# Training Bettas.



## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

I can train Perry to stop,go,and come here. Anyone have a suggestion what I can train Perry to do next?


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## inuudo (Aug 21, 2012)

read?


Seriously, that's really impressive.


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## Dozzem (Jul 29, 2011)

I heard you can teach a fish to jump by holding a bit of food above the water! Maybe you can teach him to go in little circles! That would be cute!


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## whimsicalbrainpan (Aug 4, 2012)

How did you do it?

Maybe have him swim through a hoop, or move a ping pong ball...


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

inuudo said:


> read?
> 
> 
> seriously, that's really impressive.


haha read!


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

I'll try right now!


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

CAUTION:Your betta might be overfed by this trick. Here's how I trained her. (It might not work. Do not push your betta into doing something. Always be patient and wait.)Make sure your fish is away from you. Put a piece of food in the water in front of you. Say your betta's name and say "come here." For example:"Perry! Come here." Do that 9-15 times. Then, put the food in front of the tank then say your betta's name and "come here." Do 9-15 few times. Now pretend to put a piece of food in the tank and say your betta's name and "come here." Does it come?(If it doesn't try again. If it doesn't still then just come see me.) Good luck and happy training!


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## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

They do recognize their names too :shock:????


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## Xeek (Sep 28, 2012)

You have to feed them 3x as much as you normally would.... probably would be good to just do it a couple of days and give his stomach a rest for a day or two after.


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

_Oh yes, you can train your betta, sounds soo cute, I have my bettas trained to jump for food, by putting a pellet on my finger, I have one of my bettas sing..lol..(you know when they move their mouth really fast, like they are yelling at you) well,I did that with one of my fish, while playing music..it is hysterical..and yes, they know their names if you call them by their names a lot, and they will recognize your voice, as well. _

_Bettas are very intelligent, and they have the ability to be trained like dogs. I talk to my bettas all the time, spend a lot of time watching, and observing all their activity..they are a lot of fun, and wonderful lil fishy's to have. _

_There is a Betta Training Kit, that I saw on Amazon.com and you can train your betta to play with a ping pong ball, and swim in an out of hoops, it's a very cool kit. _


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Pilot00 said:


> They do recognize their names too :shock:????


Yup.


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## whimsicalbrainpan (Aug 4, 2012)

Perry the platypus said:


> CAUTION:Your betta might be overfed by this trick. Here's how I trained her. (It might not work. Do not push your betta into doing something. Always be patient and wait.)Make sure your fish is away from you. Put a piece of food in the water in front of you. Say your betta's name and say "come here." For example:"Perry! Come here." Do that 9-15 times. Then, put the food in front of the tank then say your betta's name and "come here." Do 9-15 few times. Now pretend to put a piece of food in the tank and say your betta's name and "come here." Does it come?(If it doesn't try again. If it doesn't still then just come see me.) Good luck and happy training!


Thank you so much for the info! And I can't help asking...

How many times a day do you say "Where's Perry?"


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

They are very smart, Perseus learned his name very fast and will come out of hiding when I call for him, its so adorable how he will peek his little head out from where he is when I call him and then he will swim to my side of the tank where he always sees me sitting. Also he has started something new this week, in the mornings after I feed him he will stay in that spot and stare at me for awhile not moving, I think he is trying to get more food or something...lol


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

Actually if you have a Betta Log, they are great, bettas love em, and they float, so they move a lot, and when my betta is in his, there is a hole on top, you can feed from that hole, and when it's feeding time, just put your finger in the hole, so your betta can see it, and call his name to get his attention, and he will readily swim into the log to be fed. It is so darn cute..and fun


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## sainthogan (Sep 27, 2012)

I've discovered that not only can they be trained like dogs (I've trained mine to jump for bloodworms), but they also beg for food like dogs too, at least mine does. She also gets crazy excited whenever I come into the room just like dogs do. She almost burst through her tank when I came home after being gone for 4 days (I had my mom come over to feed her, but my mom said Fishy didn't get very excited that she was there to give her food) It's amazing the similarities.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

whimsicalbrainpan said:


> Thank you so much for the info! And I can't help asking...
> 
> How many times a day do you say "Where's Perry?"


