Biting Tails

[ravekiss]

As you may have known, I was away for 4 days over the weekend, when I returned all my boys at home were doing well but Rusty (at work) had a chunk of tail missing and some ragged fins. I was told that he was swimmign around in circles trying to bite his tail. I saw him do this too. Why is he doing this? How can I get him to stop? He's in a 1g bowl with two-three weekly water changes.

 

[wrs]

it could be for fun ( as odd as that sounds) or bad water quality, or maybe he is hungery. mine used to bite his tail, then I fed him more that usuall and he stopped.

 

[Prizm]

I've no experience with this, but you might try giving him some live food as he may just have extra energy and want to chase things.

 

[eudielynn]

Unfortunately it's chronic with some bettas. I have one that will go for weeks and be fine and then suddenly he whips around and bites off a mouthful of tail. I know he gets plenty to eat. He's a little pig and eats everything that comes into his tank. I have heard it comes from boredom, but I also tried changing things around in his tank (that keeps him busy for an hour or so), putting ghost shrimp in with him (he ate them), putting ADF's in with him (he tried to eat them, too), and finally a snail that is as big as he is. I also spend time interacting with him every morning and evening. He's better entertained than I am! I've also heard that it could be water quality, I have two other bettas in the same water and they don't tail bite.

 

[RandomWiktor]

I have a betta who had this problem as well. His seemed to be stress related. I put his tank somewhere quiet, densely planted it, added a cave, and kept it covered if I was making any dramatic changes. I also made sure the environment around his tank was extremely stable; I never left items near the tank that weren't usually there, made sure cats/dogs/other fish were out of sight, and made sure the location was low traffic and low noise. He's doing spectacularly now, but sometimes a stressful situation - including poor water, irregular feeding, etc. - will make him start up again.

 

[eudielynn]

Yeah, I tried all that with mine, too. Kept him in the bedroom away from cats, kids, and company, where it was quiet and darker than the rest of the house. It made no difference. He still does it every two or three weeks.

 

[Synirr]

Sometime it can be due to stress, and sometimes it's just something the individual fish does... Yura's bowl is right next to my computer, so I watch him a lot, and I see him just making sloooow circles while staring at his tail. I usually stick my hand in the bowl or something to make him stop, and while he rarely actually bites his tail, he has done so twice in the past. It's like an obsessive compulsive disorder or something

 

[ravekiss]

I've had Rusty for almost 6 months and he's never done that before. I didnt notice him chasing his tail today though. I hope he doesnt do it again.