Betta Flaring!

[endurance12]

My betta fish is flaring at the back of the tank! I just popped him into a 20 gallon tank with 9 glowlight tetras and now he is flaring! What should i do? He isnt flaring or chasing the glowlights. But he is flaring at the wall paper at the back of the tank.

[Hershey]

Is the paper in the tank? If not, they tend to flare at their reflections, thinking it's another male.

[endurance12]

The background is outside of the tank and it is a picture of rocks and leaves. How do I know if it is flaring at its reflection? I cant see his reflection when I look at the tank :P

[Fin Fancier]

I wouldn't worry, he's probably just excited by the new environment. Better to have him admiring the scenery than amusing himself by chasing your tetras.

[endurance12]

Originally Posted by Fin Fancier

I wouldn't worry, he's probably just excited by the new environment. Better to have him admiring the scenery than amusing himself by chasing your tetras.

Okay thanks but what if he continues to do it? he has been doing it for around 25 minutes now and i am starting to get worried.

[Fin Fancier]

I just put let my female loose in a new tank a few days ago, and my normally calm female spent almost an hour flaring at every corner of it. It was so cute watching her flare, she's the only female I've ever had doing it. He probably just feels the need to patrol his new borders. I would give him a day or two to acclimate before I got worried.

[endurance12]

okay thanks so much

[Myates]

He will stop flaring when he tires.. if the tank light is on, and the room light is dark they tend to see their reflections quite a bit then. If it worries you too much, remove the background for now until he adjusts to his new home then put it back up in a few days and see if it bothers him then.

[AyalaCookiejar]

Haha, my CT did this when I first got him into his new tank.

He is likely establishing and protecting his new territory. My CT flared at everything for the first 3-4 days in his new tank. They also flare more at dark colored objects outside the tank because it causes more reflection. He hated my giant black camera, lol. Anything black causes the most reflections, so I try to keep my backgrounds and anything I use to place in between tanks so they can't see each other white or light colored. Some are more aggressive than others... I never had problems with my VT flaring at everything when I moved him to his new tank.