Guest Author - Jill Florio

Sometimes our bettas jump out of their bowls. Here is why and what you can do.

Sometimes a betta will not realize he is not jumping into more water. In the "wild", a betta can jump from one wet puddle and into another - one which might be bigger. Since bettas breathe oxygen directly from the air, a betta will stay alive as long as it stays moist. If it wiggles and jumps around, it might just find itself a better water hole by jumping. Bettas have a lot of body strength and can leap pretty high and far.

In your bowl, your betta will normally stay right where he is. Sometimes he will jump out by accident, without thinking. It helps to let the betta know where the top of the water is, by having a cover over the top, or by using a plant or decoration that is partly out of the water, or a toy/plant that floats on the surface. If your betta is building bubblenests, chances are good he knows where the top is.

Sometimes a betta jumps from his tank on purpose. If he has just been transfered to a new habitat, he might be confused. He might try to get back to his old home, or be confused about where the top of the water is. Try covering your bowl with something for a week - maybe use a saucer or plate - until he gets his bearings.

He might also be trying to get to a nearby tank with a female in it, or into a tank with a male that he would like to fight. Again, covering the bowl for a while is a good idea. You might want to use tanks with lids if you are clustering different bettas in an area. This way, you will not have to worry about your fearless boy leaping to his death!

One note - be wary of those tanks that have separate areas for different bettas in one tank - many a betta fancier has come home to find their males together, ripped to shreds, or even dead. A betta male will try to leap into those different sections if they can. Keep the water level low enough so he cannot jump the barriers.

A betta will also jump from his tank to escape bad water conditions. This is going back to the survival skills we discussed above - he is hoping to land in cleaner water somewhere. Make sure you provide him with clean, dechlorinated water. The smaller the bowl, the more crucial this is. If he is living in nasty water, he will do everything he can to escape.

When you change his water, also make sure you are giving him conditions that are safe. If the water is too hot or toxic in some way, he will probably go nuts, almost immediately, bashing himself against the gravel and walls and trying to jump out. Feel this water with your fingers to see if it's too hot. There is a temperature range bettas prefer. Make sure you did not use soap when you cleaned his habitat - and that if you did, all residue is completely cleaned out. Make sure you use a declorinator.

Mentally review what you did recently, to see that no contaminants got into the tank. Put your betta aside in a clean cup of water, and clean out the tank again, gravel and all, being mindful of creating a safe and clean habitat, before you put him back in.

Lastly, sometimes bettas exit their bowls and tanks because we have filled them too high after adding water or doing a water change. It's happened to me several times, and now I am extra-careful. Bettas are too inquisitive for their own good and can go swimming right out of their bowl.

So, make sure never to fill your habitats too high! I'd say an inch to a finger-length deep is as far as the water level should be from the edge/lip.

If you do come home and find your betta on the counter or floor, immediately put him back in water! He might still be alive and recover just fine. Remember, he can keep breathing quite easily from the air, and won't be dead until he's dried out.

Betta Basics

Care for your bettas right!