Utterly rediculous betta behaviour

[Loboto-Me]

My betta is starting to frustrate me.
He had finally started healing from his tail shredding. And now I looked and it's worse than ever.
Earlier today.. he was doing his tail chasing again which made me start the thread about betta toys.

I'm trying to discern whether his tail chasing is a symptom of boredom, or disease.

Could he be chasing his tail because his tail rot is uncomfortable?

Or did he make his tail uncomfortable by chasing his tail?

The reason I am asking this is that my boy hadn't made a bubble nest in weeks... tonight I discovered an impressive little bubblenest in one corner of his tank.

Could he be feeling impending danger because of his tail, therefore making him want to reproduce?

Could he have chased his tail because he was feeling frisky and feeling a need to fight anyone including himself?

Could he actually be bored and that's why he was chasing his tail and made the bubble nest?

So many possibilities to ponder... and I've probably missed some.

Here we go with the bettamax again! Why oh why does he do this to me!

 

[Origami Gourami]

This going to sound daft, but bear with me! Is he in a generally well lit area, or does he have a light on his tank, but otherwise dark sorroundings?

If he had a single light in his little tank shining on him, and darkness around, it would mean he reflects on all sides of his tank. This would be more claustrophobic the smaller the enclosure. It's like Pepper's Ghost, an old victorian conjuring trick where a sheet of glass on stage reflected an actor dressed as a ghost off stage and by varying the strength of light on the actor, the reflection on the stage (the ghost) would appear to fade in an out, much to the gasps of the audience.

So if your fella can see up to four chaps at once all around him, he would undoubtedly be darting round, wondering if anybody's going to nip at him. If he thinks he's in the middle of a group, he could then easily mistake his own tail for another of the surrounding 'gang' in the confusion. This might explain why he isn't too fussed about playing with the mirror, he sees other bettas most of the time!

Maybe try a light on around the tank, to lessen the strength of the reflections? Or give him a pot to chill out in?

It's just a thought that occured to me because my betta loves visiting the pesky reflection that lives in the dark corner of the community tank and having a good old argue with him!

 

[Loboto-Me]

You know that's not a daft idea at all.
I was JUST going to say "By Golly! You hit it on the nail!"

That's until I looked over at him (he sits beside me on the comp desk) and he was chasing his tail again.

He has his own little light on the tank, but the lights are on in the room as well.

You were so close OG! I really thought you had the answer.

Hmmm Unlessss.... could it be possible that the same effect is created because of the dark wood? I'm going to try putting light coloured paper at the back of the tank to see if there's a change in behaviour.

 

[Origami Gourami]

That's a good idea with the light paper. I used to mess around with Pepper's Ghost stuff as a kid and I always found it better on my black ash computer table.

Jasper also prefers to tackle his mortal foe along the back corners, and I have a plain black backdrop to the tank.

Good thinking LM! We'll get to the bottom of this!

 

[bittersweet]

well I have a theory because one of my bettas died of fin rot that was so sudden and he constantly darted around and "chased his tail" swimming in circles and such. that could be a big reason why he is doing that, especially if his tail is really long. about that bubblenest..hmm that is an odd one, I dont think i have a theory about that lol

 

[Loboto-Me]

LOL Well his tail WAS really long, until about a month ago when he managed to get hold of it.

But I still don't know if the chicken came before the egg or if the egg came before the chicken (in the terms of my betta's situation)

 

[Origami Gourami]

Any more news regarding 'The Mysterious Case of the Tail Chasing Betta'?!

PS Tried your trick LM, giving Jasper a pea to munch on - he shook it apart like a terrier, munched some of it, carried it round for a while, then dropped it and eyed it with distaste as it lay on the tank bottom! Was hilarious! Only prob is I have several pea-bits floating around that nobody will eat! Oh well, it was worth it!

 

[Loboto-Me]

Tatsumi has his "filter" back with the bubbler bubbling at the top of water. This doesn't seem to bother him too much.

I found a little black ceramic shotglass ( a souvenir from mexico that my SIL gave us a few yrs back) and figured it should be useful for SOMETHING (darn I dislike gifts that say souvenir of: _______ on them). He has checked the new Mexican cave out but doesn't really bother with it.

With all the new stuff in his tank, I had to move his plant and that seemed to bother him a bit. He had to change his swimming patterns a bit in order to be able to swim through his leaves again.

I folded a piece of white paper and am using it as the background for his tank and that seems to have calmed some of the flaring when I turn off the room lights. He no longer flares in the back but sure does near the sides and front!

I've never seen such an active betta in my life! I swear he NEVER stops, he's never rests on his leaves, never rests at all during the day. He sleeps at night once I turn off the light but that's it.

Since I've put the bubbler in I find that his water stays alot cooler than it used to be... do you think that would slow him down? NOPE! Not even a little tiny bit.

Starting to wonder if he "trimmed" his tail in order to make it easier for him to swim like he does!

Oh I forgot to say.... I put him back on a BettaFix cycle so that he can get that lovely tail I fell in love with.

Hmmm Also, I've been a BAD girl! The other day I was eating some canned salmon, and made a little tiny ball with some of it.... ummm Tatsumi LOVES canned salmon. Don't worry, I don't plan to feed it to him anytime soon... maybe next christmas holidays as a gift? hehehe

 

[Lkay]

Hey!

One of my four bettas is doing the same thing.

