My betta starting biting his tail again

[Durbkat]

I just saw that my betta has started biting his tail again. Because I just got hom from school and more of his tail is gone. I'm not sure if he was bored or was to excited. But it was fine this morning and now some of its missing. And it just started growing back to. I"m so peeved off right now because I thought I had the situation under control.

 

[Durbkat]

Hello? Anyone their? I was also wondering if any of you all have had this problem?

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

I have (fortunately!) never had a tail biter... What all do you have in his tank for decorations? Can he see other fish? Is he maybe getting vibrations from a TV or stereo?

 

[Durbkat]

He is in a fish bowl and it has blue gravel and a sign that says " fish for sale" and it has no sharp edges. But I already know why he is doing it. It's because he is seeing to much of his reflection, so I cut his time back to 30 to 45 minutes a day(used to be all day) and he was fine for about two weeks with this schedule and I come home and CHOMP CHOMP on his tail, now we are back to where we started only half a tail (maybe he thinks he is a halfmoon betta lol) And his tail was half way on recovery almost about 15% to 20% of his tail had started growing back and the damn (sorry) stupid betta chomps off his tail. So now its back to square one with the salt treatment (once again). This is getting rediculous.

 

[Durbkat]

Hello? Has anyone ever had this happen to them before?

 

[RandomWiktor]

It sounds like maybe part of the problem is that the tank doesn't have enough to hide in. Most tail-biter bettas are easily stressed and/or bored. One way to counteract both of these is to make the tank more interesting. I would suggest adding silk or live plants large enough for the fish to hide in, maybe even a cave. I don't know how big your bowl is, but if it is not big enough for proper behavioral enrichment and/or hiding, it really should be upgraded.
Decreased lighting, being moved to a quiet, low-traffic area of the house, keeping away from other bettas, and reducing reflection in the tank wall are also ways to help curb fin biting, from my personal experience.

 

[Durbkat]

Thanks for the suggestions but a cave won't work because he gad one in thier before and it got all tore up on the cave apart from him biting his tail to so it looked horrible. So I moved him to a fish bowl and he seemed fine. And he is in my room (like he always was) and I'm only in here for about 6 to 7 hours before I go to bed. So I guess the lamp I have over the bowl so I can see him good and to keep him bowl warm was another reason.

 

[JoLtNbolt]

I think you should stop using the mirror to excite him for awhile.... when I use a mirror, I let my bettas see their reflection for maybe 5 min max, if even that!

 

[Durbkat]

Well then he wouldn't do anything but swim around and I wouldn't be able to see his cool colors.

 

[Squishiebabe]

My Betta is a tail biter too. I thought it was finrot, until I saw him doing it one day!
I tried feeding everyday, and different foods, tried feeding every other day, tried moving his tank around every water change, tried skipping water changes, more frequently changing it, Melafix, Salt, ..all to no avail, so I think its just the fish personally, and I'm not even trying to stop mine anymore, I just watch him to make sure it doesnt get too bad.

 

[Durbkat]

sqishy do you let the betta flare at a mirror?