Betta Therapy

[ThePiggy]

So, I've been thinking about this idea on how I can get the female that I had to take out of my sorority back in without her bullying the others. She seems to have absolutely no tolerance for other bettas. She was the fifth in my sorority, but she caused so much trouble that I removed her to her own tank for now. The other four girls are all getting along swimmingly.

Here's what I've decided to try:
I put her tank up against a mirror that takes up an entire side of her tank. This way she sees another betta all the time and would hopefully get her so used to having another betta around. When she seems unphased by seeing herself anymore, then I will move on to having an actual different betta as a neighbor for a while. If this step goes over well, then I will attempt to reintroduce her to the sorority.

Nov 2 - Day 1:
As soon as she noticed her reflection, she was flaring and trying to attack it. She did this for a good twenty minutes. When it was feeding time, she came over to me and ate regularly. She swam around for a while not paying attention to her reflection. I guess she forgot about it for a bit. But eventually, she remembered and went back into attack mode. As the day went on, she would swim away and do some exploring, but every so often, she went back to the mirror. By the time it was evening feeding time, about half the time she noticed her reflection she attacked and half the time she just eyeballed herself. When I went to bed, she was already sleeping in her cave. I guess she tired herself out.

Nov 3 - Day 2:
Before her breakfast, she was staring at her reflection. She's been doing a lot of staring today. Occasional attacks at the mirror, but nowhere near what she was doing yesterday. She is still flaring once in a while, but most of the flares end in her just swimming away instead of ending in her trying to attack the mirror. She is spending more time away from the mirror so far, too.

 

[Netty]

I suppose anything is worth a try to get her back in with the others. Will be interested to hear if it works out ok. Now....she is definately a girl isn't she?

 

[ThePiggy]

I'm not 100% sure of that. But my plan will tank a couple months. So hopefully I will be sure by the end. I will not add her to the sorority if I still have doubts of her femininity.

 

[Netty]

It's just when you said she was flaring up at the mirror........as most of our girls will just ignore their reflections. Having said that we had a very fiesty girl that we thought was a boy.....very aggressive to anything near her

 

[ThePiggy]

Well, when she flares, she doesn't have a beard like the males do. I've seen my other females flare too, but they just flare and don't attack. Also, her ovipository is there. She's a pretty good sized betta, but her fins are small. She is almost the body double of my female which I have spawned. All these things point to her being a female, but there is always the chance that she's not.

 

[Netty]

Well if she doesn't have the full beard then she's probably just a very fiesty young lady (in the loosest terms lol). She's probably got a couple of tatoos somewhere too lol

 

[ThePiggy]

hahahaha! I just checked.. it's a heart and it says "mom"

 

[Netty]

Are you sure it's not "KILL" across her knuckles

 

[Robot_Rooster]

wouldn't she hurt herself if shes attempting to attack herself through glass?

 

[ThePiggy]

Robot_Rooster, no because she's not actually attacking anything. She's simply swimming at the glass wall in an attempt to attack the betta she sees on the other side. But saying "she is attacking" is easier than saying "she is attempting to attack her reflection by swimming at the glass"

Nov 4 - Day 3:
She has spent a small amount of attention on the reflection today. I've only noticed 5 or 6 times she even acknowledged it at all. And when she did, it was for less than a minute. She is spending much more time actually enjoying the tank than pestering her reflection.

Nov 5 - Day 4:
Today was pretty much like yesterday. A small portion of the day was spent in front of the mirror. The attention she is giving to her reflection is less hostile. Not sure if it's her accepting the reflection or her realizing she cannot get to it.

 

[ThePiggy]

Hmmm. Is it possible for a male betta to flare without extending its beard? The reason I ask this is I was moving the mirror a little and it instigated my betta. This is the first time that I think I saw a beard on her and it's confusing... Is it possible that she is a he? And maybe he was just in attack mode instead of display mode so I couldn't see the beard before?

 

[LauraFrog]

I have seen a beard on a female before. Something freaked her out - oh yeah, the male attacked her, and she flared at him and she had a beard. It's definitely possible for males to flare without a beard though.

Mine is defo a girl, she and the male were wrapping last week. Unfortunately I lost him today... I think he was too old to try and spawn really, but I wanted some babies out of him so bad He was only just over two years old as well... if anybody thinks that keeping bettas in cups does not shorten their lifespans, they are insane. (Moonshine was a rescue. RIP boy.)

If you want photos of my female-with-beard I can show you but even if I can flare her I might not see the beard again.

 

[ThePiggy]

I'd like to see that picture if you can get it.

 

[ThePiggy]

So I managed to borrow a camera and snap a few quick pictures. They aren't great, I know. But better than nothing.

 

[devon_charm]

How long have you had him/her? looks like it could possibly be a male RT. The first pic is a deff Male looking shot but the other two are a bit harder to say for sure