Male Betta Fish behavior

Question
QUESTION: I bought a male Betta fish at a local pet store about two weeks ago. He is in a 1 1/2 gallon tank. It has a small air pump and I bought a mini size Betta bowl heater. The water temperature is usually around 78 degrees but sometime at night it will go down to 75 degrees. There is gravel in the bottom and a few plastic plants and he seems to eat fine (I give him the small betta pellets). It's his behavior that I'm wondering about. He most often stays toward the back of the tank (its a 6 sided tank) and he goes up and down over and over. I thought that maybe he was seeing his reflection and reacting to the "other" fish so I put some paper over the outside of the glass but he still does it. Is this normal or is something wrong? Thanks for your help!

ANSWER: Katherine,
I see a few things that should be changed. First, 1.5 gallons is not big enough for him. The smallest he should be in is 2.5 gallons, but a 5 gallon is even better. His water needs to be at 82 degrees at all times. If the temperature goes up and down, he will get stressed and then will become ill. I would remove the filter. It is not doing anything and adds undo stress. He could be swimming that way from stress, and fish can swim like that if the water perimeters are off. Do you test his water weekly? What are you readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Let me know what the readings are, and if they are high, I will tell you how to bring the ammonia and nitrite levels back down to zero.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your response. I have a couple of follow up questions if it's OK? First, I took your advice and removed the air pump. He was much happier without it. But without the air pump the water didn't circulate very well and got a bit merky. It was to small of a tank for a water filter so I decided to get a bigger tank-I got a 5 gallon. It has a heater and a water pump. Before I put Albert in his new tank, I took a sample of the tank water to the pet store where they tested for free. She said everything was fine. I asked about the PH level since a small sensor I have said it was very high. She said everyone in our area has hard water and there's not much you can do and the fish are used to it. She said not to worry about it. My question is-the water filter REALLY disturbed Albert the Betta Fish. So I unplugged the filter. Was it just because he was in a new tank and needs to get used to it or is it too strong? Can I use the filter for only a set amount of time per day and maintain a clean tank? I hate the idea of getting another filter as I have already spent WAY more money on this fish than I thought I would have to. I was sold a Tetra Whisper PF10 power filtration System. I would appreciate your advice. Thanks!

Answer
If you are worried about no circulation, you can add an air stone to his tank. Since you had just set up the tank, the water would have tested fine. It takes 6 weeks to cycle a filtered tank, and the water will test good for about two weeks, until you seed the tank. You cannot turn the filter off and on. If you do that, it will not cycle and the fish will become ill. It is best to either cycle the filter before you add him to the tank, or leave the filter out completely. I have many Betta tanks that do not have filters, but they have air stones. I just test the water weekly, and do weekly water changes. You should get a gravel vacuum to make the water changes easier, and more efficient. As long as you do the weekly water testing and water changes, and keep his heater set between 80 and 82 degrees at all times, he should do very well.