# Bettas and their bizarre behavourism



## Memphis (Nov 5, 2011)

And I am back with more bizarre tales of Kratos and his bizarre behaviorism. 

It's been last November when I rescued this bundle of joy from Petsmart, as a newbie to fish I learned more about the world of Siamese Fighting Fish each day. Countless research left hidden things about their behavior. Not everyone is like me who sites and observe her fish on a daily biases. Then again, it is pretty hard when your critter lives on top of your desk 24/7 swimming around happily while you do your thing on the PC. During these months I sit and watch him do this thing in his watery home. Watching his reactions when he sees his reflection, how he stalks her worms and lunges at them with force. I even experienced with a chop stick when I wish fishing out unwanted stuff in his bowl, and dangling a frozen blood worm in his water. For a small fish, he sure packs a punch. I can only imagine if that was my finger. 

I even observe his sleeping pattern which cause many debates "Do fish sleep?" And my theory is I wouldn't call it "sleep" it's more like cat naps to restore some of their energy. Even with the slightest movement wakes him up, so this concludes that they are not heavy sleepers, but possibly partial asleep and partial awake to be aware of what is going on around them. Again, this is my own theory and I am not saying I am now the answer or I am right/wrong. And yes Bettas love perching on things to take their cat nap, all though it's not always the case. I seen him floating around napping. 

Another odd behavior which I asked here is about territorial. Bettas do not like another male in their presence and will fight. Each Betta is different from each other. In this case, Kratos does not like foreign objects in or near his home. I have seen him beat up his thermometer in his bowl when I first put it in. AND he stills bumps into it to bug me. Chopsticks he attacks when I fish out unwanted stuff out of his bowl. Anything placed in front of his bowl he will flare at it, and for exercise I let him flare his gills and chase pens across the glass. I don't do this often in case it stresses him out. 

Hand moment. I don't know what is with Kratos and hand movement. But he get's all crazy doing flip flops and weird stuff. I discovered this when I was doing some hand exercise. 

Bettas are curious and sociable creatures. Kratos LOVES attention from people, and will swim around until he gets it. Often distracting visitors who use my PC, and yes I get told many times "You damn fish is distracting me. All I see is this fish swimming around." He just want to see who is the stranger using his owner's PC. 
Another thing I notice is him staring at the monitor. I have his bowl in angle on the side of my monitor. I catch him occasionally parked on the side of the bowl just staring at my monitor. 

Bettas make noises? Strange as this sounds, yes they do. Not the ones we already know of: crunching on food, splashing, popping sound when they build their bubble nests. I notice this today when I was at my PC. In the corner of my eye, I see Kratos in his favorite corner rebuilding his nest after I mangled it last night water change. So I continue doing my thing until I heard this really odd noise. Sorta like a duck quacking, but not the same. I know it's not my PC cause my volume is muted, and then I keep hearing it. Looked over where Kratos is, and sure enough the noise was coming from his direction. I joked saying "Must be Spring Fever" I quickly google to see if Bettas DO make noises like some fish do. And yes some claimed theirs made clicking noises. 

Did I tell you Kratos KNOWS his bottle of worms? Yup this fellow knows what is treat container looks like. Did you ever see a fish get super excited over a container of fish treats? This fish sure loves his bloodworms. 

As this tale is about to end, I want to say that I enjoy watching my fish do his thing since I brought him home. I learned so much about him and his species that I want to get another Betta to observe and compare. Who knows maybe a cute female would be fun to watch swim around. And no I won't breed them. I don't have the setup for that kinda of a thing.

It's not that I am bored or weird watching my fish all the time, I guess it doesn't help much when you take Biology and other science classes in school. I just have this thing to sit and observe things. Making note on every detail I see. 


So tell me, what did you learn about your fish when you watch him do this thing?


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## Hatchet (Mar 9, 2012)

This was great to read, I hope my betta does as well. I'm still trying to determine what's normal behavior for mine, I haven't had him very long. He doesn't seem very aggressive or the least bit fearful of anything. I've been fishing bits out of his tank and he just floats in one spot and watches my arm.