:lol: That's a funny question. About once.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

sainthogan said:


> I've discovered that not only can they be trained like dogs (I've trained mine to jump for bloodworms), but they also beg for food like dogs too, at least mine does. She also gets crazy excited whenever I come into the room just like dogs do. She almost burst through her tank when I came home after being gone for 4 days (I had my mom come over to feed her, but my mom said Fishy didn't get very excited that she was there to give her food) It's amazing the similarities.


Cool. I have to keep training Perry.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

I*sniff*am teaching Perry to*sniff*play tag.*sniff* I'm sad that*sniff*Flare died.*sniff* Never*sniff*forget you*sniff*Flare.*sniff*


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Who's betta training worked?


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## Lady Courage (Oct 2, 2012)

When I was 9 or 10, I taught my betta to jump for his food. lol Just held the pellet above the water. Haven't tried teaching Dr. Seuss any tricks yet... I suppose I should, since it's so fun.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Yeah maybe. I'm teaching Perry to come when it's breakfast. How many times can I feed Perry? She's kind of a baby


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## agunn1231 (Aug 4, 2012)

one of my friends accidentally taught her betta to fetch. she accidentally dropped a coin in the water, and the fish went and retrieved it. So she did it again and the fish brought it back again.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Wow impressive.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Perry, come here!


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## monica12980 (Oct 24, 2012)

umm i have a female betta named May Rose. she can jump(of course), follow(easy) go or jump through a loop(the size of 3 fingers) and go squish in a nutrafin(the one with the red betta)food lid. what else should i teach her?
oh and she knows when i enter the room


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

you can train them to flare on command if you like. take a thin-beam flashlight and a small mirror. hold the mirror up to the tank and as soon as he flares, flash the light. do this a few times a day for a week or so, then start trying it without the mirror, just flash the light. if he's caught on to the game, he will have a conditioned response and flare at the light alone.

i saw a video on youtube of a guy who taught a betta to jump back and forth between two bowls of water. i can't even fathom how long that took, or how long it's been since that guy was on a date


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## Pilot00 (Jul 24, 2012)

Mine will probably try to nom the dot from the light though...


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

I'll try.


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## titusthebetta (Sep 2, 2011)

Well, I didn't train him to do this, but I was using the zoomed mirror today, and Mori was way more interested in the ball than the mirror. He ignored his own reflection, staring intently at the ball, and then jumped and hit it with his head! I thought it was hilarious. Anyone know of any tricks with a ball I can teach him?


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

titusthebetta said:


> Well, I didn't train him to do this, but I was using the zoomed mirror today, and Mori was way more interested in the ball than the mirror. He ignored his own reflection, staring intently at the ball, and then jumped and hit it with his head! I thought it was hilarious. Anyone know of any tricks with a ball I can teach him?


Probably put some food in the tank and put the ball on top (the ball has to float) and then he has to figure out how to move the ball. My friend did that and it looks easy because she used a ping-pong ball. Perry just looks at it like what are you doing here?:lol:


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## Maddybelle (Sep 29, 2012)

I used to have a betta that would swim through a hoop <3 All 6 of mine will jump for food, attack the "food stick" (I feed them with a chopstick), 4 will flare on command, and all will follow me/my finger.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Maddybelle said:


> I used to have a betta that would swim through a hoop <3 All 6 of mine will jump for food, attack the "food stick" (I feed them with a chopstick), 4 will flare on command, and all will follow me/my finger.


Awsome!


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## yappa (Oct 14, 2012)

Perry the platypus said:


> I can train Perry to stop,go,and come here. Anyone have a suggestion what I can train Perry to do next?


