# How to keep your Betta entertained with fun games!



## BettaMiah

Hello, we all wish our fish could do a trick or at least play with us at least once, right?

Well, now we can! 

Training your Betta-

Yes, Betta fish CAN be trained! Both mine are. 

It is simple really, the same way you would train a dog. But instead of scolding them when they do wrong, you reward them with a VERY snall treat when they do right! Bettas will learn to jump, follow your finger, swim through a hoop, and about anything else you can think of! 

Toys-

Betta fish LOVE toys! But what toys can you give a Betta fish? Actually, there are a ton of toys for Bettas! 

A mirror is a great toy, Betta fish get excersize from flaring, it is fun for them! Only leave it in there for a few minutes, though. 

Ping Pongs balls provide great fin for a betta! Betta fish love pushing them around, hitting it out of the tank, and knocking it up bit!

Betta fish love to hide in stuff, so hiding decor is great for them!

Hanging with you-

Betta fish actually really like to interact with their owners! Just talking to them or playing with them would be great for them, every Betta should at least get daily interaction. 

Post any other fun stuff you and your Bettas do!


----------



## missm83

great ideas! thanks!:-D
my boy loves to swim through my fingers.. i cant believe how not shy he is..i had him for 4days now and he seems to know me pretty well already;-)


----------



## BettaMiah

Haha! Sounds cute! My Bettas like to be pet and held. O.e 

I don't recommend it though. It might stress some Bettas out.


----------



## Bresn

You can make your betta jump be following the following steps:Wet your finger,next use a dry finger and pick a pellet and put on wet hand.Next put close to water.Last do not FREAK OUT BT THE FISH JUMPING ON YOU!


----------



## Myates

BettaMiah said:


> It is simple really, the same way you would train a dog. But instead of scolding them when they do wrong, you reward them with a VERY snall treat when they do right!


You don't scold a dog when training =P

Also for a toy, the plastic that holds the cap to a milk carton works good, just clean it first =)


----------



## DragonFish

You know, I've tried the Ping-Pong thing....not even my most playful boys ever took to it. They would stare at it for a while, then ignore it, maybe build a nest around it, but never actually played with it 
I did once train one of my CTs to swim through a hoop....that was fun xD Now that I have way too much time on my hands, maybe I should try it again....

One of my favorite things to do though is simply train them to eat from my hand....I know, I'm so unoriginal xD It can take a little while, depending on the fish, but I find it fun and quite helpful when feeding bloodworms so I can give them juuuust the right amount, you know?


----------



## Bresn

Everyone know why a betta fish attack finger?My female attack me!I don't feed food on finger!?


----------



## BettaMiah

Great ideas, everyone! 

Brensn- I think they jump for food. When I was doing my daily inspection of the Betta tank he was in my way, (He follows my finger at will) so I made him go over so I could see, and I was wiggling it to keep him focused, next thing I know he's hanging on my finger! Silly boy.


----------



## Bresn

I guess she saw me holding the food everytime...


----------



## BettaMiah

Problably. 

I think any Betta will jump if they know their owner has food. So if you want him or her to jump, let them know! Yuuki will jump through a hoop now.


----------



## Bresn

I feel like I get a heart attack when my betta hits my finger,my female look like it will eat anything,I did a test,put my glove put it near water and she bites(Smack head).


----------



## BettaMiah

Lol!


----------



## Bresn

I feed with my finger sometime,and next you know it's "AHH!",I want to feed but I get shock.


----------



## Silverfang

I feed my boys, and girls from a dropper. My boy attacks the dropper and sucks the blood worms out of it. The girls get pretty eager, it's kinda funny when they get so excited they miss seeing the food.


----------



## BettaMiah

Bresn- Yeah, it freaks me out too! Especially when i'm not looking. They have teeth so its like OW!

Silverfang- Lol! Same with my Goldfish.


----------



## Bresn

They have teeth?(Stun)


----------



## BettaMiah

Yes, Betta fish do have teeth.


----------



## Bresn

Of all the time I look at them!(Rush to fish)


----------



## BettaMiah

You can't see them. They are super tiny.


----------



## Mars788

I hold a mirror in front of Dol, then wait for him to see it. Not original, but still.


----------



## BettaMiah

>.< Yuuki thinks its a friend and Ryu sometimes flares or he just stakes himself. 

My Goldfish likes the mirror.


----------



## HatsuneMiku

mr. bubbles is trained to jump .. and he follows the feeding spoon .. and he flares on command when i press my finger against certain places of his tank

none of my other bettas seem to do tricks =(


----------



## Bresn

Cool!!


