Weird behaviour when female ready to mate?

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

So starting yesterday my female betta, Cass, has been acting weird. She usually explores her tank with gust, going all the way to the bottom, in and around her plants, doing her fishy thing. She also always comes to the glass and sort of "dances" for me whenever I'm nearby.

But now she slowly swims around, and only near the top of her taller-than-wide 2 gallon tank. She won't come and see me either, and has a tendency to swim slowly to the glass and then sort of headbutt it a few times as if trying to swim further. Plus, this morning I noticed she's got very obvious, very light breeding stripes up her sides.

So my questions are:
Is it normal for a female betta to act weird when she's ready to mate?
How long will her odd behaviour last? (How long will she be in her "ermahgerd I need to mate" state?)

Thanks for any help. :)

*EDIT*

It's odd, her stripes disappeared in literally the span of time it took me to write this post. I fed her right beforehand, but she's still acting very strangely... I'm so confused!

[sainthogan]

My female gets very bright breeding stripes right after eating, then they fade. Sometimes they last longer than other times - hours some days, minutes others. I'm not sure your girl's behavior though, mine doesn't do that. It does seem kind of odd, but it could be part of her ready to breed behavior.

Mine does seem very interested in what is out side of her tank though, and now that we have a male, she spends a lot of time staring at him, and has started making random, small bubble nests around her tank. His tank is smaller and about a foot and a half away from hers, so I'm not sure if he can see her.

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

So is strange behaviour when they're all psyched for mating normal? :)

[DoctorWhoLuver]

Are the stripes vertical or horizontal?

[sainthogan]

Originally Posted by DoctorWhoLuver

Are the stripes vertical or horizontal?

Good question, I didn't think to ask that. Vertical stripes are breeding stripes. Horizontal stripes are stress stripes. If you are seeing stress stripes, then something is going on that is causing her stress and that would further explain her odd behavior.

[dragon tamer]

I have one female that has put on boy colors but flashes vertical and horizontal stripes while hanging at the surface in the male's territory. when he approaches her she will flare roll on her side a bit and tail slap his face. if he continues she will swim a short distance and then display to him and once she hung upside down at the surface, head and tail pointed to the ground. Other than interacting with him and eating she is hanging out with no interest in interacting with the other females or responding to my movements. It sounds to me like she is in need of mating and she may release her eggs alone or reabsorb them. Of course you could get her a boy to help. If you don't want to deal with it then you could reduce the temperature a couple degrees and feed only fish food rather than any meaty stuff for a while. That might put her in a maintenance mode.

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

The stripes were vertical. So definitely breeding stripes. I was just curious if the odd behaviour was normal and how long it should last for.

[sainthogan]

It could be normal for her, and I really don't know how long it will last for. I'm wondering though, with her headbutting the glass, does she think she's seeing a male out there? Perhaps she's mistaking her reflection for a male?

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

Hmmm I have no idea to be honest. 0.o
She's stll doing it fairly often like she's trying to get out. And she's only been doing it since I put her in a taller, flat-sided tank. Her old one had rounded sides...

[Myates]

"Breeding stripes" aren't just for breeding.. those stripe communicate a lot of different things such as dominance/passive, excited over something stimulating such as food, etc.

If her behavior has changed I would look into what could of caused it- are you doing the proper weekly water changes based on your set up? Have you changed the food recently? Does she have enough stuff in her tank for mental stimulation? Is she alone for quite some time during the day? Etc.