I found something online that says bettas are "flashing"? I saw a youtube video that showed a betta flashing, and my betta kind of acts like that in the dark but he is much faster. Is my betta flashing?

 

Hi! The black light will work well imo, some bettas need a 'moonlight'! One of my fish used to do that too, and a blue light worked well!

 

Sorry I didn't see this- someone else's comment was blocking!

Thank you, today I will try with the blue light. Hopefully he doesn't damage his fins anymore !!

 

Leaving the blue light on is perfectly fine however, the flashing behavior does not sound normal. Does he still do it with the blue light on?

 

No, he doesn't. He only does it if it's dark or he gets scared from a loud noise.

 

Flashing is usually something they do when they have parasites so I doubt he’s flashing. It does sound like he spooks easy. If the blue lights solve the issue than go with it. If it doesn’t solve the issue come back and we can investigate further.

 

That's good to hear he isn't flashing ! Yes, he does. Yesterday I left the blue light on and it worked really well ! I'll try it out again today to see if it works.

But it's not just the dark that makes him do that flashing-like swimming. He also does that if he gets spooked, like you said. I think he'll be fine though, so thank you!

 

What does the tank look like? Are the lights pretty bright? Does he have lots of places to hide? You could add some Indian almond leaf to the tank, it helps calm them.

 

The lights aren't that bright, but the lowest setting would be the blue light. He has LOTS of places to hide, like a floating betta log, behind some leaves, and a little log thing on the ground.

I don't have indian almond leaves, but I'll try buy them! How much would I need for a 3.7 gallon?

 

If he was flashing (sudden movements touching objects or substrate and darting away) he would do this no matter what time of the day, light settings or your own movements.

However, if you‘re unsure, you could always upload a video on a video platform and post the link here using the chain link symbol.

 

Oh, okay then he might not be flashing. He only does this if he's scared or it's dark. I don't think it's flashing, so thank you!

I have one video of him doing the flashing-like movement but it's in the blue light and very low quality so you may not see it as well. I can try to upload the video.