betta doesnt like light

[nolash]

I have a female betta fish in a 2 gallon mini-hex tank. along with the tank came a 15watt incandescent bulb. it is currently situated on an endtable with a lamp next to it. the betta doesnt seem to mind the light from the endtable lamp(which uses a flourescent bulb) but if i turn on the light for the tank the betta freaks out . she starts flaring her gills out(which looks really nasty) and turns a little white. i can not figure what the problem is. i have tried several different incandescent bulbs for her with the same result. so far i have tried a standard 15watt clear bulb, then a 15watt aqua-glo bulb, and then a 15watt blue bulb and it still freaks her out. is it maybe that she should have a flourescent bulb? do incandescents have this effect on some bettas? any help would greatly be appreciated. thanks

[Zoe]

Bettas don't really like strong light.
Either leave the light off, or you could get some plants to provide shade and cover. Get some floating plants, and some plants with large leaves (ie anubias, sword). See if you can't get a fluorescent bulb to keep the plants growing, of course, and she should be much more comfortable like that.

You can also get some dried almond leaf (e-bay has some). You put it in the water and it turns the water a slightly brownish, which also makes the betta more comfortable.

[Puffer Pita]

I wouldn't recommend plants with an incandescent bulb. You can replace it with a lower watt fluorescent bulb though and that will help. You can get 10w fluorescent screw-in bulbs from pet stores, fish stores or online at places like drsfostersmith.com or bigalsonline.com

[Ringo]

2watts of light per gallon right?

[Zoe]

Depends. 2W/gal is plenty if you want to go with some higher, mid-light plants. However, lots of plants will grow in lower than that, say 1w/g.

[Puffer Pita]

The watts per gallon ratio breaks down in small tanks, so although having 10 watts on a 2 gallon tank comes to 5 watts per gallon, its still only very low light. Not sure why that is, but its true for tanks about 20g and under. I have 40 watts on my 10 gallon tank and can still only grow low to medium low light plants, anything else will falter and die.

[Bettaman]

Originally Posted by nolash I have a female betta fish in a 2 gallon mini-hex tank. along with the tank came a 15watt incandescent bulb. it is currently situated on an endtable with a lamp next to it. the betta doesnt seem to mind the light from the endtable lamp(which uses a flourescent bulb) but if i turn on the light for the tank the betta freaks out . she starts flaring her gills out(which looks really nasty) and turns a little white. i can not figure what the problem is. i have tried several different incandescent bulbs for her with the same result. so far i have tried a standard 15watt clear bulb, then a 15watt aqua-glo bulb, and then a 15watt blue bulb and it still freaks her out. is it maybe that she should have a flourescent bulb? do incandescents have this effect on some bettas? any help would greatly be appreciated. thanks

It's not the light she has a problem with. It's the reflection she sees of herself against the tank glass that is more obvious with the tank light. There is no easy solution to this other than to use a lower wattage lamp or reposition the lamp further away from the tank so here reflection is not as obvious to her. But it's not the light that she doesn't like. It's the 'other female Betta' (herself) that she sees when the light is turned on.

[kristian18f]

They have a flurescent at walmart for about $5 (if your in the states) I use it in my tanks and my bettas seem ok with it. It's also great for the plants!