Pesky Neurotic Little Pest!

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catxx

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SO my Betta chewed half his tail off over the weekend when we weren't home. Conclusion: he needs attention.

NOW I just came home from work, went to say hello, the little beast had half a bit his anal fin in his mouth, happily chewing away, me poking him did not encourage him to let go, he's pretty much ripped a bit of it off about 2mm from the body. And taken another chunk out of his tail too.

Now the conclusion is he needs something else in his tank to occupy him. He's in a 30L alone. Any suggestions of something else for him to chase that ISN'T his sodding tail??

I used to have Endlers with my Bettas, should I pick up a couple more? They tend to be fast enough to get away from the Betta.

He's a very feisty little boy, loves bubble nests, and self-harming.

Help!
 
SO my Betta chewed half his tail off over the weekend when we weren't home. Conclusion: he needs attention.

NOW I just came home from work, went to say hello, the little beast had half a bit his anal fin in his mouth, happily chewing away, me poking him did not encourage him to let go, he's pretty much ripped a bit of it off about 2mm from the body. And taken another chunk out of his tail too.

Now the conclusion is he needs something else in his tank to occupy him. He's in a 30L alone. Any suggestions of something else for him to chase that ISN'T his sodding tail??

I used to have Endlers with my Bettas, should I pick up a couple more? They tend to be fast enough to get away from the Betta.

He's a very feisty little boy, loves bubble nests, and self-harming.

Help!


Try some of the smaller Corydoras, Julii or pygmy corydoras, Alot of people here keep those in with Male bettas without an issue.
 
I have had C.habrosus before, but I have fairly hard water and I kept losing them, drove me mad! Maybe some C.pygmaeus though, they might work.
 
Hi, oh dear, sorry to here your betta is a bitof a rebel~!
I have peppered corys and pygmy corys in with my bettas. they dont seem to bother one another too much, just keep an eye on them, as the pygmy cory females do look like wild betta females with the stripes on the side looking like breeding stripes.
 
unfortunately, once a betta becomes a tail biter, chances are it won't stop. Not a boredom issue, so putting new stuff it won't really change :sad:
 
What is the cause of tail biting? Is it like a dog chasing it's tail, not realizing it's part of their body? The betta sees it long tail as "an enemy"
 
SO my Betta chewed half his tail off over the weekend when we weren't home. Conclusion: he needs attention.

NOW I just came home from work, went to say hello, the little beast had half a bit his anal fin in his mouth, happily chewing away, me poking him did not encourage him to let go, he's pretty much ripped a bit of it off about 2mm from the body. And taken another chunk out of his tail too.

Now the conclusion is he needs something else in his tank to occupy him. He's in a 30L alone. Any suggestions of something else for him to chase that ISN'T his sodding tail??

I used to have Endlers with my Bettas, should I pick up a couple more? They tend to be fast enough to get away from the Betta.

He's a very feisty little boy, loves bubble nests, and self-harming.

Help!

I take it he already has lots of plants and caves and such? If he has then it's worth trying to re-arrange them and see if it helps...

Snails are definitely and option for your water as hard water is perfect for them. But there is a small chance he will do nothing but hassle them... so I'd only suggest this if you can return the snails/have another tank available if he pesters them too much.

Another option may be cherry/amano shrimp, there is a possibility he will try to/succeed to eat some of them (unlikely with fully grown amanos though).

You could also try the mirror trick once a day, see if you can get his attention with tricking him into thinking there is another 'male' around.

And putting some endlers in may also help distract him.

Some people have tried things like a floating ping pong ball for them to push around and such

Plus what do you feed him? You could try him on live foods if you don't already, he may well enjoy getting to 'hunt'.
 
I have had tail biters before, but not one quite so obvious and determined as this one! He is in a planted tank with a couple of caves. I know there will be no stopping him, but distractions will hopefully stem the tide of self-harming!

And he doesn't need a mirror, us in front of the tank is enough to set him off!

The tank has sand in it, my 5yr old Spixi Snail has been on sand before and would just bury himself, he's in my 65L shrimp/Black Chin Livebearer tank instead on gravel, he's much happier that way. This Betta would definitely harass a snail anyway.

If MA have any small Endlers I may get a couple of those, if they don't work I can swap them over to the 65L to frolic with the Black Chins.
 
What is the cause of tail biting? Is it like a dog chasing it's tail, not realizing it's part of their body? The betta sees it long tail as "an enemy"

It's a psychological thing, i think and unfortunately, tail biters can apparently be passed through the genes. It's why breeders won't use tail biters for breeding or even bettas susceptible to finrot.

If you have a tail biter, you just have to make sure your betta has clean water, a healthy and varied diet, which i would suggest should be more frozen/live foods than flake (better for the immune system) and ensure that there are no ornaments in a tank that could easily snag their tail.
 
I did try him out with some Lampeye Killis today. Within an hour and a half he'd managed to kill one, so the remaining ones were relocated to my 65L tank.

Now to think of more things to occupy his time that doesn't result in a massacre!

He is a VERY active Betta, and I have had a lot of Bettas, he is by far the angriest little one I've ever had. He flares as soon as you walk in the room, god forbid you actually look at him. He first took a lump out of his tail when he was left alone on a Saturday when me and my other half were out for the weekend. It was a bit like he thought "omg, I'm alone, so alone, I just can't handle it, no one's looking at meeee, arrrgh *om nomnomnom*" - cue emo music of choice.
 
By that description, I would not put him in a community, where other fish can't 'give as good as they get', so to speak.

Maybe keep him with amano shrimp, they will put up a fairly decent fight. Mine descaled part of a female betta. Safe to say, none of my bettas messed with them after :lol:
 
I have two 5 year old Amanos in the 65L. I could try a couple of new ones in this 30L, I'll let all the plants grow up more first though I think. If they don't work, they can go in the 65L too!
 

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