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## Wolfboy51 (Oct 12, 2011)

my female is a very light sleeper yet so active lol. while my male is a heavy sleeper and isn't as active as her, i love how they all have different personalities. the 1 thing that gets my male very active is getting him to chase an erasable marker lol.


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

Having Sotto (second betta ever) really opened my eyes since he is the exact opposite of Drax (rip). 

Sotto is a little energy bomb but is amazingly calm and sociable with the community fish. (where as Drax would always stalk and try to kill the tetras now and again, but due to his blind eye... Was never successful) 

So so Sotto is just so different, it just proved to me the idea of each betta being different.


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## freemike (Feb 3, 2012)

My boys know when it's food time also as I keep the food across the room. I can walk into the room with all three on the bottom of their tanks. In this situation if I go to the desk they all just stay calm and watch me. Now if I go to the other side of the room they all bolt to the top of their respective tanks lol. The bad part about this is when I have to check their water in their cycling tanks. They seem so disappointed when I don't come back with food lol.


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## cp6445 (Jan 14, 2012)

I have a bunch of bettas, many i've only had a short time, but they are already showing different personalities and it's amazing! But while they all have a place in my heart, I'm partial to Keller, who also earned the spot by my bed, so I can watch him all the time. And he's adorable, so sweet. I wake up each morning to him "sleeping" in his floating log with his head out watching me. He zooms around dancing constantly when I'm in the room. He does this wiggle wiggle wiggle dance. He eats from my fingers, and he is so curious! Whenever I have to put my hands in his water he swims thru my fingers checking everything out. I have to move slowly so I don't hurt him b/c he's in the way. He plays chase. He's quite a jumper. I could drone on and on... What can I say? I madly adore him.


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## bananafish (Feb 9, 2012)

My new boy, Ivan (or Fish Stick, as I call him), breaks his spine when he goes up for air. He gets horizontal near the top of the water, then arches his back, thrusting his face above water. No idea why he does this. I thought he was struggling for air at first, but he looks great, has a voracious appetite (though he still hasn't figured out the thawed brine shrimp I've been trying to feed him :roll, his color is vivid, he swims around all the time... he's just weird, I guess.

He also likes to hide in his plant, with just his little tail sticking out, which is bright red. Not exactly an expert hider, haha.


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## Claire (Feb 18, 2012)

Hehe What a cute thread.
Bubbles and his tankmates are our alternative to television. 
We added 2 bristlenoses and 10 neons to his tank over a week ago and he seemed very happy with the arrangement (even sleeping wedged between the bristlenoses behind the heater) and following the neons around.
Unforetunately, the neons appeared to have ich and in treating with formalin malachite on pet stores direction of full strength doses we lost the albino bristlenose after the first dose. We've also all but one neon. 
Bubbles has been trying to befriend the last neon, but his overtures are not well received. I guess for the neon having a giagantic blue fish staring at you from an inch away every time you turn around could get a little creepy. 

Whenever a person ventures near the tank Bubble drops what ever he is doing and follows them instead.

My bristlenose has also been a good souce of entertainment, entering into wrestling matches with pieces broccoli stalk. It gets so frenzied that it ends up on it's back with the broccoli on top, still chomping away. The snail was stupid enough to try to share the same piece with bristlenose and got bitten a few times before retreating into his shell!
While you try to watch bristles antics bubbles swims infront of you and you can almost imagine he's shouting "look at me look at me"

fish are cool


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## Ramble (Mar 13, 2012)

Bettas are just too much fun to watch! 
My little girl (so far, named Little Girl...) loves to follow people around and watch what they're doing. She also loves to chase things in her tank, will get excited when the betta food comes out, and likes to bump into my finger. She's an imp.


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## Fin2you (Mar 5, 2012)

I hear ya, some people say "it's just a fish" haven't honestly sat & looked in a tank for awhile!!! Fin & 3 of my habrosus cory's play tag with eachother, a 4th is named Scaredy-cat for a reason... Fin will rush over to anyone close to his tank and swim a weave pattern like he's showing off... he knows when it's meal time. & then there's a certain plant that he loves to sleep in but only at the top & when it shifted a last water change my gosh he just about ripped it out trying to get it to stand right so he could weave himself into it!


