Bettas and Mirrors

So, a few people on here have said that it's good to get your betta to flare every few days for some extra exercise. I'm wondering how often and for how long. Mine is maybe too skittish, too intelligent, or something, but he seriously just gave up and swam away from the mirror after about 5 seconds... I repositioned it, and same reaction, a few seconds of flaring then back to his normal day.

At least he didn't spend the next 15 minutes swimming around and freaking out looking for the other betta this time, but not sure if this is actually what is supposed to be happening. I thought he would mostly stay flared at the mirror till I took it away.

 

The only time I hear of people trying to purposely get their betta to flare is either to take a picture, or to see if the fish can for disease identification purposes. My female betta flares at my husband, as well as my fingers. Funny thing is she eats from my fingers once stops flarring and realizes their is food there.

You could just have a mellow male on your hands, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

Some bettas won't flare others will. It depends on personality. I flare mine(and expose them to opposite genders) by placing their jars next to each other. It help condition them for breeding, and gives them something to in their jars for a couple minutes. I only flare them every other day or do though. I usually only leave them for 10 minutes tops, usually around 2-3 minutes.

 

My betta is interested in mirrors, but has never fully flared at one (just puffs out his gill thingys, whatever they're called) and tends to get bored of them quickly. However, he does flare at nerite snails often. A few times a month at least, I dunno how often he does it when I'm not looking. I think it is good for him, as a single male betta in his own unthreatened territory, since it might give him a "sense of purpose" in his own fishy way. I could see how too much stimulus with a mirror could stress a betta, but I doubt doing it once or twice every week would hurt. I let it happen naturally now, no mirrors involved. If the slow oblivious snails are the wildest intruder he sees all week, so be it!

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I've posted about my habit of placing mirrors behind some of my tanks. Frankly, especially when it came to bettas (males), I received chides. Herman, (male betta) is in a 20 gallon long ADF/cory etc community tank, with a mirror against the back. For a week or so, Herman was a little agitated, but he just flared his fins. I decided to wait it out.... much like I do with bacteria bloom. Herman is no longer interested in the cat walk. He's completely bored of admiring himself. Instead, he pokes around the decor, plants etc. I'll admit that I didn't see him for the first week or so, because he was strutting. He's John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever!

 

Generally speaking I don't really like to keep mirrors beside or in tanks with bettas because it stresses them out. They aren't admiring themselves, they're thinking its another betta encroaching on their territory. HI'm poking around the decor and plants is a sign that he doesn't feel fully safe- like how other creatures look around corners to check for danger. I would personally advise removing the mirror.

 

Generally speaking I don't really like to keep mirrors beside or in tanks with bettas because it stresses them out. They aren't admiring themselves, they're thinking its another betta encroaching on their territory. HI'm poking around the decor and plants is a sign that he doesn't feel fully safe- like how other creatures look around corners to check for danger. I would personally advise removing the mirror.

Herman was in another tank, without a mirror and he poked around exactly in the same manner as he does now in the mirrored tank. He's been in the mirrored tank for about, I don't honestly know, perhaps a couple of weeks or a month. He's as bored in the mirrored tank as he was in the non-mirrored tank. They're not smart fish. They have the attention span of a flea.

 

I disagree that they're not smart or have poor attention span but if you truly think he's fine then so be it.

 

 

I disagree that they're not smart or have poor attention span but if you truly think he's fine then so be it.

I might be wrong. They have no sense of fear (males AND females). It's not, I think, fearlessness. It's just dum(b), minus the b curiosity. I want my 75 g to have lots of female bettas. They come up to me at the glass. They follow my hand/fingers when I 'carress' the glass. They're not afraid of anything. I just don't think it's a matter of fearlessness.

Dear Salem, don't get your knickers in a twist. This is not about you. This is about a male betta.

 

I have to agree, the fish is not admiring itself.

Bettas are very intellegent fish, and I actually taught mine to jump on command. They have long attention spans, one hunted down a small snail for a week. When they come to meet you they want food.

 

I? Literally am not taking it as being about me? I just said that I think you should remove the mirror but if you think it's fine then it's fine???? I also said nothing about fear, I said that poking around decor was a sign of feeling unsafe. Feeling unsafe =/= feeling fearful.

 

Poking around can also mean curiousness or just exploring. My bettas do it all the time.

 

I have to agree, the fish is not admiring itself.

Bettas are very intellegent fish, and I actually taught mine to jump on command. They have long attention spans, one hunted down a small snail for a week. When they come to meet you they want food.

I'm sorry. I get defensive when it's inferred, as it has many times, that I'm abusing my male betta and my cories, because my tank has a mirror as a background. Herman couldn't care less anymore about strutting in front of the mirror. The cories do tend a bit more to focus on the mirror. I'll continue to observe their behavior. I'm still wondering about betta intelligence though.

Poking around can also mean curiousness or just exploring. My bettas do it all the time.

Yes. Absolutely. It's curiosity and exploration. That is, perhaps, an indication of intelligence and not merely, like most fish, a matter of foraging....!

 

I wouldn't say abuse, maybe irritate? If exposed to their reflection too much bettas can become stressed and feel unsafe. I had a betta in a 20 gallon and the background was black so it could see it's reflection. Nevertheless, I moved him out.

 

I wouldn't say abuse, maybe irritate? If exposed to their reflection too much bettas can become stressed and feel unsafe. I had a betta in a 20 gallon and the background was black so it could see it's reflection. Nevertheless, I moved him out.

Have you tried a mirror in a 20 gallon long for a month or so? Let me know your observations when you do.

 

I've posted about my habit of placing mirrors behind some of my tanks. Frankly, especially when it came to bettas (males), I received chides. Herman, (male betta) is in a 20 gallon long ADF/cory etc community tank, with a mirror against the back. For a week or so, Herman was a little agitated, but he just flared his fins. I decided to wait it out.... much like I do with bacteria bloom. Herman is no longer interested in the cat walk. He's completely bored of admiring himself. Instead, he pokes around the decor, plants etc. I'll admit that I didn't see him for the first week or so, because he was strutting. He's John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever!

I've never gotten mirrors for any of my betta's over the years, but I've always "played" with them. I just put my hand near the tank, and flare out my fingers, waving them slightly. The fish flares back at my hand, and swishes around, pausing to pose now and then.

I think it's good for them to show off regularly. The betta I have right now is the most gregariously playful one I've had. At night, shortly before turning out his light, he knows it's play time. He will not eat, until we've played. I had one that liked to be petted on the head. I believe they crave social interaction, and when we keep them isolated, then we, their keepers, must fulfill that need.

 

I really would like to interact more with my boy, Herman. I have an empty 5 gallon and I just know he'd enjoy sitting next to me, somehow in that tank. He always runs to the glass in the 20 gallon when he sees me! For a moment, I thought about setting up a tank as a coffee table! But, where would I put my laptop!

 

Have you tried a mirror in a 20 gallon long for a month or so? Let me know your observations when you do.

No, because I have a background to my tank.