# do bettas sleep?



## Echo (May 18, 2011)

I'm curious.. do bettas sleep at all? ..and if so, is it at the surface or does it matter? 
This morning, I saw Elvis parked at the bottom of the tank, motionless. Being the doting momma, I panicked and gave the tank a tap. Well, this got quite a swift reaction: Elvis not only jolted up and went flying, he shot out of the water and cracked himself on the lid hard enough to lift it a bit (it's one of those cheap affairs that's just a plastic 'plate' resting on top). Afterwards he sort of hung around the bottom, occasionally curling up on himself, and not even a freshly thawed bloodworm would tempt him back to the surface for long. I feel sooooo bad  I'm hoping all he has is a bit of a headache..


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## SilverMagic (May 10, 2011)

I've been wondering about this myself. Do bettas sleep? I know they rest. Your fish not responding to food doesn't seem normal though. When was his last water change?


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

last night he was his regular zippy self, and i did finally get him to eat a few pellets (his favorite treat, believe it or not). his last full water change was last week, and i'm planning a partial later this week. he's in a 2.5 galon, and i use a turkey baster to clean out his 'offerings' as often as i see them, so his water is near spotless.
i think he just got the proverbial horn blasted behind him as he was napping and then bonked his head on the top bunk :lol:


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## Betta lover 1234 (May 23, 2011)

Yes they sleep. I was wondering that to but when my betta looked like he died i went to petsmart and they told me that it was only sleeping


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## Betta lover 1234 (May 23, 2011)

*how do i make a thread?*

i am knew here and i dont know how to make thread.


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## laughing (Mar 12, 2011)

If he is in a 2.5 you are definitely not changing your water enough. I have mine in that much and have to do 50-75% with vacuuming the gravel every other day. If I don't, my female is fine, but male gets stress stripes and loses all his color. Just because the water looks clear doesn't mean it isn't packed full of ammonia. You don't need murky, smelly, green water for something bad to be going on.

And yes, they do sleep. My boy prefers to rest in his anacharis, my female likes to bury herself in the substrate.


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

every other day? i can see if i were keeping him in a 16oz cup, but not in a 2.5 galon tank. Elvis is a piebald, he actually loses color when i do water changes (hates them), and he hides for a day or two until he decides to forgive me. i do test all my tanks (four) twice a week (doting momma) and all remain clean. if i even think for a second that i'm imagining a teensy spike in ammonia, it's a 75-100% water change. that may be excessive to some, but my boys are healthy and active.


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## Burd (Apr 10, 2011)

I'm almost 100% sure they sleep and I can say this pretty confidently.

I've got two tanks, one with boys and the other with girls. I had a rough week last week and got next to no sleep. First a stomach flu and now I'm just getting over bronchitis. Lol, lucky me, right?

Anyway... I'd walk around at night to get a drink or go to the bathroom and because I couldn't sleep, once in a while I'd go check out my fishies and watch them for a little bit. I was initially concerned since it looked like all of my females were motionless either on the bottom or in a plant or cave. I turned on the light on their tank and poof! All active and happy to see me, expecting food of course.

My boys do the same thing. If I sneak in and don't let them see me, they stay quiet at night and then when I turn on a light they swim up and go crrraaazy.

Fishies sleep. :>


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## SilverMagic (May 10, 2011)

If you are testing the water using a liquid API test kit every day to every other day then you know how often the water needs to be changed. Overdoing water changes is unnecessary stress on your fish. I think you are doing just fine.


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

Elvis found a new favorite hiding place.. i discovered these tiny sherry glasses in storage a few months ago and thought they'd look cute as decorations in my tanks (2 in each). lately i've noticed Elvis nesting in one. i was worried for a bit that he'd not know the way out, but he shows me how clever he is by swimming in and out as if to say "look at what i found!"


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## SashimiBetta (May 7, 2011)

*Difference between dead & alive:*

*Alive- *Bettas are floating and aren't moving their eyes or not moving at all.

*Dead*- Bettas are at the bottom of the tank all tangled up with bubbles covering their body. When you tap the glass once, they don't move.


