tzqng8

So, when I got to work this morning, I took care of my emails and went straight to the FishLore Forums to ask all my questions about Mori seeing his reflection. I needed an answer and I knew all the folks there would have some suggestions. I posted my questions here.

There were essentially three suggestions:

1. Wrap a background around 3 sides of the hex on the outside of the tank. This might cut off the light getting into the tank and causing the reflections. There was also the possibility of making the problem worse with this suggestion, so I had to use caution!
   
2. Get Mori a new tank. The 6.2g bookshelf from PetCo was highly recommended as where a few other designs. As a replacement in the 5g hex…maybe a female Betta? I’d like to have one anyway and she probably wouldn’t freak out about it like our male does.
   
3. Do nothing. Limit his flaring and aggressive behavior as much as possible as to not stress him too much, but, just give him some time to get acclimated to his new home.

I emailed Gabby throughout the day about these suggestions and we figured we would give the background idea a try when we got home. If that didn’t work we’d observe him for about a week and see if it settled down. If not, we’d get a new tank.

When I got home I hurried over to the tank to watch Mori’s behavior. Was he still acting like a crazy fish? All of the lights were off in the apartment, but some natural ambient light was coming in through the window about 20ft away. The blinds were closed, but you know that natural glow that strong sunlight produces through them. That’s all the light there was in the room.

I sat down and could clearly see him near the front of the tank. I said hello like I always do and observed… He was still doing it. Up and down on the front right seam of the tank. Up for air, jerkily swim towards the “glass,” bump it lightly with his snout, down the seam jerking his tail back and forth all the way to the rocks, back up the same way. Wash and repeat. I showed my wife and we agreed to try the background. I happened to have one that came with the 30g I got last week. It isn’t tall enough for that tank (only 12” and it needs 18”) but would be tall enough for this one.

I did some measurements and cut the background down to size. I turned the lights on and wrapped the background around the tank. Much to my chagrin, we didn’t have any regular scotch tape! What?!? Ugh. Well, we had some double-sided tape, so I used that to try it out.

I used the blue side of the background pointing in towards Mori hoping the solid color would help more than the freshwater landscape on the other side. I turned all the lights back off and Gabby, Donovan, and I all sat down to watch….

He began to swim around to different areas of the tank, which he won’t do when he’s freaking out. That’s a good sign! But wait…what was that? Did he just swim jerkily horizontally? Looked like it. He did it again. And then…up and down the same way…the same seam.

I blocked that seam with my hands to stifle the light coming into it and he chilled out. I tried turning on some of the lights, but that didn’t work either. It just made it worse, as before. Didn’t look like the background was helping at all.

So, I pulled the background off and walked outside to get my head around all of this. I paced a while and then had an idea. Time for some new aquascaping!

I went back in and told Gabby my idea… Why don’t we move the little plant we have in the tank into the corner where he usually does his antics? Maybe that would get in the way just enough to distract him but not in the way so much that he would just find another seam to do it on? Maybe the plant could act as some kind of cover between him and his “rival” (we now call his reflection evil Masahari Morimoto, or Evil Mori for short!).

I washed my hands with some cool tap water and let them drip dry. I then moved to the tank and displaced the hood of the tank. There was Mori, swimming to the top of the water to see what was up. I slowly reached my hand into the water and excused myself to Mori. He didn’t want to move though… As I got my hand in the tank, he began swimming towards me!

For an instant I had a thought in my head that he was going to attack me… But that was just an irrational thought. What was he doing? It almost looked as though he was going to rub against my hand, almost like a cat would! Crazy fish! He eventually swam back the other way (slowly) and I went back to work.

I uprooted the silk plant that was hiding towards the back and helping to partially cover the look of the heater from anyone looking at the tank from the “front.” I moved it right over to the main seam that Mori uses for his craziness and planted it back into the substrate. After leveling everything back off and making sure everything was in working order, I removed my hand and re-adjusted the hood. Let’s see how this does…

We sat back down and watched… He went over to the seam right away and began to do his thing…but the plant was in the way! As he tried to swim down and then up as well, the plant leaves kind of got in his way. Now he had to figure out what that was all about so he stopped being crazy and checked out the plant.

He did that for about 30 seconds and then saw his reflection again. He started to do his jerky dance but again, the plant got in the way. This went on for about 30 minutes while my wife and I watched. By that time we got the idea for us to go swimming, like Mori! So, my son, my wife, and I all got changed and went down to the pool for a while.

We swam for a couple of hours and then went to the Chinese buffet nearby for dinner. When we got home for the evening, Mori was resting so we left him alone and went to bed.

I usually try to do my blog about the day previous, but I have to cheat a little today. This morning, when I got up Mori was acting normal and was being playful, just like his “old” self! I’ll check again this afternoon, but I think the plant trick might have worked! Updates tomorrow!

Shawnie

Im telling you, I felt like I was reading the life of mori and I could put myslef in your shoes totally!! even the pacing LOL

what a great writer you are...and heres some suggestions from me...id go with the background with more colors instead of the solid..sometimes the solids reflect where as more colorfulness (if thats a word) retracts it...give it more than a few mins..almost a few days ..I feel from reading all your blogs, that your darlin boy is your second child whose going to give you a run for your money and keep you on your toes!

Thanks for sharing LOL still

tzqng8

I'm going to check on him again tonight. If he is still doing well with just the plant there, that's perfect. If he starts freaking out again, I will get the background back out and face it the other direction (with regular Scotch tape!).

The only reason I only let it go for a few minutes was because it seemed like it might have actually made the situation worse. That just wouldn't do. But yes, you're right, I am impatient. As soon as I see him suffering, I just have to do something.

We'll give this a try for a few days, then the background for a few days if needed, and lastly the new tank if needed.

Masahari Morimoto WILL BE HAPPY! It is my duty as an American!

Anyway. Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Blub

The background will help stop him discovering the fact that Evil Mori is in every seam! It is also good for fish to have backgrounds - it makes them feel safer in the knowledge that if a predator decided to attack they can retreat. It can also add a new dimension to the tank. I remember when my old (RIP) betta Malachai used to flare at his refection. He stopped after a few weeks though - and he was a happy Betta right up until the Ammonia spike. Maybe Mori will to? I'd give it more like a month before getting him a new tank - the ammonia spike that killed good old Mal was due to the fact there was not enough bacteria in the gravel despite the use of the old filter!