# Betta Quirks and Habits?



## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

As we dedicated bettakeepers know, fish have very distinct personalities, and with those personalities. They are also manipulative little twerps, much smarter and wilier than most give them credit for. What kind of quirks do your bettas have, and what methods do they use to bend you to their will?

Aliquis likes to hang out near my Venus statue decoration's chest area (picture of my tank on my profile). Perverted little fish.

As far as getting more food... He knows where I keep his food. So when he sees me walk over there he is IMMEDIATELY in feeding position. When I had first gotten him I was planning on training him that when I turned the lightbulb on it was food time... turns out he doesn't need that. He knows that I mean business when it comes to food and that I won't deviate from his feeding schedule.

Grandma, on the other hand, (my mom)... I swear he recognizes her, because she walks into my room and he puffs right up, flaring, and swimming ever so stately. And he points towards his food containers. So of course my mom feels bad and feeds him. He is such a porker.

Your turns!


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## limeslide (Jun 16, 2011)

Oh my! Your betta sounds so cute.  The little devil!

Texas knows where I feed him, and where his food/tweezers are kept, every time I walk up to the aquarium to attend to the plants, or something, he nears the area where I feed him (top left corner of the 10g) and makes this puppy face and just pleads you to feed him, and he dances all over the corner. Sometimes I feed him just so he'll go away, but he keeps wanting more and more! I've been having to ignore his home for a while so I won't feel bad for not feeding him, but if I fed him everyday he would constipate, since the stupid workers at Wal*Mart must of fed him freeze dried bloodworm once, and he'll only eat that. Nothing else. I can't afford to buy live foods -yet-, so I have him on a strict schedule.... >_>

He also seems to know the difference between my mom, my sister, me, and my brother. His tank is right next to the faucet, so every time my mom nears the area he immediately goes to her side and does a little dance for her. Very cute.  He also knows who's finger is who's. When I introduced my sister to Texas, I told her to stick her finger in the tank, assuming he would nip at it like my Mollies and Guppies outdoors, but he flared so hard at her finger it was almost scary, it looked like he exploded with color and madness.  The same thing happened with my brother, he placed his finger and he started circling it showing of his fins and colors at full flare, but he took it out before Texas bit his finger. xD Strangely, when I place my finger/arm in the tank for whatever reason, he nears his feeding place, or he just rubs against it in a friendly matter, the little bugger. xD They are very smart fish, indeed.


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## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

haha ur guy sounds like a little devil too. Aliquis is a lovey love. But when my finger goes in the tank he swims away as fast as he can.


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## Larsa (May 6, 2011)

Ryu is a feisty lil boy who likes to show off when I place a female next to his tank. When he flares, he darts around the tank fast, pounding agaisnt the glass. Hes violent torwards other fish and a really rough eater. He loves to sleep on his thermometer inbetween the suction cup and the glass part of the thermometer.

Izume is very chilled, restimg and swimming around slowly. He shakes and is talkitive when I'm around. When i turn his tank light on he can see his reflection and startes flaring but still moves very slow. Kinda doppy but peaceful, not very violent. He hides in his volcano to sleep or if his water is too warm after water changes. He's a big bubble eater.

Sakura has a cute puppy face and gets along well with other females. She flares but never bites. She's always happy and always shows vertical lines whenever she is placed around a male, sometimes females too. When I feed her daphnia in an eye dropper,she bit the glass thinking she could still get food.

Kasumi is beyond hyper! She flares gills at others and loves to bite other girls. She shakes her fins a lot and flares at males, so she isn't a good choice for breeding even if she is conditioned. She jumps and bites my finger out of the water. She also eats bubbles and flicks her dorsal fin. I don't think she sleeps lolz she's always waiting under the tank opening where I feed her!

Amaya is a carefree girl who gets excited when there is food. She has these black shark eyes that stare into your soul. I put her an Sakura together one day and they flared as they circled around eachother, stopped, then just didn't care. Lol she's good with other girls but sometimes eats her own poop and blows bubbles a lot.


Bettas have so many personalities!!!


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## pinksnowme (May 31, 2011)

Blizzard knows the difference between my husband me. I am the feeder So of course Blizzard gets all swimmy and snuggles next to my side of the bowl when I sit down at the table. After he realizes that he isnt getting any more handouts he goes to visit hubby's side of the table. He likes to follow the silverware and napkins around as we use them.


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## CyerRyn (Apr 8, 2011)

Each one of my lovely little fishies have their own personality and I think that is the reason why I've fallen completely in love with Betta's. Sazzer is so funny cuz in order for him to swim to the top he does this butt wiggle.. reminds me of a dog begging for food! Bloo likes to flirt with his fins every time I walk into the room.. he'll flash off his crown tail then hide in his plants... but if you get near the glass of his bowl he'll back up a little and flare at you.