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## Mars788 (Sep 9, 2011)

Dol flares at just about anything, even though it took him a while to get out of the timid stage. He also does what I call "blowing kisses." When I take off his lid to feed him/move stuff around/do water changes, he's been known to swim up to the surface and blow a bubble. 
And Morpheus...Morpheus is a goof. He clearly never had a "timid" stage. I've so far seen him charge his cave, his thermometer, and one of his plants. He's the only non-goldfish I've ever seen try to both eat and charge at his gravel substrate. Not at the same time, of course. Haha.


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## littlegreen (Mar 11, 2012)

Your betta sounds so much fun! : D


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## Bolder (Dec 20, 2011)

I am so pleased to read all of your posts, I thought I was the only weird one because I sit for hrs sometime just watching my BETTA.

Mine also know the food container, when I walk into the room they always swim to the front of the tank and watch me, if I kneel in front of them they stare back at me staring at them Lol

I must say mine all have the same little quirk, I am not sure if it normal or not, but they all do this.
If I put bubbles in, like an air stone, they swim and roll and do all sorts of stupid things through these bubbles.
With just the filters running making a water fall on the top of the tank, they get under the water fall and let themselves be swooshed down and around, they keep going back for more until they are worn out, then they just float and rest.

Mine hate the net, if they see the net for catching them they cower and try to hide, they swim around my hands as well, so if at any time I need to move them I just cup them in my hand and lift them into wherever I am moving them; they don't panic and try to get away, they just let me pick them up, I am very gentle when handling them.

The playing in the bubbles amuses me no end.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

I love this thread! Everyone's fishies are such individuals, so here's mine. Where do I start lol? Well they all know all three food containers and all like my finger...sorry this will be long...

Patrick- He's my oldest, but he's sure not the slowest. He swims frantically at the side of the tank when I'm near no matter what the time it is. Then once he's swan against the tank for a good minute he zooms around and flares at the gravel. I have multiple pictures of him looking down and being all big a beautiful. He's also a little hog! Tries to eat everything he comes across. Oh and introducing him to a snail was hilarious! He of course would swim up on it so fast and then stop, which would cause the snail to hide. Then he would try to get under the snail's shell because he knows its under there...

Walter-He's my only VT boy but I loves him. He's pretty lazy all things considered. He's always wedged in some plant passed out, especially after my attempt at breeding with him. He knows feeding time but doesn't care, the food will be dropped in regardless of what he does.

Smith-My confused one! I bought him as a "her" and since then he's changed so much! He's like that little kid that runs runs runs then passes out. I guess that's normal because he's my youngest  He loves to build bubble nests an inch out of the water and is currently working on his biggest one yet. He also goes nuts when ever he can see me, unless there's a female in his presence, then he doesn't care.

Big Red-My ex fighter (suspected) giant. She's huge compared to my biggest boy, but she's my sweetest girl. She'll just sit at the side of her tank and watch, content not making fuss about it. I've taught her how to jump and hit my finger for a treat  and she'll do it almost every time. She's also super patient when it comes to feeding time.

Velvet- My last one. She's a sweetie but she super energetic. She swims all around her cage looking for missed foods and when she doesn't find any she looks at you like "feed me". She loves people, so much so that when I'm trying to watch them for breeding she pays more attention to me than the male. She loves her mama 

Well those are my fishies  I'm hoping i'll have some babies to write about soon


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## Memphis (Nov 5, 2011)

I didn't expect this to be a hit. 


I got Kratos a heater (finally) last week and I swear this fish is on speed ever since. Non stop swimming around, digging at his gravel for who knows what, or simply staring at it. I spend more time watching him then I do whatever I suppose to do on the PC. I see him (my bed is facing my desk, and Kratos's bowl is on the left hand side near the edge, so I have a good view of him from my bed) darting around his bowl every morning, waiting for me to get up.


My brother's girlfriend (who introduced me to Betta's) got a new Betta, and she keeps telling me he is boring compared to mine. I just sit their laughing. Goes to show each fish DOES have different personalities, and reading from what people wrote proves it.


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