Handsome fishy!
Just to answer your question asking if some betta are shy - well I've got one that was shy for months. He's in a planted tank..he spent most of his time hiding somewhere.
One day a little female moved into the tank next door. Ever since he saw her (there's cardboard between tanks but I occasionally let them see each other) he came out of his shell and is a completely different fish.
It's so funny, he suddenly became Mr. Gregarious!
He's still an odd fish. She's over the moon for him - displaying vertical bars when she sees him - but he's only built a lame half hearted nest once Lol.
Sorry for going off topic. Point is, when I was trying to understand why he was so shy, folks here reminded me that every Betta has a different personality, and sometimes you wind up with a shy one.
Not suggesting you've got a shy fish - I would heed the advice of
@RussellTheShihTzu. Give him some time and add some plants.
If you happen to be on Reddit there's a sub called "Aquaswap" and there's loads of "beginner friendly" low tech plant packages for cheap.
Although I know Russel doesn't have luck with "beginner" plants....haha I can't grow Java moss for squat and that's supposed to be stupid easy.
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