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## MaggieLynn (Jun 24, 2011)

CyerRyn said:


> Each one of my lovely little fishies have their own personality and I think that is the reason why I've fallen completely in love with Betta's. Sazzer is so funny cuz in order for him to swim to the top he does this butt wiggle.. reminds me of a dog begging for food! Bloo likes to flirt with his fins every time I walk into the room.. he'll flash off his crown tail then hide in his plants... but if you get near the glass of his bowl he'll back up a little and flare at you.


So true. I think that is why I just feel completely for all the girls in my sorority. In that type of setting you can really see what they are like.


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## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

Pinksnowme I love that he follows you're silverware!

They are totally like little miniature dogs!


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

i dont know much about my betta's behaviour yet, had him 7 weeksso far. i do notice that he's always ready to eat when someone comes near the tank. he had a funny moment today when i was feeding him flakes. he took a bite of a flake that was slightly too large for his mouth. it happend that the main flake fell into 2 peices, the big one and the smaller one. he took the larger one but didnt manage to swallow right away and immediately after had 2 failed attempts to eat the smaller piece while he still had his mouth full of the first flake.


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## Mermaid Fish (Jul 10, 2010)

My one betta always knows when it's food time. Come up to the right corner of the tank. Not bettas, but my 2 guinea pigs know I feed them at night so whenever I walk in at night they always squeal for food. xD The funniest/ weirdest thing I ever had a betta do was cram himself into a little castle. I was always afraid he's get stuck or not come out, but he did.










See that hole in the castle? Even with his giant fins he fit through.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I have a couple of fish with a bit more personality than the others.

One of my males likes to jump out at me. All. The. Time. So far he's landed on me once, landed on the floor twice, and somehow landed in the container I was thawing bloodworms in when he decided I wasn't going fast enough. 

His tank has a lid on it, but I've learned not to look directly at him because it seems to get him excited. During water changes it's not uncommon for him to go sailing through the air and land on the other side of the tank. 

Another of my males gets so worked up about getting fed he stirs up a big hole in the sand by squirming around on the bottom of his tank. He's a bit of a derp fish anyway. I can never catch him for water changes so every couple of days, he gets to go through a re-enactment of 'rice paddies in drought'.

In my sorority tank when I turn the filter on, they all wait to attack the bubbles that come out. Then they try to swim across my floating riccia, which involves them dragging themselves along for a few seconds as they realise there isn't a whole lot of water up there. Once I watched two or three of my females doing it, one after another :roll: I have a 'special' female in there who every one chases around because she has no concept of personal space.


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## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

Hahaha @LittleBettaFish when I had a tropical community tank my fish played the filter game too! They would all swim in circles and see who could get closest to the filter through the stream of water. Fish!


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

It's like when you go to pour some new water in and all of a sudden your fish pops up right where you are pouring and gets blown around everywhere. 

I'm forever siphoning up my male bettas. They are so dopey they let themselves be sucked up while I'm frantically trying not to spill water everywhere as I rescue them.


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## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

LittleBettaFish said:


> It's like when you go to pour some new water in and all of a sudden your fish pops up right where you are pouring and gets blown around everywhere.
> 
> I'm forever siphoning up my male bettas. They are so dopey they let themselves be sucked up while I'm frantically trying not to spill water everywhere as I rescue them.


they're not the smartest, but they sure do have some fun (at our expense)


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## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

hehe Aliquis is learning to love me. He eats off my finger and will follow my finger around, occasionally touching it

My brother's fish Redtail is SUPER friendly. He ate off my finger from the beginning and likes to rub against my finger. He's super loving. The rest of the time he's super shy though, hiding behind his plants


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

my first one (Nel) really has only 1 quirk, he wont go to the bathroom unless he's in that small glass that he waits in for while a water change is done. Nelliel seems to be attacking/jumping the IAL tea bag but he's only been with me for 8hrs and 3 hours in the 2.5g. its either that or he just loves jumping.


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## SamanthaC02 (Aug 4, 2011)

So many cute things every ones betta do! 

My betta, Carnage, gets all flirty and flares out for me as soon as I wake up until I feed him (he's on my nightstand), he always comes out and shows off for me whenever I come into the room. As for my husband he just ignores him or tries to attack him if he gets to close to the tank.


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

Akira when he's happy builds bubble nests and proudly makes sure I can see them. When he's mad or stressed he'll build one but hide it. I got a hidden bubble nest...T-T Guess who's moody. He also did something rather stupid..
He was going nuts doing his begging dance and tried to eat his own poo...Needless to say he got more food.

Kai does his wiggle dance whenever he see's us but he also loves his dragon statue and flaring when he doesn't like a certian color on me...Only me though.