Please make a video and put it up, I really want to see it doing!!! :-D


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## yappa (Oct 14, 2012)

We should probably have a section to post all these videos!!
I will probably watch them all through the day!!


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## Eggbert (Sep 8, 2012)

Apollo jumps for food =) I just wet my finger a little bit place a nls pellet on my finger hold it an inch above the surface. He stalks mmy finger then wiggles his little but building momentum and leaps straight up and snatches his food =) I the feed him a portion of a bw for an at a boy treat. I have a video ill post iit here sometime.


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## rubinthebetta (Oct 9, 2012)

Well, Rubin knows his name and I'm trying it with Maggie, but I so badly want to teach them 'real' tricks.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

yappa said:


> Please make a video and put it up, I really want to see it doing!!! :-D


I don't know how to post videos.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

I think I have it but there's no noise... I don't know why.


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## Opioid Slumber (Aug 23, 2012)

Our newest betta, Jack Skellington, is already preferring to be fed with a little dropper thing I picked up at the doctors office last week. You know how they sell the turkey baster type things to clean your tank? Well I was getting blood drawn at the doctor and noticed that they had a bunch of small, disposable ones. I asked if I could have a couple of them, and after looking at me like I'm crazy, the nurse gave me a couple. I explained why I wanted them after that! Anyway, Jack enjoys it when we put a pellet in the end of the dropper, he'll either grab it from the dropper or if we squeeze the pellet into the water he will chase it.

All of our bettas enjoy playing little food games like that. Most will jump for the food like others have been saying. I love the way it feels when they grab food from your finger! It's so cute and sweet the way you can feel their tiny mouth grabbing the food. Most of ours will also follow our finger, get excited when we come in the room, and one of them, Eric, always has to be fed first, otherwise his feelings get hurt. Eric is a massive wiggle dancer when he's about to be fed! One time, I was feeding everyone and I had already showed Eric the food container so he got excited. Then I remembered something and ran out of the room for only a few seconds. I came back to feed him, and he was hiding in the back of his tank and would not come out to eat! He was sulking! It was sad. So now, he is always fed first, and if we need to walk by his tank with food, we actually need to hide the container so he won't see it and get upset!


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## emeraldmaster (Sep 6, 2012)

I have trained my Red to be taken out of the tank. After i read an article on how it was done, after being suprised about the fact that you could, i tried it.

This was extremel hard, for Red HATES being touched. It took an entire month!

Here's how i did it: I started by leaving my hand in the tank, just under the surface. I would leave it there for a few minutes then take it out. This was only so that he wouldn't be scared of the hand. After a week, i started putting food in there, keeping the piggish guppies out. I would leave the food in there untill he cautiously came to get it. After another week, i repeated the last step but added the step of stroking him with my thumb while he ate, scared him big time! It only took him three days to grow used to this. Any finaly, after a month, i lifted him out for the first time. He was a natural air surfer, that is, he jumped from my hand into my other hand. Not expected, but i was suprised noneetheless. Last night, my cousin and fellow betta parent came over. Now, she has no idea that i have been doing this. So i took Red out and answered the door, just like the guy in the article did. Red was as calm as he could be, The cousin was very UNcalm, more like ready to faint. So, that's what i trained Red to do...


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

All these tricks make me want to train mine! I don't think they are energetic or hungry enough to really do anything besides maybe flare on command though


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## emeraldmaster (Sep 6, 2012)

oh yeah! my Red dances at the sight of me! sometimes he'll dance to the sound of my radio blaring right by him.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Did anyone teach their betta to come here yet?


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## emeraldmaster (Sep 6, 2012)

no, but my Kelso does appear at the sight of me. so i might try on him.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Great!


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## Rockandrollgirl09 (Oct 22, 2012)

Now I love bettas and everything about them I love the idea of being able to train them to do certain things. The only thing is I am like terrified of having my fish touch me. I know I am probably the only one that is that way. I am afraid to touch them and have them take food from my hand. How can I get over this?


