Betta Yawning?

[keithp]

I noticed my betta yawn twice today, what does this means? Her color is fine, she eats great, poo is normal, she is active, breathing is normal, no sign of illness or injury on her.

 

[Big_eyes]

I noticed my betta yawn twice today, what does this means? Her color is fine, she eats great, poo is normal, she is active, breathing is normal, no sign of illness or injury on her.

I always took fish 'yawning' to be a shortage of oxygen in the water.

 

[Loops]

My Lotus does this, not sure why, but he has one BIG mouth!

 

[Lacuna]

My betta does this, and sometimes he does it when he's looking right at me. I always assumed he was hungry, and it's like 'I WANT FOOD!'.

 

[Honeythorn]

If it happens really frequently then it's usually a sign of poor oxygen, but for betta this should not be a problem as they are adapted to low oxyen waters and can take air from the surface the same as any anabantid.

Since fish don't sleep as we know it, it's a likely assumption that they don't really have a need to yawn. At a guess I'd say she's just stretching her mouth really. Most fish do it occasionally and as long as she's otherwise doing great and eating and swimming well, then there should be no problem.

 

[scobie140]

Our angels do this at least once a day. It's def not due to lack of oxygen as their tank has really good surface adjitation with a good flow, so i just assume they are stretching just like we humans do

 

[keithp]

She doesnt do it often, I only saw it once or twice this year, and the oxygen level is just fine so cant be that.

I googled it and they mentioned something about cleaning the labyrinth or gills if a piece of debris got caught in it, mabye she was just getting something out?

 

[loraxchick]

fish often yawn to back-flush their gills. if there are fine particulates in the water sometimes they "gum up" their gills and they take in water thru the gills and out the mouth (this is the opposite of how fish normally "breathe").
nothing to worry about. it is normal behaviour.
cheers