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## FuulieQ (Jan 10, 2010)

I didn't think Robert could tell me apart from anyone else until one of my friends sat in my chair next to him for a while and said "Hey, your fish is being all poofy at me!". He never flares at me.  

I told my friend (who's a guy) that it was just a conflict of testosterone and not to take it personally. Haha.


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

just came back fro OT at work, i couldn't find my new betta right away in the tank. turns out hes sleeping above the top suction cup holding the heater and the bulb that's the top of the heater lol. didnt take pic to avoid waking him.


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

Whenever Tihs, my female betta, sees a person (anyone) she starts zigzagging across the front ofher tank like crazy (shes hard to get picturs of)

My male VT Pickle freezes when he sees a person, then starts swimming around really fast then stops, looks at you, and swims like normal (he must have brain damage, lol)

My male betta Hercules somtimes gets in picky moods where he wont eat anything other than ML, he will drape hisself over a leaf and act all pitiful, if I drop in a pellet he will watch it then follow it (his head moving down) as it falls to the bottom... then stare at me... 

My male King will randomly put hisself in a corner (he has just been moved to a larger tank, I dont think hes enjoying it very much :/ ) and refuse to move... then randomly he will swim around a bit, then hide

My new betta's Chile and the unnamed one have yet to show any real quirks (other tan the unnamed one eng a complete snob and a bit sketchy...)


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## hmckin20 (Jul 30, 2011)

pierce likes hiding, haha. he spends 60% of his time under his bridge. he'll come out, go up for some air, and dart back under. unless he wants to lounge on his leaf bed.. in which case he'll park it for a little while. and he doesn't like being bothered when he's sleepy. he doesn't puff his gills a lot, in fact he's a pretty chill little fish. he's a hermit, haha!


flair is a troublemaker.. i swear. he's always flaring up at me and pierce's shadow on the divider. when i had the store bought divider that ultimately had to be thrown away, i was fixing one side and he decided to slip through a crack on the other side.. and i was like, where are you?! and he was over there puffing up at pierce. divider is secure now. he doesn't like it ;D and whenever i'm over there playing with them, he's always demanding my attention.. chasing around on the side of the tank where i am. and for some reason he keeps building bubble nests around the heater.. idk why. xD


demi, though i've only had her a few hours, is so far a really zippy little fish. she's everywhere! and she moves really quickly. today i fed her a pellet for the first time, and unlike my picky boys that largely ignored the pellets i put in their tank, she kept going at that pellet like crazy. and she chased it to the bottom of the tank and ate it from there, haha. i've never seen such a feisty little girl. 


and when fitz was alive, he was a gullible critter. to lure him into the net to clean the tank, i'd put food in and he'd scurry up top, and i'd catch him. he was always really difficult to catch, haha. the food trick finally worked. he liked hiding too, he'd scoot in between his grass blades and be all, ahahah. you can't see me. take that.


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## Gizmothefreaky (Apr 10, 2011)

Hmm, well lets see... X3 

Blackbeard thinks he is a dolphin... When he gets excited he tries to do tail walks on the surface of the water, but rarely gets more than his head and pectorals out. X3

Mongkut loves to hide and freak me out... I am forever looking on the floor for him, and ten he will pop out of nowhere and look at me like "What are you doing?"... grr... 

Spot is super lazy... XD I dont know if that is a quirk or not, but he is... Unless his neighbor is being really active, then he will try and pick fights through the divider.. lol! 

Twitch loves to pose for the camera... In nearly every shot i have of him, it looks like he is dancing. ^.^ 

Thaddeus likes to act all tough, but he is a softy really... When i had him in the community tank with the frogs he is the only one that wouldnt pick on them... (( i switch my bettas around a lot so they dont get bored...))

uhm... Well those are all the ones i have seen quirks in so far, but i am noticing things about the others slowly.


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## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

Oh, and Redtail is a tailbiter now. And he was so pretty! But now his tail is sort of indented...


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## PiscisAmor (Jul 1, 2011)

HAHAHA I got a new Hamster and he spent the night on my desk next to Al's tank away from the cats. Al flared at the cage for a solid ten minutes! He was jealous of the attention the new guy was getting I guess! He's still sulking, and we moved the hamster this morning. It's now nightime


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## obiwansolo18 (Aug 8, 2011)

Misty loves when i come into the room or my fiance she goes right to the top of the tank and wiggles and wiggles. 

It seems as 3 of my girls in my sorority like to swim in a pack it seems.


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## krelda (Aug 10, 2011)

I've only had Balthazar, my crown tail male, for about a week and a half, but in the last few days since he has settled in more it seems like he loves to blow bubbles. He flares at my boyfriend when he walks in and dances at me when I say hi and feed him. I accidentally scared him earlier when I went into my room and he hid face down in his plant, silly fish lol. 

He is my first betta so I wan't sure what to expect but I am in love with him already, he has so much attitude :-D


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