[PaintingPintos]

So maybe 2 months ago Omelette started tailbiting. It was just one night, and half his tail was gone. So I went from a 1 gallon to a 3 gallon tank. I got a new silk plant and some other plastic plants. Now once a week I rearrange his decor. I usually don't add anything new, because I haven't been to PetSmart in a while.
When he had his 3 Ghost Shrimp buddies he stopped, then I gave one away, Om ate the larger one, and now the last one will be in hiding for hours at a time. Last time when Om ate the shrimp his belly was HUGE and he was mainly motionless. So when I thought the last one disappeared I wouldn't get any more.
Well now Ash the shrimp is back, and he turned up in one of my routine water changes, where I remove all decor and swirl around the water to get everything out. He was gone for TWO months! That's about 8 water swirls and everything. I'm a bit happy he made it.
Anyway....I'm not allowed to get another tank. Or just a bigger one. My bookcase is too small, and my parents won't let me put a tank on my desk ("You'll just have to get another expensive heater, then a filter, then lots of expensive plants, then soon you'll want to BREED fish and we'll need 5 storage bins to support that!")
So should I get more shrimp? Maybe just a ton of new decorations to keep swapping out? Maybe another betta (3 gallons is a little too small to split. I doubt it.)???
What shall I do!?!?!

 

[Micho]

There is very little you can do about tailbiting, upgrading him to bigger tanks is not necessarily a good thing, some Bettas have been found to do better in smaller tanks.

All I can say is just help him regenerate his fins quicker, offering high protein foods such as mosquito larvae or good nutritional pellets like Atison's, New Life Spectrum, Omega One, or Hikari Bio-Gold. Clean water will also help tremendously. I'm not too sure if shrimps can stop his habit of tailbiting, sometimes the reason of tailbiting is because stress that comes from having tank mates. I would not suggest another Betta in such a small tank, maybe new decor can help but really, in my opinion it won't.

Do you have a filter in the tank? If there is one, maybe the current is too strong so he's biting his tails off because he wants to be able to swim easier.

 

[Olympia]

I'd try giving him some mirror exercise daily.. Some fish have been known to stop if they have something other than their tail to target (probably why the shrimp helped him).
Posted via Mobile Device