Sudden strange betta behavior

Question
QUESTION: Hi. Yesterday afternoon, pretty much out of the blue, my betta started acting really crazy. Everytime I looked into his bowl, or even came near him, he would start swimming around very quickly up and down, left and right, although today he's mostly sticking to left and right. I thought it might be an ammonia spike, so I changed about 40% of his water. It didn't help. I thought it might be something like parasites like Ick, velvet, or some other parasitic or bacteria infection that causes flashing. Even though he was moving around quickly, I was able to study his body and fins and didn't notice anything unusual. No discoloration, spots, specks, nothing, gills look normal. His color is vibrant and normal. It doesn't look like he's scratching up against anything either. And what's even more strange is that he only seems to be flashing when someone is near him, especially if you peer into his bowl. He has always been aggressive, but before he would just flare and poof out his fins, then swim slowly back and forth, not these quick, spastic kind of movements he's doing now. When he can't see me, he calmly hovers in his favorite corner and sits still and relaxed like normal. He usually hovers at the top of his bowl, and that hasn't changed. His breathing is normal, and he still eats well. If the flashing was caused by sickness, I would think he would be darting around like that all the time, not just when someone is around. I watched him when he didn't know I was watching, and he just sat still in his corner like he always did before. A couple of times I saw him kind of hovering and looking out with his fins poofed up. Because he seems so aggressive, I'm thinking this must be some kind of hormone or sudden territorial thing. There has been no change in his environment, and I don't know if anything could have spooked him. I just wish he would stop being so crazy aggressive.     

Some background, I've had my betta for just over a year now. I don't have much room, so a 3 gallon tank is as big as I can go. Unfortunately fish supplies in my area are limited, and I have not been able to find a 3 gallon tank, or even a 2 gallon square tank. The best I could do is a 2 gallon fish bowl, and he's been pretty happy in it. The bowl is not filtered, but it is heated. I clean his water twice a week, roughly every 3 and a half days. I do a full change the first time, and a 50 to 60% change the second time. The water usually stays around 24 or 25 degrees Celsius, (not sure what that is in Fahrenheit). I've actually bought a heater with a higher voltage yesterday since I would like the temperature to be more around the 27 degree C mark, but I don't want to change the heaters until I can figure out what has been going on with him as I don't want any change to stress him further. I feed him twice a day, each time 2 Hikari bio-gold pellets. Twice a week I give him 3 freeze-dried bloodworms instead of pellets as a treat. Frozen and live food is impossible to find in my town, so I don't have much of a choice. I use Prime water conditioner which I think is really good since it removes chlorine, chloramine, and converts the ammonia to something safe for the fish.

I'm going to do a full water change today just to be on the safe side, but I really think this is an aggression territorial type issue. Have you ever heard of betta having sudden behavior changes without being sick? I just can't figure out what his problem is. I would really appreciate your help. Thanks.

ANSWER: Mia,
I am curious about the heater. What kind is it that you can put it in a bowl? Also, check the heater it might be shorting out and shocking him.If this is a problem that has come on suddenly, the first thing I do is check the heater. I have had fish die because the heater was shocking the fish. Even though it is a 2 or 3 gallon bowl, he could be seeing himself in the reflection of the glass. It's good that you are upping his heater. He needs to be at 82 degrees F at all times. Doing too many full water changes can be more harmful then helpful. There is beneficial bacteria in his gravel. When you do water changes, and if he was in a larger home, you would also clean the gravel. If the problem is not the heater, then I would say that something has spooked him. Maybe he got bumped into, or something fell right in front of him. If it is not any of these things, then he might just be aggressive, but I truly think it is either the heater or he got scared.  

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

QUESTION: The first thought I had when I saw him acting this way was that it could be the heater, and in a panic I stupidly stuck my finger in the water to see if there was any shocking. Luckily there wasn't any, and I will think it through next time! His heater is a Marina brand 10w. I know it's not the problem because he's still hanging around it like usual, and even when it was plugged out he was still acting this way. I have another Marina brand 17w that I will put in his bowl at his next cleaning. Hopefully it'll warm up the water a few degrees more.

The thing is that he only reacts to movement, otherwise he sits still in his favorite corner like normal. He has calmed down a bit today from yesterday. He's not darting so often. Mostly what he does is if someone peers into his tank he'll start swimming back and forth really fast. He always did that before, but it's a lot faster now. He still flares as usual. He's always been an agressive betta, but for some reason he's gotten even more so. His fins are also more poofed out than usual when he swims, which makes me think he's just super aggressive. I think you're right that something either spooked him, or he's just gotten more aggressive suddenly. I know these little guys can be very sensative. Could the weather, lighting, or just the change of season be affecting him? I hope it's just temporary and he calms down more.

Answer
Yes the weather could be bothering him. I notice in mine, if there is thunder they tend to be jittery. Just give him some space and time and see if he settles down. Don't let people get too close to his bowl for now. If he seems a bit worse. just toss a cloth on the tank to make it dark. This seems to calm them down.