# Bettas yawning or something wrong?



## Bettalover22 (Jun 7, 2011)

I noticed that 2 of my new betts open there mouth under water & it looks like they're yawning. Has anyone else noticed this with there bettas or is it possible something is wrong?


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## xMandy (May 21, 2011)

I have my male Apollo on my desk..I see him do this often. I've read elsewhere it's just like them gulping air at the surface.. but just gulping underwater.
I find it cute. Just thinking about it made me yawn!


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## Bettalover22 (Jun 7, 2011)

I kinda figured it wasn't something to worry about, but I wanted to make sure!


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Only time to worry is if they do it A LOT, like back to back to back to back yawns. Then that means they may have something caught in their throats and are trying to dislodge it. Otherwise, totally harmless and utterly cute.


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## Bettalover22 (Jun 7, 2011)

Good to kno, thank u! But what if something was stuck in there throat? Is there anything that can be done to help them?


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## xMandy (May 21, 2011)

heimlich maneuver?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Haha, actually someone online did post once that they saw their betta choking. Worried, the person reached in and tapped the fish very gently on the back and the pellet he was choking on shot out. 

That aside, I'm not quite sure what can be done to help a choking fish. Probably the best thing is to prevent choking in the first place by making sure their food is small enough or soft enough for them to eat. Bettas are gluttons, they don't chew their food but slurp it up whole. Plus, bear in mind that pellets and freeze-dried foods do expand a little in the water.


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## xMandy (May 21, 2011)

What?!
lol Could you picture that?
I think I'd be crying and laughing my butt off at the same time.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

xMandy said:


> What?!
> lol Could you picture that?
> I think I'd be crying and laughing my butt off at the same time.


I know, seriously.  Poor fish probably had no idea what was happening and knowing how bettas are, he probably swam right over and ate the pellet again. Crazy little things.


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## BrookeGrace (Apr 28, 2011)

Hahaha, oh my goodness. Betta heimlich maneuver! I've now heard everything that is to be said in the world. :grin:

Mine would have freaked out if I did that and probably leap out of the tank. LOL.


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## Bettalover22 (Jun 7, 2011)

I think I would prob of tried the same thing! Im a mother to a 4 year old lil boy & 3 pit bulls. If they were to choke that's what I would do so I guess it comes naturally! As far as pellets being 2 big. Mine r super small put r still to big for my lil girls. Havent had them choke yet but I will start breaking them into smaller pieces from now on!


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

My monster girl, Baby Blue, does a cute shimmy+swimmy greeting when I come over to her tank and talk to her. She'll open her mouth quickly several times while she's greeting me. It's not a yawn... I've seen her do that.... She makes her mouth a big round "O".


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## Bettalover22 (Jun 7, 2011)

Exactly....almost like they're trying to talk to u!


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

haha yeah! Betta ER. Dr Ray (as in sting ray) to the ER, _stat_! haha Actually bettas do chew. If you feed them a dry pellet you will hear them.


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## Bettalover22 (Jun 7, 2011)

Ive never heard mine chew there food. But the other day I gave my CT some blood worms & my VT was trying to get them thru the divider & u could hear his lips smacking on the divider as he was trying to attack the food. It was pretty funny!


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

Neil D said:


> haha yeah! Betta ER. Dr Ray (as in sting ray) to the ER, _stat_! haha Actually bettas do chew. If you feed them a dry pellet you will hear them.


 
Wow, you have excellent hearing!!!

I have hear my catfish squeak, though...


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

Actually its pretty loud. Sounds a bit like crunching chips.


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## BrookeGrace (Apr 28, 2011)

I just fed mine a pellet and listened closely, and you're right! It is actually pretty loud. Funny!


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

Crap... too much punk rock in my youth... can't hear like you young'ns can, lol!


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## BrookeGrace (Apr 28, 2011)

Maybe your fish just have better dining etiquette than ours do and chew more quietly. Ha! :-D

I love your avatar, by the way! Makes me smile each time I see it.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

haha yeah, name one betta that has any rules for him/herself when it comes to eating. You'd think we starve them!


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## Here Fishy Fishy Fishy (Oct 29, 2010)

BrookeGrace said:


> Maybe your fish just have better dining etiquette than ours do and chew more quietly. Ha! :-D
> 
> I love your avatar, by the way! Makes me smile each time I see it.


Thank you! It makes me smile too. 

And yes, as all my bettas are proper young ladies, they do eat quietly, lol!


