# Betta Biting His Own Tail?



## pinksnowme (May 31, 2011)

Why is my Betta biting his own tail?
I watched him do a U turn and take chomp out of his back fin!


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## emeraldsky (Oct 4, 2011)

Your betta is either bored or his fins are too heavy for him.


There's not too much you can do, other than rearranging his tank every now and then to keep him interested and keeping the water clean to stop the fins from rotting.



Some bettas are just biters, my halfmoon just started doing it this week D:


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

If he can see any other bettas or fish, it might be due to aggression. I have an overly aggressive betta that bites his tail whenever he can see any others for an extensive period of time.


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## Migraine (Nov 8, 2011)

Strange, I heard that it was due to overexcitement ._. 
Will keep this thread in mind (and bookmarks!).


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Could be a number of things, as stated above- bored, the filter is too strong which makes the fins drag more and feel heavy, over aggression, or stress (a lot of bettas shipped from far away will come tail biting, did it while in the shipping bag).
As mentioned above, move things around, try different food, remove him from view of another, or the opposite, put another's tank next to his. Try to figure out why he started it before doing anything- if it's stress you don't want to add any more and instead want to keep things as calm and quiet as possible. Or if there isn't enough shelter/plants, or he's alone in the room for extensive periods he could be bored/lonely and therefor need a rearrange, added new decorations, or a neighbor.
I have one that never bit his tail until I went to surgery and he hadn't seen me for a few days.. he was used to daily time with me for hours since he is at my desk. Now I can't get him to stop.. grr..
There really is no way to make him stop, just try the different things and cross your fingers. What you can do is make sure you keep up on your water changes to avoid rot from forming. Silly little fish..


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## aleph (Jul 31, 2011)

okay the above post might help me out. How does this sound:

one of my bettas had fin rot. I don't have another tank and figured that if it was going to spread to the other, it probably would have so I started treating it but didn't separate them. I don't know if this was a mistake or a little or big one, if it is. I didn't mean any harm by it, obviously. I just thought that it would be fine.

we started doing 80-90% water changes and treating with aquarium salts after every change. I also changed the filter pad that I was using to baffle the filter with and changed sides that it was on because the water changes were bringing up scum on the other fish's side. I guess that the stream from the filter and the difference of sides may have thrown the other fish off and caused him to bite his tail. Does that make sense? 

I just think that if the other fish had fin rot, there's no way that it would have gotten as much of his tail as is damaged.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Rot happens when a fish's tail is already damaged by a split or a bite- and the water isn't clean enough (sometimes it doesn't take much for the bacteria to grow- so not saying your tank is filthy by any means.. it happens to the best of us sometimes). So it doesn't mean the other guy will get rot, especially if his fins are fine.
As long as you don't go past the 10 days then it shouldn't harm your other guy.. it's when it's used for too long of a period, or too much salt is when you see major health problems. 
Moving the filter over could be stressful enough on him to cause him to bite his fins- may have to move it back or more towards the middle if possible.


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## pinksnowme (May 31, 2011)

thank you alll for your great advice. Just this month he went through a growth spurt with his tail almost amking him sink backwards! I am thinking he deosnt like it getting so heavy. Like a human getting her long hair caught in the back of a chair.
I will do a wter change. I will try to play with him more. Ihave increased his pellets last week from 2 in the morning and 2 at night, to 4 in the morning and 3 at night. He seemed much calmer with the increase. But he is chomping his too long tail I am posting 2 pictures to show his tail growth in just 5 months. From June 2011 - Oct 3011


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Ah.. yeah he has the big fins, he looks to be a halfmoon possible? If so that will explain it as they are notorious for biting their fins.. he's a lovely guy- cellophane coloring.


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## pinksnowme (May 31, 2011)

Myates said:


> Ah.. yeah he has the big fins, he looks to be a halfmoon possible? If so that will explain it as they are notorious for biting their fins.. he's a lovely guy- cellophane coloring.


I just started calling him "Big Fins" last night (giggle)
So I just had surgery on my hand today so will do a 90% water change minus the scrubbing to keep him from getting infected. He had smaller tears on his fin last month. They healed and then grew ginormous!
He says thank you for the compliment. Maytes


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Aww.. recovering from surgery isn't fun  Had one myself a few weeks ago.. wish it was just my hand! But a hand is tough, and I wouldn't want to go through it.

And he is welcome for the compliment, he deserves it.
Cute name, I would of gone with Finley or something hehe


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