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

well.. after cracking his little head on the tank lid, Elvis was at the bottom for a bit.. and if a fish could cross his eyes, his definitely were crossed. but he was swimming about, albeit like a drunken sailor.. i'll check on him as soon as i get home from work (mentally forcing the clock to hurry up :-?).


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

Yes, they sleep! Smaug has a certain spot he always goes to sleep. Sometimes he worries me when he does it, but I am getting more used to it happening. He takes a little bit to wake up too, but I try not to disturb him because I worry he will spazz. I hope that your boy is alright!


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

lol he's fine! i came home yesterday and there he was, doing his little Elvis wriggle! i took care this morning when i saw him snoozing at the bottom not to startle him again, and when i walked by five minutes later he was wide awake. weird little critter..


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

I just caught mine sleeping xD!

Then I got near and his eye moved at me, I jumped lol, then he ran to my side and kept flaring me, I think he didn't like me waking him up XDDDDD


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

Bettas do sleep..It's adorable and sometimes scary...haha
My sisters fish who I am taking care of..he likes to sleep sideways on the bottom..It always freaks me out...:shock:


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

i remember reading somewhere that bettas are one of the more intelligent of the piscine species. how much do you want to bet they do this on purpose? :roll:


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

well I never made a research but I remember once they told me most fishes sleep like half of their brain while letting the other active for swimming and stuff, then they just swap brains then it gets a full rest, specially dolphins and such.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut I never cared to look about it, so idk


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## BettaGirl290 (Jul 29, 2010)

Echo said:


> Elvis found a new favorite hiding place.. i discovered these tiny sherry glasses in storage a few months ago and thought they'd look cute as decorations in my tanks (2 in each). lately i've noticed Elvis nesting in one. i was worried for a bit that he'd not know the way out, but he shows me how clever he is by swimming in and out as if to say "look at what i found!"



i almost shot cereal bits out of my nose when i read this!:lol:


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

Bettas do sleep. They always look awake because their eyelids are clear.

I have one female betta who is housed alone (too agressive for a sorority), and she has a favorite plant and snuggles up behind it on the tank bottom to sleep.

In the sorority, I have floating fake plants on the top. Interestingly enough, they like to 'crawl' through it by day (fish jungle gym), and at night they curl up in the floating plant to sleep... it's like a hammock to them! I've also seen some of the girls curl up next to each other to sleep.

Bettas are full of surprises!


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

how many females can you keep in a tank? i have a female african dwarf frog i've had to separate from my male betta (he was getting a tad agressive), and she's become withdrawn (they're social creatures).. i'm debating on weather to get another ADF or to get a pair of female bettas for company..


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

Well, I'd say the rule is 2.5G per betta... But idk, I don't have a sonority.


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## Tisia (Mar 15, 2011)

Echo said:


> how many females can you keep in a tank? i have a female african dwarf frog i've had to separate from my male betta (he was getting a tad agressive), and she's become withdrawn (they're social creatures).. i'm debating on weather to get another ADF or to get a pair of female bettas for company..


don't get a pair, I believe the minimum amount of females suggested for a sorority is generally 4 (which you'd need at least a 10 gallon for), but the more you get the more the aggression is spread out and usually means less fighting. with just 2 they're likely to kill each other


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

crud. ok, extra frog it is :-D
has anyone tried one of those BiOrbs?


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## carzz (Mar 8, 2011)

Yeah they sleep. My girl, Rosie, She sleeps on top of her plant. I keep it so it's about 3/4s of an inch down so she just sleeps there, and reaches up to get air.  It's a home made betta bed!


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Can I go off topic just a teense? I think my betta has insomnia. Seriously, when I first got him he did sleep, but lately I haven't noticed him sleeping at all. So I thought he must be sleeping when I'm sleeping but I wake up and he's built a bubble nest that wasn't there before. I turn off his light when I go to bed but there's some ambient light from some mini Japanese paper lantern lights hung around my room that I don't turn off (too lazy, long story, please don't yell at me for wasting energy +_+). Could this light actually be keeping him up? I got him a floating log to hide in but, although he swims in and out of it, I haven't noticed him sleeping in it.


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

lmao, maybe you dropped some coffee in his tank and you didn't notice.. jookes xD!