----------



## Betta Monkey

My Bettas and I get a kick from me pointing one finger directly at them and they flare at it :lol: My fingertip is about the size of their heads when they flare.  But only for a second though, because it might freak them out when that finger stays still there like forever.


----------



## BettaMiah

Mine learned a new trick! Good boys. Now they like to follow my finger all around. It is pretty fun.


----------



## PaintedOaksOki

How do you teach your betta to flare? I want to teach my betta to flare...
How do you teach your betta to follow your finger, Oki doesnt do that...


----------



## Myates

It's a natural thing for them to flare.. just put a mirror up next to their tank and they should flare at it. As for following finger.. try holding a piece of food above the water with two fingers and moving it around and see if he will follow it. He may even try to jump for it. But it gets them used to your fingers and not so scared of them.
Two of mine jump for food, teaching another right now. Just wish one of them didn't use their teeth when they go for the food cus it scares me when they get me lol. They all follow my finger, one will have a flaring contest with me when I put my face up to the tank. He always wins. Another will go through a "hoop", pretty much just the plastic from around the cap of a milk jug.. I keep it in there because he is always interested in new things and likes to get into trouble and eventually got used to it so I can hold it in there and he'll go through for food.
Xander is finally starting to jump.. got him to actually jump from a partially tipped cup into the net earlier. Didn't think he would ever do that (they tend to love when I do water changes because I give them extra personal attention when I do it). Don't want him to do it though anymore.. he can hurt himself and he's older then what I thought so that makes me even more nervous when he pulls stunts like that. No more jumping for him! And my new girl will make tight circles and swim round and round a straw and continue circling it as I move it. She's awesome.


----------



## PaintedOaksOki

Finally Oki has satarted flaring at his reflection! He wasn't doing that yesterday! LOL, he's a funny fisheh!


----------



## Myates

hehe great =) Forgot to mention, sometimes they don't do it for a while when you first get them. No Name didn't flare at a mirror or other males until recently when I put a girl's tank next to his lol.. that did the trick


----------



## PaintedOaksOki

These kids I'm baby sitting wanted to see Oki, so I brought them down, and Oki couldn't decide to look at, back and forth, until he decided he wanted to eat and ignore them! What the character he is!!
When i go down and sit down to watch him, he will swim back and forth in front of me for attention!:lol:


----------



## Concon

i use a cleaned plastic straw which my betta follows!!!!!


----------



## BellasMomma

BettaMiah said:


> Bresn- Yeah, it freaks me out too! Especially when i'm not looking. They have teeth so its like OW!
> 
> Silverfang- Lol! Same with my Goldfish.


I too feed my Betta sometimes from sticking the food to my finger and she bit me one time and it felt like it was itty bitty razors. Definitely a shock when it happens! I also had no idea they had teeth...


----------



## HatsuneMiku

nimbus thought my fingers were food once when i was trying to scoop his poo out with a spoon (before i got a baster that actually worked and kept water in) of his tank and had my hands in there .. it was weird .. just felt like he was ramming into my finger .. didn't feel any teeth though .. cus he caught my fingernail .. he must have thought eww this taste yuck


----------



## BellasMomma

haha, i think Violet was like YUMMM!!! cuz she ALWAYS tries to get me, she jumps up a bit everytime my hand is above her... im tasty haha.
HATSUNE - yer avatar is amazing, he yers???


----------



## xbecky685x

I just made Frodo flare haha iv seen him flare before when he was at the shop but its so cute lol.. iv only had him since friday so i wont try to much with him just yet.. Aww i love my water baby <3

xx


----------



## HatsuneMiku

he is now .. after waiting forever from aquabid .. but i didn't take that picture cus he won't stay still for me .. that's one of the pictures of him from the aquabid page he was on


----------



## BellasMomma

well hes beautiful and im sure totally worth the wait!!!


----------



## Bombalurina

After my Apollo (RIP) learned to jump, he got better and better and would jump the second he saw me. Then he started to eat my fingers during water changes (it never hurt and it was really cute). Then he decided to combine the two tricks and attempt to leap out of the water and eat my face during a water change. 
He did get to face height, I'll give him that. His problem was re-entry: he missed the tank by a mile and hit the floor. Given that I'm 5'10" he had a long way to fall.
Surprisingly enough, he was ok. 

I'm working on teaching my new halfmoon the basics of eating and jumping (hopefully not flying), but there's no point with the sorority girls. When I go in the room, they are too busy begging and showing off to pay attention to me teaching them things.


