Waking up sleeping fish

[Nolefin]

Is it bad to wake up sleeping bettas on accident?

I'm in college so sometimes I get home really late and I'll turn my light on in my room just for a few minutes, but they wake up pretty easily. Is that bad for their health, does it stress them out?

[Laki]

Hm, quick lights flicking on and off in a period of a few seconds may be grotesquely irritating and maybe painful to their eyes- think of yourself laying in bed and someone snapping on a light suddenly without warning. I try to always flick on lights either with a dimmer or I'll turn on a light further from the tank so the lighting on the tank is not as bright as the light directly overhead. **Did you understand that?**
I could be wrong of course. Betta's sometimes adapt to your schedule and rest when you do, at least Lakitu does when he's on my desk.
One thing you can do is get a night light and leave it on for when it gets dark and you're not home. When you get home and turn on and off your light you can then unplug the night light so he's in darkness. He will be able to rest and sleep with a dimmer light on the tank as long as he has a cave or thick planting to hide in.

[kitkatbar]

I think it's okay...You can't really do anything about that one. If you are super worried, you could always put a towel or something over the tank before you leave for the night to keep it dark if you just wanted to be super nice. =)

[audjree]

I agree with Laki on the feeling of sleeping and then waking up all of a sudden to a bright light. We all know that isn't pleasant. But, it shouldn't be too bad for their health.

I have a dimmer switch for my light, so what I usually do is turn it on dim and slowly bring it up brighter. It seems to help.

[kfryman]

Ugh I would hate that! Well I do, lol, my sister does it all the time at like 1am too. I would think like a night light or something maybe or a towel would work