! I'll give him a couple of weeks and observe how he settles



That is frustrating! Hopefully he is doing this because it is a new environment. Maybe he will be a different fish by next week. One of mine, Simeon, cooooooooooonstantly glass surfs. He has interesting things, plenty of room, warm water, a current to play in YET HE SURFS! AUGH! So I am going to give him some tankmates. Hopefully, that will be interesting and he will stop this glass surfing/ pacing. It is irritating to see- fish are suppose to be calming to watch. :| :lol: But I do hope yours calms down and ENJOYS that magnificent home you prepared for him! Lovely!


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## Lilypad (Oct 15, 2014)

I ended up doing the krylon fusion inserts for my boy. His glass surfing/flaring/attacking was constant. I had a heavy amount of tannins in the water and overloaded with plants. I upgraded his tank at the same time though, which you don't need to do. He's been so peaceful since moving him into his new home. I hope he settles in for you. I think some of these boys are just a bit more hyper/aggressive than others.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

He's getting a teeny bit better. I've noticed him once or twice having a poke around in the centre of the tank... before returning to the bow front to surf. He takes a break now and again, resting in the floating plants. He doesn't appear stressed though, and was showing major interest in the siphon today when I did a water change. He went nuts when I moved it like it was an invader! Tank mates is not an impossibility, I guess... there are two assassin snails in there but since it's a 7 gallon and well planted I could potentially add some ADFs in, I think, but then I'm not sure if the glass surfing is a sign of aggression or not and it might not bode well for the ADFs. Plus I don't think they're very easy to get in the UK.

For now, we'll just see how he settles. If in a couple of weeks he's still doing it I may need to start trying some new things!

I just added a crisp new Indian Almond Leaf in addition to the soggy ones he already has in there, to release some more tannins and give him something new to investigate. My other Betta always likes to build his bubble nests against new IALs so you never know.


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't worry about glass surfing much unless they injure themselves with it or get stressed. You've given him a nice place, and hopefully he'll get used to it soon.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

I hope so! He looks a bit deranged at the moment 

I tried putting a darker background on the back and sides this evening with the lower lighting to see if I could zen him out a little, and that seemed to actually make it worse, even though I couldn't see any reflection. My other new fish went in his tank today and has just chilled out completely. He's snoozing on an anubias leaf at the moment, and my other one is currently relaxing inside his CO2 diffuser, as since I've put it in there it's become his weird hang out of choice.

Hopefully Heathcliff isn't going to be my 'problem' fish, but he's not showing stress stripes or any fin damage apart from a few small nips on his dorsal which happened during transit and haven't gotten any worse, so I'm not overly worried. He seems a bit nervous as well... when I'm feeding him or if I put my finger up to the glass he darts off and flares as if he's startled. I guess he'll get over it in time, he's been on a long journey after all.


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## lookimawave (Feb 27, 2012)

I think you've done a great job providing him a good home. I've read that sometimes bettas just never adjust to living in larger spaces after living in tiny cups for so long. In those cases it's actually better to transfer them to a smaller home. Hopefully he'll chill out though! I've also read that Kordon Fish Protector helps in cases of stressed fish.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

I have some Kordon Fish Protector on the way but it's had to come from the US so will be another week or so. I added a little more stress coat with his water change today though.

If he's still behaving like this in a few weeks I'll try getting a few soft silk plants and placing them strategically to fill it out even more, but the live plants have a nice balance in there so I don't want to screw that up. I guess I could weave them into fishing line and suction them around the sides/in the corners and top and bottom of the bow front. Or craft mesh.

If that doesn't work I do have a 2 gallon kritter keeper, sponge filter and small heater but... ugh. Hopefully that won't be necessary!


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## mattchha (Aug 1, 2015)

Just something I happened to read recently in case you end up buying more silk plants - apparently bettas are highly visual and prefer some colors and dislike others. From what I understand, they like yellow the best, followed by green, and tend to dislike darker colors like blue and black. I mean, you already have a great-green set up, but I thought I'd mention it!


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

How interesting... thank you! I'll bear that in mind if I do end up trying this.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

Glass surfing is caused by stress. If he doesn't eventually calm down, then you need to find out what in the tank is causing the stress.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

I know. The water parameters are ok, I'm checking them daily. The filter is an adjustable corner filter designed for shrimp/fry tanks with a very gentle flow, he's not being pushed around by it. I don't think he's even noticed the snails yet.

The good news is, there are definite signs of improvement this morning. He's venturing much more into the body of the tank, poking around in the plants etc, still interspersed with glass surfing though. Hopefully the stress is just a residual effect of all the shipping he's been through coupled by a new tank with slightly more reflection than he's used to. But there's signs that he will start to chill out soon. He came up for food when the lights went on this morning so he's learning his routine already.

I think it's likely that during his week of quarantine at the transhipper that he was just in a bare tank, so it might be somewhat of a learned behaviour too? I'm thinking that might be part of it.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

Also, the surfing is getting a little less 'frantic' in nature, like he's starting to work out that what he can see in the glass may not be threatening to him after all. It's turning into more of a curious cruising.

So... fingers crossed


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

So glad to hear he is calming down some! I hope it continues. I think the "tankmates" idea was a flop because Simeon ignores him and continues to surf. :/ That is interesting about bettas liking yellow! I am wondering if I should switch Simeon into a smaller tank after reading this thread. He was at Petsmart for over 4 weeks before I caved and brought him home...maybe his little brain got damaged from boredom in that cup. He looked miserable.


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## Lilypad (Oct 15, 2014)

Good to see he's calming down! I think that's a good sign that maybe he'll settle in for you.


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