betta afraid of lights?

[hsarah]

I wanted my first post to be my bettas pics, but alas they are camera shy...anyways... I have two male bettas, Peeta and Maccabee, in a 10 gallon divided tank, and they've been in it for about 2 weeks now. I got this tank from my sister and one of the lights was burned out and the other light wasn't very bright. I put some new bulbs in the other day and when I turn them on Peeta totally freaks out! Maccabee doesn't seem to mind at all, but Peeta completely spazes out and then hides. When I turn the light off he calms back down and will come out to see me again. I don't know what to do. Should I take the bulb out of Peeta's side? I can't really see him if the lights are out, but I don't want him freaking out all the time... Will he just get used to it after a while? I don't know. Sorry this is post was so long...Any help would be appreciated

[Laki]

Ever shone a desk lamp directly at your face? How long can you stay there before you go and find some dark?! LOL, just an example. Quick, sudden bright lights will frighten and confuse anything (think deer on the highway). I would suggest trying to filter the light so it's no so bright or lowering the wattage bulb. Give them something dark to hide in. And try to find a lamp that turns on and gradually gets brighter (like street lamps) or flickers before starting up. It helps them acclimate to bright lights :) Hope it helped.

What I do when the light comes on or off fishies is to turn it away from him and then at him.

[dragonflie]

I've had some more sensitive to light changes than others. For some of my bettas, I've had to go in steps, so to speak, and turn on all the lights in the room first; then they could handle the tank light going on. Of course I've had others too (like my current two) who care nothing about the light except that they know it's morning and time to eat.

[hsarah]

Thanks for responding so quickly. I'll get a lower wattage bulb and see if that helps (don't know why I didn't think of that).

I do turn my room light on first, so maybe I'll leave the hallway light on and turn the desk light on too before trying to turn their light on. Maybe I'll leave one of his plants floating to block some of the light too.