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Arrggghhhh! Eating his tail... :p

1K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  Blue Fish 
#1 ·
ARFGGHHHHH! Sorry, just had to vent that for a moment. ;)

My double tail FINALLY grew out his tail *almost* completely after some nasty fin rot...and yesterday I came home from work to find that he'd EATEN IT. It wasn't just bitten, he'd eaten his tail. Now we're back to half a tail. First time he's ever done this...argh!

Oh well. I think he's actually happier with a shorter tail anyway...less drag on him. Irritates me, but makes him happy...so I'll take him being happy. ;)

I swear he learned it from his tankmate. They're the only two who tail bite...and the DT never did it until just now...but his mate is the worst tail biter...never actually seen him with a full tail.

Teach me to skip a feeding! ;)
 
#2 ·
Oh gosh my Halfmoon did that as well! He had such a beautiful and full spread! I come home one week after being at my moms a few days and he had a fungus on his dorsal fin that was tearing at it. Thankfully after some salt treatments in the QT the fungus fell off but left him with half a dorsal and part of his tail gone with it and then after all the he decided to bite a huge chunk from the top part of his tail. So annoying isn't it, he looks like a little baby again! I hope it grows back soon as well as your boys!
 
#4 ·
My halfmoon is the only betta I've ever had who tailbites. He's mostly healed now, but it led to a pretty severe case of finrot. He's much happier now that I moved him to a sand based tank with live plants. He would actually have to find ways to hurt himself. I put him in a betta bubble. :)
 
#5 ·
LOL! I love the betta bubble. ;) I'm pretty sure that Chaucer will find a way to bite his tail no matter what I do, short of finding a way to tape his little mouth shut. ;) He doesn't bite it down to the nub at least...he just trims it until he can swim the way he wants...sigh. He should have been a plaket! ;)
 
#10 ·
My Neil does THE EXACT SAME THING! :shock:
Except, that other fish HAS to be Chappy, his pretty, turquoise CT neighbor. if he isn't near her, his tail is not safe! He just grew his out tail again, but I cleaned tanks last night and just happened to move the temporary cup she was in to another surface that had a towel on it, and he went into a frenzy cause he couldn't see her! I quickly put them next to each other, and the damage isn't too bad, but it's still frustrating!!!!!!!
 
#9 ·
Tail biting?! I've never heard of this. Especially voluntarily doing it. ;.;
Yeah usually the longer flowing tailed betta's will bite their tail so that it's shorter making it easier for them to swim. All that tail does make it difficult to swim around, hence it being difficult for them to have a filter in smaller tanks sometimes. So they bite their tail off or part of it to make them "lighter"
They will also do it sometimes if they are in constant sight of another male and can't get at them, so they get frustrated and bite their own tail.
It also happens in transit while they are shipped in complete darkness. They basically have a very small space, if at space at all, to swim around in so they feel their tail and they don't know what it is. So their basic instinct is to bite whatever it is in their face which sometimes happens to be their tails.
 
#11 ·
Mine just started that too! He's a DTHM with a small body but HUGE fins. I woke up yesterday morning and he looked like a crowntail! I moved his tank to a higher traffic area and swapped out the two small plants for a really big one with a ton of leaves for him to swim through--I've heard they'll do it if they're stressed or bored, so now he has more places to hide as well as a change of scenery. I'm crossing my fingers that it'll help. If not, well, I guess there's not much else anyone can do to stop it.
 
#12 ·
Upgrading my boy from his 5 gal to a 10 gallon with plants seemed to do the trick. That is until I dared to add a snail, this was apparently not a good idea, and now my halfmoon is looking rather crowntail-ish as well. Just make sure his water is super clean to avoid any infection while he heals up.
 
#14 ·
Hmm. He's in a 20 g long divided with tons of silk plants and several live ones as well, so he's got plenty of places to swim around and hang out...but...he and his neighbor flare at each other fairly often. I wonder if I switched some of them around, and put him next to someone a little more mellow if they'd *BOTH* be less likely to bite. It's worth a shot. :)
 
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