Attacking Plants

[LolaQuigs]

I got my first betta today! So excited! Anyway, he's in a temporary 1g container until his 5g tank is finished cycling (nitrites spiked yesterday, another yay!) and the container has two silk plants, a green one and a purple one. Well I've noticed that he keeps attacking the plants, especially the purple one. He's not flaring or anything, just lunging at it and biting it. Does anyone else have a fish that does this? Does anyone know what could be causing it? I'm just sort of curious as to what could be going through that little brain lol

[xxabc]

He must think of something...I usually use chopsticks in my tank to move anything around if I don't feel like getting wet. Well I let the very end float upon the top, and he start nipping it (he's strong!!) It was cute, but he never did that before. I'm sure he'll find out sooner or later that ... it's nothing.

[Mister Sparkle]

I think the plant started it.

[soleilvie]

I just wanted to pop in here and ask how long it took your nitrites to spike. I've been at it (well, my tank has) for 11 days and I'm still stuck with 4-5ppm ammonia, no nitrite.

[Mister Sparkle]

At a minimum, you have another week left. On average, you're probably looking at 3-6 weeks more before your bacteria really get going and you can consider yourself "cycled".

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear...sorry!

[soleilvie]

It's fine. I know I can expect it to take up to two months, especially since I didn't seed the tank. It's just that pretty much everything I've read says to test for nitrites after a couple of days, so I was expecting to see them awhile ago. Another thing, is it alright to have the light on (10w fluorescent) for a few hours a day or would it interfere with the process? I love having my tank lit up at night.

[Kittles]

To start testing for nitrites in the event that they should appear. You just want to make sure you don't miss them so that you can make proper adjustments to your parameters and dosages. Doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be there once you start testing - just a precaution.

As for your lighting, no. It won't be a problem, nor will it effect your cycle which I hope finishes quickly so you no longer have to look at an empty (albeit beautiful) tank.

[soleilvie]

Thank you.

[Sella]

I put freshwater plants in my veiltails tank and he attacked them, then he realized he loved them and sat on them and built a bubble nest shrine to encompass them in. He's probably just exploring.

[LolaQuigs]

Ha ha, I'm sure he's just getting used to everything; it's probably just that he's been in small containers with no decorations at all for so long, he doesn't know what to make of them!

It took me about two weeks to see any nitrites at all. I was a little worried that I wasn't getting a reading within a few days, as I also assumed that was the norm based on all the articles I read. But they definitely did show up eventually. I still got fairly low nitrite levels for about 5 days before they spiked and my ammonia finally started decreasing at noticeable levels. Now I'm getting nitrate readings but it will probably be a little while before those spike and my nitrite subsides.