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## bettasareawesome (Jul 9, 2012)

you should teach him to swim through a hoop


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

I just trained my black orchid CT to flare for the camera! Yay! Lol


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

Rockandrollgirl09 said:


> Now I love bettas and everything about them I love the idea of being able to train them to do certain things. The only thing is I am like terrified of having my fish touch me. I know I am probably the only one that is that way. I am afraid to touch them and have them take food from my hand. How can I get over this?


Most of the time it's the other way around. The betta doesn't want to touch you. Maybe it's just the feeling of it. I like to do this: touch it more so you get used to it. Just don't squish your betta!:lol:


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

aemaki09 said:


> I just trained my black orchid CT to flare for the camera! Yay! Lol


Nice! How?


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

bettasareawesome said:


> you should teach him to swim through a hoop


You mean her? Perry is a girl. Now that's an idea for a thread.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Perry the platypus said:


> Nice! How?


I'm not sure honestly. But I take a lot of pictures of him, and when I do there's always a mirror on the side of the tank, so he flares, an I think he started associating the camera with the mirror and flaring lol


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

aemaki09 said:


> I'm not sure honestly. But I take a lot of pictures of him, and when I do there's always a mirror on the side of the tank, so he flares, an I think he started associating the camera with the mirror and flaring lol


Perry flares at anything. Legos, erasers, my finger, anything. But here's the weird part: Perry doesn't flare at her reflection! She just runs away saying "AAAHHHH!!!! Get this monster out of my territory!!!!" She's staring to mature.


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## emeraldmaster (Sep 6, 2012)

Kelso has begun to touch the side of the tank with his nose when i touch it. i am going to train him to do that.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Perry the platypus said:


> Perry flares at anything. Legos, erasers, my finger, anything. But here's the weird part: Perry doesn't flare at her reflection! She just runs away saying "AAAHHHH!!!! Get this monster out of my territory!!!!" She's staring to mature.


 
That is so funny!! All my males flare at just about everything, but my black orchid is the only one that will do it for my camera. I only have 2 females that flare at all. Its pretty funny to see them try to be tough!


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I am scared to train Carter to jump for food.


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## emeraldmaster (Sep 6, 2012)

i would be scared too, what if carter were to jump out???


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Agreed.


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## bettasareawesome (Jul 9, 2012)

Oh yes sorry I did mean her.


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## bettasareawesome (Jul 9, 2012)

I tried to train Sushi to swim through a little pipe cleaner hoop and he did it once but I forgot about it after that. But the platy's were acting like hoop swimming aces.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I might be able to teach Carter if I wanted.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> I am scared to train Carter to jump for food.


Why?


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

emeraldmaster said:


> Kelso has begun to touch the side of the tank with his nose when i touch it. i am going to train him to do that.


Cute. Perry just flares.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

There is a small part here the filter is connected he jump or he could jump I the lid and get hurt.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

bettasareawesome said:


> Oh yes sorry I did mean her.


It's OK.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Thanks.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> There is a small part here the filter is connected he jump or he could jump I the lid and get hurt.


Oh.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Yeah most tanks have that when it comes to Carter safety I am very concerned. What ic Carter hates it. He is a DT I would be surrorised if he cold jump.


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## twolovers101 (Sep 17, 2012)

Skandranon is pretty clever, he learned to flare on command and strut his stuff at a pen within 2 days lol


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Carter runs around like a maniac when I approach.


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## SinX7 (Oct 20, 2012)

How do you guys trained your betta to flare on command?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

You can show them a mirror and give them a treat when they flare.


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## Perry the platypus (Aug 20, 2012)

SinX7 said:


> How do you guys trained your betta to flare on command?


I would let them flare at their reflection and give them some bloodworms when they flare. That's what Choclatebetta said. I have to give him credit.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Thanks.


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

I make fishy faces with my mouth at Perseus and sometimes he will do it back at me so adorable !


