# Burrowing Betta



## Slowebot (Feb 5, 2015)

My betta spends 30% of his time trying to fight his reflection, 20% of the time sleeping so hard I think he's dead and 50% of the time swimming into the tightest spots he can find in the tank. I honestly think he spends time digging small tunnel systems under the drift wood just so he can swim completely horizontal underneath of it an emerge super proud of himself. I find new holes in the substrate every day that he digs and then just lays in. And my apple snail loves the holes as well and likes to sit in them and taste all the newly turned gravel. It's almost like a game every time I look in my tank, what impossible location will Floyd be in tonight? 

I spent so much time meticulously laying the gravel so that it lay perfectly flat and my betta has dug pot holes in my entire tank 

I would probably be more mad if I wasn't so infatuated with the amount of personality such a small fish can have.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

Do you have a lot of silk plants in there? Betta like to have hiding spots
If you want him to stop glass surfing try putting his tank in a well-lit white or light colored part of the room to help prevent reflections


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## Slowebot (Feb 5, 2015)

It's a highly planted tank and he definitely has hiding spots, he just likes to make his own. It was more of me talking about his habits than saying there was a problem


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

Ok. As long as he is healthy and happy. 
I once had a tv who loved to spasm on the floor of his tank and pus around the plastic rocks with his nose.


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## madlikearose (Feb 10, 2015)

Bikeridinguckgirl14 said:


> Ok. As long as he is healthy and happy.
> I once had a tv who loved to spasm on the floor of his tank and pus around the plastic rocks with his nose.


Mine flips his rocks too! It's quite enjoyable to watch when I catch him doing it lol. They have so much personality.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

*he was a vt not a tv -_-


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## madlikearose (Feb 10, 2015)

Bikeridinguckgirl14 said:


> *he was a vt not a tv -_-


LOL I was guessing that's what you meant. No worries


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Bikeridinguckgirl14 said:


> *he was a vt not a tv -_-


Though - if you had a living TV that would be something incredible. I think a TV spasming on the floor would be frightening though 

One of my boy noses in the gravel, but doesn't make full out holes. It's almost like he's foraging.


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## madlikearose (Feb 10, 2015)

Greenapp1es said:


> Though - if you had a living TV that would be something incredible. I think a TV spasming on the floor would be frightening though
> 
> One of my boy noses in the gravel, but doesn't make full out holes. It's almost like he's foraging.


Haha! if your TV is thrashing on the floor I would suggest that you should stop taking drugs. Lmfao but on a serious note, Daryl it a VT too. He sometimes derps out and puts his noes doWn into the glass stones with his tail straight up saying vertical for a minute then goes back to swimming lolol so strange


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## Kaxen (Mar 3, 2013)

The girl I used to have dug a lot.

Scared the crud out of me a few times. >_> She ended up completely under glass pebbles several times, but me screaming blue murder, she'd pop out like nothing had happened.


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## Chester41585 (Mar 11, 2015)

I've got a betta that burrows and it concerns me a bit - he's finding small holes behind my plants and wedging himself between the glass and the plant. This happens mostly when I'm gone at work. I can only imagine that he's jammed into these spaces that he can't get himself out of for hours at a time. 
I'm assuming burrowing is a betta behavior, but this seems to be a defense/comfort mechanism, since he's only burrowing behind the same plant no matter what corner I put it in.
He's got plenty of hiding places elsewhere in the tank.
He shares the tank with three albino corys and three peppered corys. Occasionally, he'll chase a peppered cory, but I haven't seen him do that recently. Otherwise, he's a pretty happy and docile fish.
As a note (not sure if related to burrowing), He's developed fungus on the tips of his fins (crown tail) that I am currently treating him for. He's been burrowing since before this and I wonder if the fungus may have formed as a result of him being stationary (stuck and unable to move) for long periods of time. 

I've since removed the plant that he's burrowing between. It's uprooted, but he still swims into the root system and wedges himself in there between the roots and the rocks (just observed him do this).

Edit: I wonder if the fungus treatment is creating light sensitivity in my fish, as they all have taken to hiding in darkened parts of the aquarium recently. The larger cats have become all but completely sedentary, and the albinos aren't nearly as active as they usually are.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

My boy Arausio does the same thing, except his tank had rocks in the bottom so he can't shove those around. He wiggles into the tiniest of spaces and has scared me to death multiple times. Each time I was about to "rescue" him, though, he'd wiggle out just fine. My new role is to watch him and see if he's panicking or acting normal before attempting to "rescue" him, lol. He's got lots of hiding places and plants, just likes to wiggle around. XD I have plans to use him to test out the divided tank I'm planning on making for my brother and his girlfriend's bettas before I give it to them, to make sure their's won't be able to get through and attack each other. If Arausio can't find a way, no one can. Lol!


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## Chester41585 (Mar 11, 2015)

Marbilz will do the same thing. I just didn't know exactly how flexible bettas are. They seem to have Bolshoi levels of contortion. I've been cosnidering changing the gravel (which is annoying to clean) to large basalt river rocks and was wondering about my fish tucking in under them. I figure if I pack them in tight enough, it shouldn't be a real issue. 10 gallon tank, for reference. He shares it with some corys. I figure the corys would be okay with that.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Here's a photo of my Arausio doing his version of burrowing. XD


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## Chester41585 (Mar 11, 2015)

LOL, cute!


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## melissanred (Jul 3, 2020)

Slowebot said:


> My betta spends 30% of his time trying to fight his reflection, 20% of the time sleeping so hard I think he's dead and 50% of the time swimming into the tightest spots he can find in the tank. I honestly think he spends time digging small tunnel systems under the drift wood just so he can swim completely horizontal underneath of it an emerge super proud of himself. I find new holes in the substrate every day that he digs and then just lays in. And my apple snail loves the holes as well and likes to sit in them and taste all the newly turned gravel. It's almost like a game every time I look in my tank, what impossible location will Floyd be in tonight?
> 
> I spent so much time meticulously laying the gravel so that it lay perfectly flat and my betta has dug pot holes in my entire tank
> 
> I would probably be more mad if I wasn't so infatuated with the amount of personality such a small fish can have.


Just wanted to say how much I appreciated this post! Because my new betta boy is exactly the same (minus the sleeping) and it's nice to have my feeling that this is just him living his best life. When I try to cover up his dig spots or block his refection , he lets me know that he wants it back the way it was! He's a funny fiesty dude.


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