# Betta sees his reflection in Tank



## sunnshinee (Jan 7, 2012)

My betta keeps seeing his reflection in his tank and flares from time to time. 

I'm scared that if he keeps seeing his reflection he will get stressed to much.

Am I being paranoid? 

This is my first betta fish.


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## waveseeker (Mar 15, 2011)

is he seeing it off of the walls or the top? or a mirror? because it may seem like he sees himself, but that's just the way water and glass works. if you up a plastic clear cup in the tank, and look out the walls, you will see out of the water. out of the tank, in the room it's in. the walls are not a mirror. only when you are looking in from one side, the other sides look like a mirror. do you get what i am saying?


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## sunnshinee (Jan 7, 2012)

yea i know what you're saying.

He's definitely seeing himself though because hes flaring in particular spots of the tank. You can see the background on my avatar. He only flares at the background. =(


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## waveseeker (Mar 15, 2011)

then you need to get a new backround, a little bit of flaring is not bad, healthy even, around 5 mins a day is a good stretch. but too long will tire him out, and stress him, and leave him open to sickness.

you remove the background, but if it's not something you can remove (like a tile wall,) put paper between the tank and the background. bonus points if you buy a tank background from a store, they really halp the look of the tank in the long run.


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## sunnshinee (Jan 7, 2012)

Alright, thanks for the info waveseeker!

Just wondering, how do you know if he's too stressed or not?


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## waveseeker (Mar 15, 2011)

well, you can tell with irregular eating habits, or swimming habbits, a lot of times it's hard to tell, but people know, because it is just they way it works, in a REALLY small tank, a lot of people can't tell how upset they are, but we all know they hate it. when you really see a happy betta, a truly happy betta, then you can tell when he is not happy.

but a lot of the time, if it is a small thing upsetting him, it's really hard to notice, just keep to a good habit of taking care of him properly, and you can have the peace in mind knowing he is alright. 

thanks for being a good betta owner!


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