A happy ending

dramaqueen

He's pretty! :) Do you think the tail biting was a habit he picked up from when he was in the small container in the classroom? I think adding the shrimp would be a great idea. Maybe he'll forget about the tail biting.

Kim

Probably, he was doing it when I got him so...it's nothing new I guess. I'm now sure that is what it is. Today his fins look no worse, and there is maybe a little regrowth so it's not fin rot.

I guess I'm the new owner of....a tail biting betta . Oh well, I love him anyway. I'm thinking of renaming him Jaws.

dramaqueen

Does stress cause them to do that?

Kim

Stress, bordome, and sometimes the odd fish that just has random triggers. I don't really know what's up with Prof. Lupin yet though.

aunt kymmie

It reminds me of captive parrots & macaws who for no reason at all pluck out their own feathers and chew up their own feet. They've yet to figure out the exact cause of why some of these birds are "pickers". Owners can remove all stressors and still the bird picks. Is it possible that some fish are simply nuerotic as some birds are??

Kim

Yesterday I caught the little bugger at it. I figured out that it's stress that causes him to do it too. So, no shrimp for him!

I just looked at the tank and noticed a little algae on the front glass. So, I very carefully stuck my toothbrush in and gently scraped it off (I'm always very careful with my fish so as not to disturb them too much when doing tank maintenance). Like 2 minutes later I looked in the tank and he was circling and trying to bite his tail! I distracted him with my finger which he thinks means food, but I don't know how to possibly put him in a lower stress environment than he is now. I mean, he's in my room which no one really goes in, I am gentle when doing water changes, the tank is cycled so he only gets about a 20% weekly change, and there's no other fish in sight. Maybe he is just neurotic!

SolaceTiger

Hey Kim, how's Prof Lupin? It's been about 5 months and I don't see a newer thread about him. :)