Betta in new aquarium

Question
Hi.  I just purchased an 1.5 gallon aquarium for my betta and I can't tell if he is adjusting to it properly.  I used to keep him in a large glass bowl but I felt that having something filtered would be easier to maintain.  Now I find that all he does is stare and sit next to the filter.  He wouldn't eat for several days until I shut the filter off and then he eventually swam away from it.  As soon as I turned the filter back on he went right back to his odd behavior. I checked the pH level and I conditioned the water, so I really have no idea what is going on.  Would my betta be better off in a tank without a filter?   Thanks!

Answer
Hi Allison,
Sorry to hear about the betta. If the filter is producing too much current that could be why the betta is behaving listless. Bettas are always very sensitive to currents of any kind. Your betta may also be behaving that way due to simply a change in environment. But I would also be careful and check his water temperature. If its dropped below 76F bettas can get pretty sluggish. But it could in fact just be the filter causing the trouble. I'm not sure what type of filter you have. If its a power filter then you can sometimes use soft plants to help block the current from the filter. But undergravel filters there's not too much you can do about that but try the same thing with using floating plants to block some of the current.

With some time your betta may eventually adjust. I hope he does, if he still has problems let me know.
Best of luck!
Karen~