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## BrookeGrace (Apr 28, 2011)

_"You'd think we starve them!"_

Agreed, Neil! Lol! Mine snarfs down his food as if he hasn't been fed for weeks and then kind of glares at me evilly. It's like woah! Such an attitude for having just eaten a wholesome meal provided by yours truly.

_"And yes, as all my bettas are proper young ladies, they do eat quietly, lol!"_

You've raised them well! *nods* :-D
I have a very rowdy boy who would probably eat his plant if it wasn't made of plastic. Ha! :shock:


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## BETTACRADLE (Jun 12, 2011)

i have seen mine doing the same thing, and i dun think its something to worry bout, well there are kind of cute when they do that yes, and i have seen mine doing that after a nap, thats when i approached them and accidently woke them up from their nap. eh i guess they yawned like us human do when sleepy la haha


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

... You've made me LAUGH cry and get angry...

Pfft...

Drax just greets me by doing a sorta blurp blurp then rushing the glass of the tank and goes into a sorta Feeding position at the area of the tank I place the food. 

*Glares at tank* YOU DON'T LOVE ME! YOU JUST LOVE FOOD!!!!

Drax: >(Oo0)< "Blurp?"


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Oh come on, DormDrax, didn't we always know our bettas only loved us for the food? ;-)


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

Sakura8 said:


> Oh come on, DormDrax, didn't we always know our bettas only loved us for the food? ;-)



 me about 5 minutes ago... at the tank. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgDC4yUNARg


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Ooh, reality is harsh, huh? Let's face it: we're just a pair of hands that drop food in and keep the water clean. We're *sniff* unappreciated by our bettas.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

My betta loves me hE only goes to the eating "place" when my hand goes to the top of the tank


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Neil D said:


> My betta loves me hE only goes to the eating "place" when my hand goes to the top of the tank


He loves the hand that feeds him, you mean.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

*depressed look* shut up.... Haha yeah probably...:-D


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Aww, I'm sorry to burst your bubble. But at least he loves a part of you, even if it's only the hand.


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## Bettalover22 (Jun 7, 2011)

Some of my bettas don't even like my hand, they attack it if I put it in their tank! Food or no food!


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

all bettas do that. all SPAZZY bettas do that


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

"this is quite common with Bettas but still it is an occasional behavior. If your betta is flushing his gills very frequently, this could be a signal that he isn’t getting the oxygen he should. This could occur from a physical injury to his gills or labyrinth organ, exposure to ammonia, nitrite poisoning, or if he isn’t given access to the surface for air." source:http://nippyfish.net/2007/01/27/betta-gulping-underwater-yawning/


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## frogipoi (Jul 3, 2010)

My betta yawns at me when I am boring him. 
YAWN...


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

My betta hates me I think....

I just divided his 10G haha lol srry, that was random...


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

frogipoi said:


> My betta yawns at me when I am boring him.
> YAWN...


Yup. If I stare at my guy Sherman long enough, he yawns and swims off. But I know better. It's a physical reaction to something in his gill so it's not really yawning and I'm not really boring him. But wait . . . then why do people do the same thing when I stare at _them_? Shoot, I really _am_ boring! ;-)


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

I yawned as I was reading your post haha JK:-D


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Neil D said:


> I yawned as I was reading your post haha JK:-D


See? See? I'm a cure for insomnia! I'll go on tour and people with chronic insomnia will pay big to stare at me for five minutes. :-D Then security will have to cart each sleeping person out.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

*starts* uhh? Wha? Oh srry, I fell asleep...*falls down snoring*


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

See, I cured your insomnia. That'll be 500 dollars, please. :lol:


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 31, 2010)

lol this is a story for the first page but once I had fasted a girl in my sorority, Payton and I fed her the next day. Sadly, she was STARVING (the piglet of the group) and she ate almost NINE PELLETS! And she's not a big fish either. She kept gulping and her mouth was stuck out like she had an invisible tube stuck in it. She was swimming around frantically, and so I got her in a little cup and performed "surgery". I had no idea what I was doing but I knew I had to try so I took some tweezers and I tried to pull it out. She panicked and all the pellets shot out of her mouth like a cannon. And so what does she do? The second they are gone she dashes over and starts eating them again. So I had to dump her back into the tank and feed the rest of the fish. It was INSANE! She acted like she had never been fed before! But that's Payton for you!