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Carter runs a marathon when I approach.


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## SinX7 (Oct 20, 2012)

Ah thanks!


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Your welcome.


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## twolovers101 (Sep 17, 2012)

SinX7 said:


> How do you guys trained your betta to flare on command?


I didn't need to use a mirror xD he decided he liked to flare at (black) objects and now he gets a pellet when he flares at my pen xD 

Though I'm sure that if you used the mirror to encourage flaring, then show him the pen and give a pellet, he would probably start flaring at a pen (or any object you chose). Gotta love Skinner's conditioning theory xD


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Animals learn best from bribes. They should be poloticians.


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## Demysta (Nov 24, 2012)

So far I've trained my betta to eat from my finger, jump for his food, and flare on command at a black sharpie. What I can't do yet is get him to follow my finger... I've tried wiggling my finger and hoping to get him to follow it, but he loses interest in it very easily. The sharpie he only associates with the flare trick, so he doesn't follow it. Odd that I got my little guy to do all those more complicated things rather than the simple act of following my finger... XD 

I do want to train my little guy to do the little hoop trick (for those that don't know: getting your betta to swim through a hoop is what I'm talking about), but since he doesn't like following my finger, I'm at a loss of how to do it, exactly. Any suggestions?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Where did you get yours?


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## Demysta (Nov 24, 2012)

I got him from Petsmart. He was a very unhealthy little fella with a shredded tail when I got him, so I always thought of him as a rescue.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I meant the hoop. Love the Betta though.


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## Demysta (Nov 24, 2012)

You can make one easily. Thats what I'd suggest. You can go to a crafts store or an arts store and they usually have those bendable plastics you can attach together to make a hoop. Or you can use rope if you feel like too, that's what I'm opting for. 
Haven't placed the rope hoop in the water yet, still working on trying to get him to follow my finger >.>


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I dont think we have that kind of stuff here.


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## Demysta (Nov 24, 2012)

You could try ordering it online. There's something called the R2 Fish School training set and it comes with hoops and other stuff too. Even things to teach a fish soccer, oddly enough. From what I see on eBay, its relatively cheap.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Put a bloodworm on your finger. Heck, I'd follow that!


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Many Bettas will follow your finger period.


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## SinX7 (Oct 20, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> Many Bettas will follow your finger period.


Mines doesn't :< maybe I should do more treats lol


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Even my guppies follow my finger Carter follows me.


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## Xeek (Sep 28, 2012)

I am planning on training my bettas with Micro Pellets rather than standard sized Betta Pellets. Maybe you can do that instead. It would take close to a dozen micro pellets to equal a regular pellet. My bettas still love them.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I am wondering if I can train Carter to go the left side of the tank during feeding he would be able to get the food faster.


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## Xeek (Sep 28, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> I am wondering if I can train Carter to go the left side of the tank during feeding he would be able to get the food faster.


That's easy to do. Only feed him on the left side of the tank.

I had females that knew exactly to go to the front, center, top of the tank for food. They learned that the little door in the hood in the front and center, if opened meant feeding time. Eventually when they saw me approach they would always run to that part of the tank.

Associating a location or action with feeding time is the easiest trick to do. The first sorority I had had trouble coming up for food, because in the tank they were in they were so distracted and often didn't see me approach. I now teach my bettas that tapping on the tank rim means food. Now with my new sorority when I put them in the first time I tapped and they all immediately came to the top & center of the tank ready for food watching the top of the water.

For that it was as simple as tapping on the rim before I fed them. Only after a couple of days they associated that with food.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I saw you in the chatroom. The trouble is getting the food on the left side and feeding there.


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## Xeek (Sep 28, 2012)

Why is it hard to get the food on the left side? Why didn't you stay in the chat? :-(


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I had a very hard time in it sorry. I found the people way too crowded.


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## Hiraga (Aug 25, 2020)

or you could get him to swim through hoops. thats cool too.


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