Mine was like that as well, I could never see him sleeping, but only because that bastard used to hide from me when sleeping, kinda hard to get him, now that he is in his treatment tank I can see his sleeping when bored, specially yesterday because I fast him so he slept the most he could to eat today >_>

Now he's all back to normal being over energetic trying to find any food on the gravel, he does that like half of the day.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Haha, wouldn't be coffee, would have been tea or soda.  His tank's right by my desk so I can see him a lot and he's always just moseying around, weaving around his plants, going in and out of his betta log bed. Maybe he's got Restless Fin Syndrome?


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

maybe, but idk my tank is in my room with me but not as close as yours probably is, but my betta always goes psycho when I'm near his tank, when he was in his proper 10G, I cant even look at my snails or he will punch them or keep swimming near me to get my attention, maybe if you move his tank slightly farer from you ;V


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

they are jealous little critters, aren't they? i ended up getting a female veil as a companion for my ADF, and she even steals her frog pellets. she doesn't eat them (they're too big for her dainty mouth), she just moves them to a different part of the tank before coming over to me and preening. i named her Roxie (she's a gunmetal grey with silvery fins), but i'm about to nickname her Miss Piggy for her pretentiousness.
now i have a Diva tank :roll:


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

Diva Tank! LOL


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

SillyCone said:


> maybe, but idk my tank is in my room with me but not as close as yours probably is, but my betta always goes psycho when I'm near his tank, when he was in his proper 10G, I cant even look at my snails or he will punch them or keep swimming near me to get my attention, maybe if you move his tank slightly farer from you ;V


You think maybe he wants attention? Hmm. I don't have any other fish for him to be jealous of, just cats . . . I stick my hand in his tank so he can swim around my fingers - he loves doing that. What else can I do to give him attention?


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## jeanclaudeasher (May 20, 2010)

My bettas sleep....two of them sleep at the back of their tanks behind their decorations so I can't see them (which worries me if i dont see them for a while) and my third betta seems to sleep in random spots, I think he prefers the front of the tank at the bottom but if one of the kittens walk by when he is sleeping there they pounce at the glass and wake him up (dont worry there is no way for the kittens to get into the tank).


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

My cat loves to stare at my betta and my betta loves to egg him on by swimming back and forth in front of the poor cat with his fins flaring. Finally, my cat can't stand it and starts to paw the glass and gets scolded (I'm afraid he'll scratch the glass). Maybe the cat is keeping my betta up at night?


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## Blaze54 (Apr 14, 2011)

All 4 of mine do. Blaze and Prince both lay on/in their little caves. It's kind of funny,Aquarius sleeps at the bottom and Sunrise sleeps at the top. At first this scared me(you know,new betta,I didn't know how he did things ) And I thought he was dying! Haha nope,just attempting to sleep.


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## jeanclaudeasher (May 20, 2010)

lol Well none of our cats have front claws so all they do when they paw at the glass is leave paw prints on the glass (I go through more glass cleaner that way). During the day my bettas do like to tease the kittens. The only thing the kittens aren't allowed to do with my 29 gallon tank is jump on top of it (I already have one set of claw marks in the wood top from someone not making the jump right  ) My other betta who is in a large critter keeper stays hidden behind some books unless I am in the room, I am worried that as the kittens grow up they will break the lid by laying on it soooo they can't play with him as much


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

my cat is thoroughly fascinated by the boys.. she can't get to them (she refuses to jump straight to the counter.. she must have a step-progression, as jumping such distances is beneath her). at one point i had King Louie within reach, but all she did was hunker down and gaze at him. that's all. Louie would have it that she was simply dazzled by his splendor :roll:


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

Of course... all Bettas are splendiforous!


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## Echo (May 18, 2011)

not Elvis.. he's faaaaabulous, darling.. :lol:


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## DeadMemories92 (Dec 13, 2010)

Yeah, they sleep. Mine are like children. When I turn off the lights to go to bed at night, they get in their hammocks placed near the top of the tank and stick their faces to the top of the water to breathe occasionally. Then when I get up, they get out of their hammocks and start their days! I love them.  haha


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