[Lamia]

Ok, you might not be able to play with a betta as you could with say, a dog, but I was wondering if anyone here had any little games or activities they do with their bettas.

 

[Juneii]

Neptune does not find interest in flaring at his reflection (or at other bettas) or making bubble nests. To try and entertain him I wave my finger across the front of his bowl for him to follow and chase him around his bowl with my finger or a net. I assume it doesn't scare him since he doesn't hide in his tree trunk when I do. And continues to follow me around afterwards
I taught him to jump for the food on my finger, perhaps I should find a plastic hoop and see if I can get him to swim through it...

 

[bettafish15]

I put my finger on the side of the tank and have him follow it around. My betta chases my last two neon tetras whenever they get too close to him I also put new and interesting items in front of his tank every day, like a shiny figurine, a comic book, pencil sharpener, my kitten, just random things. xD He reacts differently to each

 

[Malvolti]

My Betta likes to play tag with my Shrimp. He chases them around the tank, then he turns around and they chase him. It's fun to watch.

He also likes to follow my finger around the glass, but if I put my finger in the water he just stares at it and when I move it he runs away.

Today I was trying to get a good look at his fins looking for Fin Rot, velvet or other diseases ( I do it every week or two just to make sure) and was using a flashlight. He started chasing the light around the tank like a cat does.

 

[baylee767]

Neon likes to stare at my finger and sit still, but still flare his gills at it when I spin my finger in a circle.

 

[kholder]

I'll drop in a random objects in, like the old (clean) lid from a fish foot container, etc. Shamum is hilarious. He flares his fins just a bit, gets all sideways like a cat and floats backwards away from the object. After about 5 or 10 seconds he's totally checking it out. If it's something big enough for him to swim into he will.

I noticed last night, in an attempt to get him to pellets ( I drop him one or two daily just to keep trying), I dropped in about 5 pellets on accident, so in an attempt to retreive the extras before they sank I stuck my finger in to pull them to the edge of the tank. Shamus attacked the one pellet I was going for as if I were another fish trying to take his meal.

 

[Sweeda88]

I have mine jump for food, and I drop a wooden bead in the tank for him to flare at and push around. I also have a huge tangle of plants for him to swim in and out of.

 

[TaylorW]

I teach mine tricks. My betta can jump, follow my finger, and sometimes I make him swim in a circle XD

 

[fflores]

mine does my taxes

 

[PewPewPew]

Lololol at the taxes thing.
I got mine a tiny bubble stone, he plays in the bubbles and likes to nip at them. I also show him videos some times of random types of fish or female bettas (he never flares and sits there, dumbfounded). I also like to put interesting, colorful things by his tank so he looks at them, which is great for getting a good look at him and taking pics while hes preoccupied :3 <3

 

[Noko]

My bettas enjoy playing follow the finger. One of my girls loves jumping (she jumped over a divider to get another serving of food from my other girl. Thank goodness the second girl is just a grump and has no interest in fighting, and I was right there) so I like making her jump to get her food every once in awhile.

Today I had a staring contest with all three of my girls. The grumpy girl won...

 

[DormDrax]

Oh these are all so cute sounding!

I'll have to start doing this stuff with Drax!

I plan on getting a few community fish tomorrow so maybe I'll try to get him acquainted with them and he'll be more festive.

Hmm... btw how good is a Betta's sight? I went into my room just a few minutes ago (Sleeping in basement because Dog is sick and she needs someone to watch her) and the light is out and just the dark 'Night' light for the tank is on yet even several feet away he seemed to wake up (Had been asleep perched behind the heater) and hovered over to the glass watching me... even with his bad eye, and I'm several feet away in total darkness not moving, either he has EXCELLENT vision or he just... 'Senses' my presence.

I also agree with Betta's loving odd objects, I put a 'Clean' lid inside the tank and put it near the outflow of the filter, and balanced it on a root (From the plants) so it just slowly spins around (It has a design on the inside) and he seems to like to hover inside it and watch the design.

 

[scootshoot]

Was watching this clip on youtube of an owner training his betta to go through hoops for food...was pretty neat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ViVXMM0zsQ

 

[bloo97]

I like to watch L&D flare @ their reflection is fun.