Betta Won’t Stop Flaring

[TotallyTropical]

Alright, I didn’t think I’d have any new problems with my older betta, but here I am, with a problem.
I just changed the lights in one of my bettas’ tanks to warm toned 6w LED light “sticks”. They work well and make the tank bright without the heat. Problem is now that the tank’s lighter, he can see his reflection at the back better, even with a background put up. He’s been in this tank for about a year now, and hasn’t done this before. He stops when I approach the tank and does the good old “Feed me mom!” wiggle, but goes back to it when I’m not looking.
Will this be an issue for him in the future? I don’t want to stress him out, but I hated the colour of my old incandescent lights. He’s a big idiot too, but I love him and only want the best for him.

 

[Phil Fish]

Interesting topic for me. My new Royal Blue Veiltail Betta (Phil Fish) was absolutely obsessed with his own reflection from his tank thermometer. Some times attacking it. At first this was mildly amusing but I too thought maybe this is not so great for him.

So I changed up his lighting to something less bright and further away overhead. His previous light was a fairly bright table lamp next to his bowl (he's moving to a 5 gallon tank soon) and it was very bright and made a lot of reflection. Especially on the top part of the thermometer.

Now he's less concerned and stressed out with the thermometer and seems more relaxed enjoying exploring all over his bowl. He still keeps "monitoring" it once in awhile but he's not getting all aggressive about it...lol

Good luck with your situation!

 

[Colin_T]

Bettas kept in a constant state of aggression (defending a territory) die prematurely from stress. Letting him see his reflection and show off to it once or twice a week for 10-15minutes is fine but you don't want him flaring continuously.

Perhaps try changing the colour of the backing or you can let algae grow on the back and sides and it will remove the reflection, then he will stop.

 

[NickAu]

I had male that destroyed a thermometer, he was hitting it so hard it cracked the glass on the thermometer.

I just changed the lights in one of my bettas’

Add a bunch of floating plants to cut the light down.

 

[Phil Fish]

Once I changed up his lighting my Betta is much more relaxed and swimming happily all over his bowl. I think the previous lighting was way too bright and harsh. He could see himself no matter the angle he looked at the thermometer. He couldnt get away from it. Now with dimmer less direct lighting he seems less interested in the thermometer. Occasionally he catch his reflection, will go up to it and check it out for a few seconds but not like before. Kind of like to say..."ok you're still there and I am still here but I am not going to kill you". He's a much happier little guy.

 

[TotallyTropical]

Oh geez I wasn’t getting notifs on this topic, sorry!
I’ll try and get some floating plants ASAP, if they’ll survive in the tank; I think my phosphates are too high for most plants to grow properly. I could always try and remedy that with one of those “phosphate removing” bags that you put in the filter, I suppose. Never tried them though.
Any recommendations for hardy floating plants?
If this can’t be fixed within the next week I’ll switch his lights back to something dimmer.

 

[TotallyTropical]

Just picked up some free floating plants at my LFS. No clue what they are, I suck at identifying plants... They’re long and lanky, can be rooted, and multply like duckweed apparently. I’ll post pictures if needed.
If this doesn’t work out, I’ll grab some water lettuce from my grandpa; he grows tons of the stuff in his pond.

 

[Colin_T]

Plants use phosphates to grow and if you had high levels the fish would die. If you have high nutrient levels in the tank water, do water changes to dilute it.

Post a picture of the plant you got for ID.

Don't bother with water lettuce, it doesn't do well in aquariums.

 

[TotallyTropical]

Strange, I read water lettuce would be a great addition to the aquarium, plus it blocks a lot of light. I’ll keep the water lettuce on hold then.
Also I read that phosphates cause algae to grow rapidly and plants to brown and die prematurely. I think it’s in our tap water, so I don’t know what to do about it.
Anyway, here’s the plant cluster I got. Hopefully these pictures work well enough.

 

[Colin_T]

No idea what the plant is but it's kind of interesting. Hopefully one of the plant guys can ID it.

Water Lettuce tends to rot in aquariums especially if they have a coverglass. It gets too humid under the cover and the leaves turn black and fall apart. The other issue is light, outdoors in a pond they get full sunlight but when they are put in an aquarium they only get low level artificial light and they don't grow well in low light. You can try some (especially if it's free from a relative) and see how it goes but Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) and Duckweed do much better.

 

[TallPaul]

Hornwort???

Ceratopteris Silicosa I think

 

[TotallyTropical]

I might try it then, but if it does rot then I suppose I need an alternative. Water sprite looks interesting, but along with duckweed I’m not sure if it will block out enough light.

Hornwort???

Don’t think it’s hornwort, it doesn’t look feathery enough. And if you’re recommending it as a plant I’m not sure how much light it will block out either. I think large, solid-leaved plants are what I should be looking for.
I was looking at amazon frogbit as well though! Would that work? (If I can find some lol)

Edit: that plant I got actually came with quite a lot of duckweed, so I suppose I can try it while I’m at it!

 

[TotallyTropical]

Water lettuce acquired!
His tank looks like a messy little jungle now, but the light is being filtered out!

Honestly I think I got more water lettuce then I’ll ever need in my life....
Hopefully it grows well too! If not, I’ll find alternatives.

 

[Colin_T]

The tank looks good with the light filtering through the plants.

Is the plant on the left with the red & white bits, real or fake?

 

[TotallyTropical]

It’s fake, just thought it would be interesting and tie the tank together. I’d love to have real flowering aquatic plants someday though, if my water allows it