Stripes

[FishyLoveBug]

One of my little men is pale and showing stripes. However he is eating but goes to hide in his plants after. Is he just stressed? I see no other flags of illness....

 

[D Chia]

One of my little men is pale and showing stripes. However he is eating but goes to hide in his plants after. Is he just stressed? I see no other flags of illness....

They do turn pale and display horizontal stripes when they are stressed. Do be mindful that frequent stress could make the fish more susceptable to illness.

 

[RandomWiktor]

While those lines do indicate stress, stress can be in the traditional form of something intimidating the fish, or it could mean stress as in system stress: the fish may be showing the first signs of illness. Now, the fact that he is hiding so much suggests something is scaring him. People sometimes don't realize how terrifying minor things in the out-of-tank environment can be to a fish; something like a change in the surrounding furniture, a child who taps on the glass, a dog running past on the other side of the room, etc. can make bettas feel very exposed. Consider the fact that out in the wild, they'd be in the safe, murkey waters of a rice paddy with plenty of plant cover. In our homes, they are in a little glass tank exposed on all sides to the whole world. You might just have a shy little boy in need of adjustment.

Might I ask a few questions in regards to this fish?
- How long have you had him?
- Where did you get him?
- What size tank is he in?
- Is it filtered/heated?
- Did you recently do a water change?
- Do you use dechlorinator?
- What is the temperature inside the tank?
- Does he have a history of illness?
- Have you seen this behavior before, or is it a recent development? (this is very important; if your betta was usually bold and is suddenly shy, he could be feeling under the weather and is hiding because he doesn't want "predators" to see him in a weakened state)
- How much plant cover is there?
- Are there other bettas/animals within its vision range?
- Was he recently bred?
- What are your ammonia/pH/nitrate/nitrite readings?

 

[BettaMomma]

RW has covered all the major stuff, but I have one question that happened to one of my little guys and it was really silly. I left my digital camera laying outside his tank, with the big ol' lens staring right in at him. It was driving him nuts.

Might there be something outside his tank that's bothering him?

Just a thought.

 

[FishyLoveBug]

Well Im thinking its from his trip yesterday. He is one that came from Wuv. Because besides the paleness and stripes he seems other wise fine. I just could not remember if the stripes were a stress pointer or not. )
I have a towel draped over half of his tank right now and he seems happy with that. My guess is my kitty got curious (she only likes to sit and stare) and he probably got worried. From where I sit at the desk I can peek up and see how they are under the towel without lifting it. They seem fine again besides the paleness. I will keep an eye on them. They have tons of plant cover so that should help a bit as well when I take the towel away.

 

[FishyLoveBug]

Found out what was stressing him. I turned on his tank light and his color was coming back, I look a few minutes later and he is pale again. For some reason he just does not like his light on.
Thats the only thing I changed. I moved very slow turning it on as not to alarm him, and the towel is still in place.