Odd behavior or no?

[New Fish Owner]

My new betta is obsessed with the heater. He spends most of the day swimming around it. He goes up one side, back down, across the bottom, up the other side, swims behind the cord, and then starts all over. He has been doing this ever since I put the heater in. He NEVER quits no matter if the heater is on or off... I put the heater in 3 days ago. In fact, several times he even freed it loose from it's suction cup, and the heater was floating in the middle of the bowl!

Is he just having fun, or is the heater upsetting him? The heater seems to be working well! It keeps the temp at about 78 degrees.

[sainthogan]

Both of my fish like to hide behind their heaters, so yours could be trying to get behind it to find a nice warm, comfy resting place.

[angus]

Honestly I don't know, but my new betta, Phoenix, has been doing something similar lately. He just swims around the suction cup, not constantly, but enough to notice. At first I thought it was just the heater, but today he found a way to get around the suction cup of the thermometer too. lol. I'm far from an experienced betta person, but my thought was that Phoenix was bored and looking for something to do. He's currently in a hospital tank though with nothing else in it while I treat his fin problems.

[Kithy]

My pleco's favorite spot is behind his heater. I think they just like it being extra toasty ^-^ Much like me, I love sitting near a heater in winter *-*

[osromatra]

Mine does that. It reminds me of a cat, twirling its tail around your leg. He also does it to plants, tubing, and even the thermometer.

[sainthogan]

In addition to resting behind the heater, mine like to sleep on top of suction cups, either the one from the heater or the one from the thermometer. So, I'd venture to say that your fishies are acting perfectly normal.

[shellieca]

One of my females insists on squeezing herself between the heater & the tank wall. She has to really push herself through & I mean she has to work to get through the space, why she does this I don't know, I watched her do it probably 5 times in an hour or less. They do odd ball things sometimes.