LittleHippyGirl
09-27-06, 04:07 PM 09-27-06
Does anyone else own a betta that bites their own tail or fins out of habit? I do, and I think it is very interesting.
My male Orchard was bought in terrible condition with fin rot on his long, beautiful fins. He was literally laying in a pile of waste in his cup and he was in such bad condition that his color was brown. All the bettas in the store were like that, and I wasn't actually planning on buying one, but he had the most adorable little face and I took him home. He was very scared when I brought him home and put him in his three gallon. You could tell he hadn't been in more than a cup of water since his fry days. I nursed him back to health with clean water, a cave to hide in, and quality food, and now he's a beautiful dark red with a white beard.
About a month after his fins were healed, he started tail biting. At first I panicked and thought that his finrot was back, but after a while, evidence proved me wrong and I found out it was tail biting. He's been doing it regularly for over a year now and I'm positive that its not due to any sort of stress. He acts perfectly happy and healthy, his water is perfect, and the waterchanges very gentle. There is no pattern to his behavior whatsoever, but he goes crazy with the biting if I try to introduce a gentle, low disturbance filter. He does NOT like water movement...so he doesn't have a filter. I take good care of him though, so I don't think that's it.
I bought a female 3-4 months ago and I placed her tank next to his. She displays vertical bars and dances for him all day, but he pretends not to see her. However, I've noticed that since I've put her next to him, he's only bit his tail once and it was minor. Interesting, hmm? I conclude that he does it out of habit or perhaps boredom. I've read a lot of tailbiting articles, and many say that regular tail biters are often linked back to poor water quality when younger and/or carelessly bred genetics-both of which were probably true since he was a petstore betta.
Does anyone have anything else to share? Anyone else own tail biters?
My male Orchard was bought in terrible condition with fin rot on his long, beautiful fins. He was literally laying in a pile of waste in his cup and he was in such bad condition that his color was brown. All the bettas in the store were like that, and I wasn't actually planning on buying one, but he had the most adorable little face and I took him home. He was very scared when I brought him home and put him in his three gallon. You could tell he hadn't been in more than a cup of water since his fry days. I nursed him back to health with clean water, a cave to hide in, and quality food, and now he's a beautiful dark red with a white beard.
About a month after his fins were healed, he started tail biting. At first I panicked and thought that his finrot was back, but after a while, evidence proved me wrong and I found out it was tail biting. He's been doing it regularly for over a year now and I'm positive that its not due to any sort of stress. He acts perfectly happy and healthy, his water is perfect, and the waterchanges very gentle. There is no pattern to his behavior whatsoever, but he goes crazy with the biting if I try to introduce a gentle, low disturbance filter. He does NOT like water movement...so he doesn't have a filter. I take good care of him though, so I don't think that's it.
I bought a female 3-4 months ago and I placed her tank next to his. She displays vertical bars and dances for him all day, but he pretends not to see her. However, I've noticed that since I've put her next to him, he's only bit his tail once and it was minor. Interesting, hmm? I conclude that he does it out of habit or perhaps boredom. I've read a lot of tailbiting articles, and many say that regular tail biters are often linked back to poor water quality when younger and/or carelessly bred genetics-both of which were probably true since he was a petstore betta.
Does anyone have anything else to share? Anyone else own tail biters?