This is how it went for me... I got my first bettas probably about two months ago now. Mr. Pink was flaring at everything in the store, and followed me around with this glare like he was challenging me to take him on. I got him and another handsome boy I call Mr. Blue. Blue loves attention, dashes around the tank and displays whenever he thinks you're looking. Pink went into hiding for a day after I got him home and in the tank, and did the same think a week or so later when I moved him to his own tank (he was sharing a 2.5 gallon, divided, with Blue, but they spent all their time arguing through the divider, so I thought he'd be happer in his own space). I kept their tanks next to each other, but keep a book between them most of the time to keep them from constantly going after each other, since Pink seems to be pretty stressed by it.

Pink is a strange little fish. He was the first to understand that when I took the cover off the tank it meant food time, and he comes right to my fingers. The weekly partial water changes were not difficult; I didn't feel he was particularly anxious when I went in with a gravel vac, and though he moves away from the siphon, he didn't seem terribly frightened. After a few weeks, though, I felt like I needed to do a more thorough cleaning, so I relocated him to a little bowl and he seemed to "faint." He just lay on the bottom of the bowl and panted - seemed to recover while I washed the tank, but then did it again when I put him back in the tank. And yes, I was careful about conditioning the water, and not letting it be too different in temp.

So this time, when it was time for another more thorough cleaning, I just left him in his tank while I moved everything around and wiped stuff down, then did a 50% water change. He did start zipping around and hiding, but didn't go into his "faint" so I thought maybe that was the way to go.

This morning for his feeding, the first thing I noticed was that he had a fine bubble nest going (so did Blue, and so did my newer baby). The second thing I noticed was that Pink's fins were a mess, half gone, rays stripped! I initially thought it was fin rot, as the betta book described it just like what I was seeing. So I put him in the little bowl, took the tank apart, and cleaned everything with HOT water and salt, and put it back together, with aquarium salt and Betta Fix as per the suggested remedies for fin rot.

A few hours later, I had my lunch at the table where I keep his tank so I could watch him. He was swimming around, and suddenly started going in circles and flopping around, and then I saw him spit out a piece of his own tail. He did it several more times, flaring and carrying on like another fish was in there with him, then chasing his tail like a dog, and then flopping when he caught it.

I thought it might be the reflection thing Origami mentioned, so I did some things to change the lighting, but either it didn't work and he still saw his reflection, or it wasn't that.

Finally, I got online and ran a Google search. The North American Betta Society seems to think this is a response to undue stress. So now Mr. Pink has a dark pillowcase around 3 sides of his tank to minimize reflections and other visual stimuli, and I haven't seen him chase his tail since I did that, though he still seems agitated. I think I'll keep him like that for a day or two to see if it settles him down.

A few other things you might want to know:

1) One site talking about this suggested aquarium salt and Betta Fix just to prevent infection with the tail.

2) Other than the bizarre behavior, Pink seems fine - he eats, and as I mentioned, he was building a nice bubble nest this morning.

3) Speaking of the bubble nest, maybe that has something to do with this. Maybe the mating urge makes these guys a bit more sensitive to stress. That does seem to happen with other species. )

Anyway, you might want to try isolating your little guy for awhile and not moving his bowl or moving around his bowl. Maybe that will help. Keep me posted if you find a solution and I'll try it with Pink!

L

 

[glamermaid]

Mr. Pink was flaring at everything in the store, and followed me around with this glare like he was challenging me to take him on. I got him and another handsome boy I call Mr. Blue.

very strange!! i have 2 bettas and they are Mr. Teal and Mr. Purple! if we got them together they could be partners in crime! 8) LOL! a friend of mine (that loves reservoir dogs) said i should have named him Mr. Pink, but hes more purple!
what are your other bettas named?

and also too add to this topic, Mr. Teal has been dealing with fin rot for the past couple weeks. i had him on jungle fungus eliminator (he had 2 relapses, but not in the same areas) and now hes on kanacyn. just yesterday i got him a little live plant, which he loves to play and "fight" with. well last night i saw him (acting even more like a dog!) with this tail chasing thing. i was also wondering if he has been helping it along! he cant actually reach it right now (which is good!) considering he has been sick for the past couple weeks he is VERY active and always swimming around ready for a fight! he also built me a bubblenest today, so he must be feeling better!
my Mr. Purple is a very gentle betta boy! hes in a filtered eclipse tank and i havent really seen him build a bubblenest at all yet. they were actually together in a divided tank at first and mr purple didnt catch fin rot, hes been perfectly fine (knock on wood!)

 

[Lkay]

Mr. Teal and Mr. Purple! LOL! I like those names!

Funny, Mr. Pink is actually more purple, though his fins (what's left) are fuschia.

My other two are MUCH younger. Got them at a different store that gets them from a local breeder (Petsmart gets them from Asia, and I guess they gotta be older to stand the shipping). They are different colors, but markings so similar they must be fry brothers (same size too). Pikaboo has a lavender body, a flesh-pink face, mauve fins next to his body but about halfway out they shift to almost clear, with kind of an iridescent tone that can be pink or blue depending on the light. He is so named because he likes to watch everything from behind his favorite plant. Plink is teal with a flesh pink face, maroon around his gills, and his fins also shift from bright teal to that iridescent pink/blue. Both have another flesh-colored spot on their backs. Plink watches everything too. Very interested in anything that is happening nearby.

Mr. Pink seems to be a little better after having his tank covered overnight. He was a little stressed when I got home (I uncovered him for the day) so I may leave him covered all day tomorrow just to see if he cools down. His water is kind of green/cloudy too. Wondering why that would be, since I just changed it yesterday. I did a 1/3 change again today with fresh meds.

What have you tried?

L