Betta Fish keeps flaring at heater?

I recently purchased a heater for my 3 gallon tank (will be upgrading to a 5 or 10 gallon sometime later this week). It is in a plastic holder that allows it to be suction to the tank wall and my male Betta will not stop flaring at it. It has a small opening on the front to show it's on and the temperature. I'm worried that it's stressing him out since he continues to go flare at it every 2 minutes at the longest. I thought at first he was just asserting his dominance and thinking it's in his territory but i'm afraid that he's flaring that much at it. Should I try to hide it in the new tank?

 

How long has it been in the tank? Probably he will get used to it in time. It may be that there are noises/vibrations coming from the heater as it expands and contracts with the changing temperature

 

How long has it been in the tank? Probably he will get used to it in time. It may be that there are noises/vibrations coming from the heater as it expands and contracts with the changing temperature

It's been in there for almost a day now. He ignored it mostly before I put the black casing on it, now all he does is swim in place and flare at it, occasionally taking a lap then coming back around to try to scare it lol

 

Try turning the lights off and see if he keeps doing it. If it's only been a day though I don't think it's anything to worry about

 

Try turning the lights off and see if he keeps doing it. If it's only been a day though I don't think it's anything to worry about

Okay I just tried turning the lamp on my desk off (usually signals to him i'm getting up and leaving him and usually he comes to watch me pack up) but he's still flaring at it. I was just concerned he'll tire himself out or get stressed out.

 

I don't think he'll go too far with this nonsense, I'm sure he'll take a break at some point

 

I don't think he'll go too far with this nonsense, I'm sure he'll take a break at some point

Okay hopefully the move to the new tank might take his mind off of it, he also likes to squeeze between the two suction cups and slide against the tank wall so hopefully his fin won't get caught in the plastic.

 

He can't be too scared of it if he's squeezing behind it

 

He can't be too scared of it if he's squeezing behind it

Maybe he just likes how warm it is over there haha. Thanks for reassurig me. I just didn't know if it's normal for them to flare every 5 seconds

 

Yep Especially when there's something new in their space. Once he figures out that it's not a threat I'm sure he'll settle down.

 

Can you fit a heater guard?

I was thinking maybe he can see his reflection in the heater perhaps?

A guard might prevent this?

 

Can you fit a heater guard?

I was thinking maybe he can see his reflection in the heater perhaps?

A guard might prevent this?

The plastic guard thing I currently have on it (it came with the heater) has a little cut out at the top to show the branding information (or temperature if I rotate the heater physically).

I wondered if that's what it was but he hasn't been flaring as much (haven't seen him do it once today). I think he just enjoys the suction cups on the back, he likes to swim between them now so maybe he just was telling the heater he was boss in his tank lol.

He's exploring now (I moved him to a 5.5 gallon a few days ago) and he was still into the heater until about today so just took him time to adjust I guess. If it becomes an issue again, I'll look into another guard.

 

My Betty usually rests on top of a silk plant right next to his heater. The only thing He's flared at in his cage is the filter, I usually put a paper towel in between him and the filter