De-Wimpifying

[OohFeeshy]

Kieow, the betta in my avatar, is going to be a daddy (with one of the female dragon cross's from clover). Theres just one problem. He's a complete wuss. Seriously. He won't flare. Generally he runs from any other fish, apart from the two tetras he lives with, but I think he just likes being the boss of them . Anyhow, generally when I'm doing water changes, the betta being WC'd gets put in a jar, then in/by another bettas tank (still in the jar) for a bit of exercise. Well, every betta I put him with/near, he ran. Or tried to, but thats pretty hard to do in a jar . To cut a long story short, I let him out with one of my females (don't try this at home kiddos, but don't worry either, she's a sucker for handsome men and I kept her occupied with food). Anyway, she drifted lovingly after him, he ran. He was rather scared, to say the least. I took him out fairly quickly, I could see he wouldn't do anything. Anyway, any way to de-wimpify him before I breed him? I don't need him to be super aggressive, just not terrified

 

[GaryH]

Kieow, the betta in my avatar, is going to be a daddy (with one of the female dragon cross's from clover). Theres just one problem. He's a complete wuss. Seriously. He won't flare. Generally he runs from any other fish, apart from the two tetras he lives with, but I think he just likes being the boss of them . Anyhow, generally when I'm doing water changes, the betta being WC'd gets put in a jar, then in/by another bettas tank (still in the jar) for a bit of exercise. Well, every betta I put him with/near, he ran. Or tried to, but thats pretty hard to do in a jar . To cut a long story short, I let him out with one of my females (don't try this at home kiddos, but don't worry either, she's a sucker for handsome men and I kept her occupied with food). Anyway, she drifted lovingly after him, he ran. He was rather scared, to say the least. I took him out fairly quickly, I could see he wouldn't do anything. Anyway, any way to de-wimpify him before I breed him? I don't need him to be super aggressive, just not terrified

[snapback]918021[/snapback]​

With the flaring, have you tried using a mirror rather than another fish? That always seems to work with a few of my guys that are just too lazy to flare. If the mirror works just do it for a short time and let him 'win' by taking the mirror away. He'll feel like he scared off the intruder and that may build up his confidence a little bit. I'm not entirely sure that this would work but it's what I would try first. Anyone else have any other ideas?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Yeah, I do it with both. The problem is, he legs it as soon as he sees himself in the mirror

 

[KeddyPie]

I've never delt with this, since the only non-aggressive boy I have is just aloof He stares at the other ones with lack of interest and with no fear.

The only thing I can think of is just over-exposure... Though this may be a bit mean, so a lot of people might not like it. Maybe put him a tank with a crystall-clear divider and put a more aggressive male on the other side... Eventually he should get used to that male and stop running. Then maybe swap males... He'll probably be less scared of others after awhile. If they are under constant supervision and there is no fighting, I also think re-exposure to a female might help. Maybe 10 minutes daily or so.... Put them together. After awhile, he should stop being scared.

*shrugs* Just a guess, since I've never had this problem. Good luck with toughening him up ^^

 

[willtang3000]

have you ever considered fish counciling I can reccomend a good one

 

[OohFeeshy]

I've never delt with this, since the only non-aggressive boy I have is just aloof He stares at the other ones with lack of interest and with no fear.

The only thing I can think of is just over-exposure... Though this may be a bit mean, so a lot of people might not like it. Maybe put him a tank with a crystall-clear divider and put a more aggressive male on the other side... Eventually he should get used to that male and stop running. Then maybe swap males... He'll probably be less scared of others after awhile. If they are under constant supervision and there is no fighting, I also think re-exposure to a female might help. Maybe 10 minutes daily or so.... Put them together. After awhile, he should stop being scared.

*shrugs* Just a guess, since I've never had this problem. Good luck with toughening him up ^^

[snapback]918105[/snapback]​

The only problem with him being next to a more aggressive male is that the other male will be flaring contantly... or at least a lot of the time. When the female I'm going to breed him with comes, I was thinking of clipping a beanie box inside his tank so they get used to each other. I reckon I've got about a month or so to sort him out, I'm going on holiday in October so can't leave any fry behind without me there.

 

[Andie]

Aww, poor li'l guy

Hmm, something you might consider is turning him loose in a 10 gallon pretty thick with plants, and then putting his 'intended' in a breeding trap in there with him. Put something over the top of the trap so she can't jump out, of course, but just give him the option of approaching and investigating at his own speed. When he realises not only has he got plenty of places to get away from the scary woman in the box, but she actually can't get out to chase him, he might become bold enough to investigate. Just giving him time to get used to her presence in a secure environment might be enough to calm him down.

Best of luck

 

[wuvmybetta]

Wimpy is not such a bad thing when it comes to breeding a pair, uninterested is though. I'd just go ahead and set up a breeder and see what happens. He may be completely different when he's out of his element and alone with a female.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Uninterested is a fairly good word, but uninterested with terrified rolled into the bargain You know, sees the other fish, does his best to get as far away as quickly as possible Well, I'll try it, I'm getting a male along with the female too so if it doesn't work out I can use him. Or my SD.