----------



## HatsuneMiku

i now feel short D=

glad he was ok after a fall like that .. did it feel weird that he kissed ur face =D .. it would be cool if he knew to kiss ur lips and then fall back into the water =D


----------



## Bombalurina

That would be so cute! One of my ratties is a lip-kisser. Apollo didn't actually get to touch my face, though, because I instinctively jerked back when I saw a fish launching itself into the air towards my eyes.  But now I really want to train a fish to do that. 

Don't worry, when I'm at home I feel short all the time. My 17-year-old sister is 6'1".


----------



## hmckin20

Florence wiggles her tail whenever I come around and acts like she's gonna jump up and eat my face.  A lot of my betta learn to come to the top of the water whenever I tap it- and some of them recognize the container that the food is in and will follow it around whenever I'm getting food out!


----------



## erinandares

Bombalurina said:


> That would be so cute! One of my ratties is a lip-kisser. Apollo didn't actually get to touch my face, though, because I instinctively jerked back when I saw a fish launching itself into the air towards my eyes.  But now I really want to train a fish to do that.
> 
> Don't worry, when I'm at home I feel short all the time. My 17-year-old sister is 6'1".


 Oh, god. I'm the oldest sister and the shortest sister ateighteen and five foot seven. My thirteen year old sister is probably six one by now. My twelve year old sister is like, an inch taller than me. So I guess five eight. 

My bettas know that Erin's hand= food. When I tap the top of the water, they come wiggling up all cute and happy. Ares is a jumper. When I was doing his last water change, he jumped out of the cup and smashed his poor little face on my bathtub. Dx I almost died because he somehow managed to tatter his fin all up and a big chunk of scales fell off his head. <//3


----------



## popcorndeer

popcorn dances when he sees me and he is sooo lould when he eats his food lol


----------



## Bluelily54

I'm gonna have to try some of this stuff :-D
Captain Barbossa will flare at anything colorful, which I found out while trying to make a makeshift aquarium background out of construction paper of various colors. Every shade of blue, purple, or green I had was offensive. I don't have a mirror for him to flare at, but I've figured out that one of my purple drinking glasses can do the job. :-D


----------



## Racoon293

My girl reconizes the coffee can and associates it with food. In the morning the top priority is to get the coffee going and while it brews she gets her breakfast. 
Her tank is on a bar counter that separates our living room from the kitchen. If you stand on the living room side and look at her she swims up and says hi. If your on the kitchen side and look she gets all excited cause that's the side the food comes from.


----------



## Sunnysuperfish

in my school, there is a vale tail that we consider the class pet. i am the one who takes care of him, although he is my friends(who hates fish-basically all of them do) he backs away from my finger. he won't even do any of the tricks you tell me about. AND we had him since November. the only trick i was able to accomplish was: i shake the food container before i feed him and it got to the point where i just shake it and pretend to drop food and he comes up just to find food. He ALSO has fin rot and I've been treating it with aquarium salt(it's growing back thank goodness). what to do?


----------



## Sunnysuperfish

popcorndeer said:


> popcorn dances when he sees me and he is sooo lould when he eats his food lol


that's soooooooo cute! wish my bettas would do the same to me any tips?
thanx!


----------



## SunshineSulie

My Sunshine will jump when I open her tank lid, even if I have no food. She also follows my fingers. If I put my hand up on the wall outside her tank, she will like, snuggle against it, and when I take it away she backs up real slow and looks angry. Lol ol 

Super cute.


----------



## Sunnysuperfish

ahh! my betta nipped my finger to get food! im so excited and happy! AND he followed my finger! talk more when there is more improvement with Sunny/superfish


----------



## Blues Human

*My Blue LOVED to jump for treats!!*

My little Blue used to jump for his treats, too! The first time he did it, I was so surprised! I would always wet the tip of a paperclip or little plastic feeding stick, then use it to pick up a piece of brine shrimp, then drop it on the surface of the water for him. One time, I was talking and I waited too long holding the treat over the water, so he got impatient and jumped out and grabbed it off the paper clip!! From then on I would have him jump for his first treat of the day! But I would always just give him his treats after that one, because I didn't want him to think he HAD to jump for them, he deserved them anyway!!
I miss him so much. He was a great friend to me.


----------



## cowgirlbil

ok so i have a normal ordianary betta named blazer. He doesn't flare when i put a mirror in front of it or if he does he doesnt do the puffing out of the chin. he also doesnt play that much. I did not start playing with him untill today and now he wiggles a little when i come in the room. does he not flare beacase he is young or sick????


----------



## clementchee

I love all these ideas. This is probably the most fun thread to read in the forum.

By the way, one of my bettas - a plakat - is super active when he sees me open the door and the sun shines in. I am not too sure if this is the trick, but when I see him doing that, I feel great. LOL


----------