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Oh my gosh, she IS a little piggy! I never thought of trying to use tweezers to "heimlich" a fish. I did try to use tweezersr today to pull some poo that was hanging off my girl; she got so scared that all her frantic swimming knocked it off. And did you know you can literally scare the poo out of a fish? I've noticed it twice, once when I was cupping one of my girls and she got so stressed there was a big poo in the cup while I changed her water. And again when I cupped a girl to transfer her to a new tank. Same thing.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

@sakura,

I was about to fall asleep after the words "oh my gosh" but I forced myself to keep reading and it was funny! *falls asleep*


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Are you sure you're not narcoleptic? I charge $1000 to cure that. :shock:


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

nope I can read everyone else's posts just fine-*falls down again*


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Great, this makes my "cure insomnia" career even easier if I also cause narcolepsy in some people.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

You'll need to talk to people to get a job like that. WITHOUT PUTTING YHEM TO SLEEP *falls again*


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

No no, see, when they're asleep I just pick their pockets and go through their purses.  Makes it easier, that way no one can argue about my fees.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

*jerks awake* now I'm awake!


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

:-D Darn, and I was just about to smuggle Splee into my purse, too. Always wanted a guinea pig.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

Splee will CUT you!!!!!!!!!! And my Bettas will be PO too!


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Oooh, nothing worse than a homicidal guinea pig. Unless it's a homicidal guinea pig owner and his bettas. ;-)


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

Nope. Homicidal Piggy and PO bettas!


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

XD Sounds like your pets are forming a gang Neil!

Whenever my mom's feeding Kai he will open his mouth as if to say: "Gimme more! More food!" We fall for it hook line and sinker though. It's so cute seeing them yawn. Kai 'talks' to me now whenever he's doing his wiggle dance.
I think we put on too much salsa, reggae and Michael Jackson music around the little guy. He's caught in the evil of The Thriller.

"Because it's waterchange night! That evil net is gonna strike and I'll be back!! In that cup! I'm wiggling away because it's the waterchange tonight!"


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Arashi Takamine said:


> XD Sounds like your pets are forming a gang Neil!
> 
> Whenever my mom's feeding Kai he will open his mouth as if to say: "Gimme more! More food!" We fall for it hook line and sinker though. It's so cute seeing them yawn. Kai 'talks' to me now whenever he's doing his wiggle dance.
> I think we put on too much salsa, reggae and Michael Jackson music around the little guy. He's caught in the evil of The Thriller.
> ...


:rofl: At least your betta has good taste in music. You gotta get a video if Kai ever does the salsa.


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

Thanks! XD I will once I get a better camera or find one to borrow from a friend. He's really just a wonder to watch. He starts dancing whenever someone walks in the room.

He did the mating dance for my dog. :rofl:


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

Whoa there!!! Yes my fish wanna be betta pimps or is that inappropriate lol? Haha


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

XD I don't know. I've seen people use other words on here.

Kai I'm pretty sure thinks he's an exotic dancer...Or he's just begging for more food even though I feed him three times a day.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

Fatty fish. All my pets are fatties


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

XD You haven't seen a fat fish until you've seen Akira after his night-time feeding. Little pig has the guts to keep begging too.


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## Tisia (Mar 15, 2011)

I was using chopsticks to drop some brine shrimp into tanks and Erebus went and latched onto one of the chopsticks and didn't want to let go, lol


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Erebus knows chopsticks play a part in the mysterious "dinner disappearance" of his distant and unfortunate brethren who end up as sashimi and sushi. "For my sashimi brethren, I shall make you pay! Waachaa!" If you eat sushi, don't ever tell him.


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

That explains why Akira hates me now....The day I got Kai I was eating a resturant and ate three different kinds of fish..With chopsticks.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

No, he doesn't hate you, he hates the chopsticks. :-D Or he's got some "sibling" rivalry going on. He equates chopsticks with the day you brought home his "brother" Kai, which means he has to share your attention.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

I think Josh (my first betta see avatar) knows maxwell (newest betta) is on the other side of the divider, he just can't see him. Thank God. Josh seems PO at me though;-)


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

Rarely does Kai ever get PO'd at me. Maybe it's because the only times he has it seems like he has an opinion of my outfit? He HATES me when I wear this shirt with a black cat on it. Flares, acts basically just like a tiny red Akira.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Neil D said:


> I think Josh (my first betta see avatar) knows maxwell (newest betta) is on the other side of the divider, he just can't see him. Thank God. Josh seems PO at me though;-)


Not for nothing that Josh wears that crown in your avatar. You brought in a usurper to his betta throne and he knows it.


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## Neil D (Apr 10, 2011)

My fish flares at anything black or dark outside his tank! Cos his tank glass turns into a mirror. *sigh* no aquarium backgrounds for him...

Haha CC ur right!


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