Aggression towards the filter?

HI everyone I'm new here and have kind of an odd question. Or at least it seems odd to me.

I have a beautiful blue betta called Fiction. He's in a 10-gallon tank along with some other roommates. But the problem is he seems to hate the filter. It’s a TopFin 10 gallon power filter. It kinds of creates a current at the top of the tank, but it’s on one side so the other side’s surface is pretty calm. Fiction doesn’t seem to mind the current he just ignores it and when he swims in it either he’s playing or surprised he’s suddenly pushed to the side.

The main thing is Fiction seems to think the black part of the filter that hangs on the outside the tank is a threat. He flares his fins and gills at it, the current doesn’t get him because it flows in behind him like a waterfall. Is this normal? Does he see his reflection? He does it when the light is on or off. And sometimes ignores it completely, just swims by and doesn’t notice. I don’t know what to make of it.

On a slightly different topic I got two green cory cats yesterday and they seem to be very active swimming around a lot and other times seem dead and just sit in one place. Is this normal?

BlueBetta

 

I've heard of Bettas flaring at weird things. As long as it is not sustained it should not be a problem. However, if he will not stop flaring at it for a long time, then it is a problem because he will get stressed out about it. If that is the case you will have to find some way to cover it so he can't see it. I'm not sure why he would be flaring at it though.

You may want to ask about the cories in the catfish section. However, from my experience catfish are like that, active and swimming one minute and resting on the bottom the next. If they are new they are probably still getting used to you, so they might freeze if they see you.

 

Bettas are not used to a lot of objects around them, and may be curious or even hostile. Bear in mind that they are usually raised in small containers. Mine spent a lot of time exploring stuff in his tank, and did a few odd things as well. Unless he's doing it for long periods of time at a stretch I wouldn't worry about it too much.

As for corys...they do that sometimes. Just sit there. They are only dead if they actually are on their sides and floating slightly, not reacting to anything.

 

Yep I agree that's quite normal for corys. My husband makes me poke them when they float over on their sides, then they shoot off to the other side when I do poke them. He's very paranoid that their dead
Carol

 

This morning I stuck a piece of paper betweent the glass and filter while he was flaring at it and he immediately stopped. Looking at the paper there's a serious amount of the light being reflected on it due to the water fall the filter makes. So I'm thinking he saw his reflection and the times he did it without the light on was from outside light or something.

As for the cory cats, they're doing better I think. I posted that question because when I first got them every once in a while they would dart up touch the surface of the water and then dart back down. Thought it was kind of odd.

Thanks replying guys ;D
BlueBetta

 

All Cories will occasionally dart to the surface. They take a gulp of air, which is passed through their intestines and they dissolve the oxygen. It is perfectly normal.

 

That's good to know. I thought it was really weird, like they didn't get enough oxygen down at the bottom of the tank.

BlueBetta