# Betta burying itself in rocks?



## Behati (Sep 4, 2011)

I'm not sure if this is normal but my betta is literally digging itself into a hole and I'm not sure if it's hurting itself because those rocks are pretty heavy even for me. Here's a picture:








Is this normal behavior?


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## TheKingsFish (Jan 8, 2011)

I've had a couple of bettas do this, and for the first couple of times it perplexed me. The problem only went away when I gave them somewhere to hide: live plants or small cave-like structures work best. One of my males still buried himself until I put a small towel over his jar to reduce the light so that he might feel a little safer. Hopefully this helps.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.


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## BellasMomma (Oct 8, 2011)

yea he definitely needs some places to hide. get him a little something, if yer short on cash get a cave first then get plants later, the cave will give him more "protection" unless u get really big heavy leaves that offer lots of places to hide. but get both asap.


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

For the budget conscious: a coffee mug or even a clean styrofoam cup stolen from a workplace water cooler and weighted down with pebbles.
You might get some odd looks running off with a cup, though.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Yup I have to concur- he needs more items in his tank. Bettas love medium to heavily planted tanks, and from my experience males love caves (my females could care less for them, but my boys love to sleep in them). They need to feel secure, and once he does he will become lively and very active, coloring up. 
I would spread those rocks out as well after you get your plants/cave as if he gets stuck under them he could easily drown.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

I second the previous post...
I had large pebbles in one of my first betta tanks (loong time ago) and my betta managed to get stuck under the pebbles and drowned.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Yup, why one of my guys has bare bottom because he will bury himself under everything. He will push himself between objects and the substrate if he couldn't get under the substrate itself. He's a little neurotic I think  lol


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## Behati (Sep 4, 2011)

I had the rocks flat but he still tried. He's pretty strong moving those nuggets. I already ordered a cave and some more rocks but they're not due to come in for another week. I just hope he's not hurting himself doing that. He's a tiny guy too, about 1.5in.


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## Behati (Sep 4, 2011)

I also just wanted to double check that it wasn't a sign of something abnormal, else I can return him still. I flattened out the rocks and just made cracks he could hide in. It seems to take a lot out of him to be moving those rocks by diving in head first.


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## missm83 (Aug 23, 2011)

i had the same problem with my boy... i went and got sand and the problem was fixed... goodluck!


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Yeah, I would keep them flat. If you have a glass or a coffee cup, or even just a small plastic cup you could use that as a cave until your order comes in. Just make sure it's free of soap residue - wash out real well with hot water and toss it in. I have a small coffee cup half buried in one of my tanks for a girl. (She doesn't like caves, so the coffee cup works as it's more open for her to hang out in and such.)


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## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

i found with those glass gem pebbles my boy loves to wiggle between them .. maybe it's the smooth surface i duno .. as long as you keep them flat and don't have any that have the possibility of trapping him he'll be fine .. bettas are very mischievous sometimes and can get themselves stuck


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## newarkhiphop (Apr 22, 2011)

put a pvc pipe in there


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## betta dude (May 22, 2011)

funny little thing


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