Could my betta Andre be scared of the dark?

Some of you might remember a couple of weeks ago when I came home one night to find Andre with a loss of color after being gone for the weekend. I got in at around 11 pm, and assumed that he was stressed because of lack of light over the weekend due to a new background. The next day, he looked 100% normal.

Yesterday, went through a big move with him, but during the day he seemed like he was doing great. He was swimming and eating like normal, and seemed like he was doing great. So last night I was taking care of some stuff in the kitchen before bed. He had been in the dark for an hour or so. When I turned on the light, he looked almost identical to what he did two weeks ago when he was stressed. Pale with loss of color. Instead of doing anything and panicing like I did last time, I decided not to do anything until this morning. Now that morning has been here for awhile, once again, he looks great and normal in the morning.

So could this be stress because of the move? He was doing great all day yesterday, is doing great this morning, and only looked bad after being in the dark for awhile. If he was stressed because of the move, why would he not be stressed during the day, not be stressed in the morning, and only be stressed at night time?

You know you are obsessed with your pet when you are worried about them being afraid of the dark, haha!

 

When you turn on a tank light when it's been dark awhile, the fish are often asleep and look paled out.

I remember how horrified and panicked I was many years ago when I turned on the tank light to see my new angelfish paled and drifting around. I finally realized they were just sleeping.

 

Ok, didn't know they got pale when sleeping. That's funny...thanks for the info!

 

That is funny...I find the african cichlids get darker when the light have been off all night. When you turn light on the go back to normal after a few minutes.

 

We've read that sometimes some betta's will lose color when lights suddenly pop on for them. It could be that. It could also be that he is scared of the dark, it's happened before with Bettas (one that Rose had was scared of the dark). As far as I know, they don't get pale during their sleep time and when I've seen ours sleeping, they were all normal color.

 

My Mum shouted for me a week ago or so, she thought her boy Flame was dead on top of his filter, I checked him and he was alive BUT drifted and was so pale. I was gutted so as it was late in the evening I stayed up to keep my eye on him and played on the PC next to him. He coloured up and and was back to himself within an hour so I guessed he'd been asleep. Shocked me though!!

 

Yes, Damon would pale out and flop and make noise when he was in the dark and was definitely afraid of the dark. I tried everything including getting him his own little DVD player and allowing him to watch TV all night and that seemed to help. Nightlights were not strong enough and the little blue lights in the tank at night did not help as he could not see them. He was dark red but would go almost white during the night unless he had a light or something showing light and letting him feel secure.

When he came to me in the box and I had ordered a little red betta and I opened the box to a little pale almost yellow looking betta I was mad but when the light hit him he colored up in 5 minutes! They can definitely be light sensitive and those that are afraid will always be that way. There does not seem to be a cure other than to let them have light.

Rose

p.s. they always seem to be the sweetest natured little fish so it is very hard to deny them what ever they want.

 

So true about denying them. Spot is such a gentle little soul with bad eye sight! So feeding him takes a while. Tonight he sank his teeth into my finger not the pea, bless his little soul, makes my heart bleed and melt.

 

So true about denying them. Spot is such a gentle little soul with bad eye sight! So feeding him takes a while. Tonight he sank his teeth into my finger not the pea, bless his little soul, makes my heart bleed and melt.

Sometimes my little ones do that as well They get so excited about the food they forget to track and eat it! To make sure they see it better, I like to have them chase their food for a bit....they get a brief workout and they track their food easier, haha. Andre can actually leap out of the water and snag a pellet from my finger tip more often than not, he's so cute when he does that

 

lol, tell me about it! So often at feeding time, we'll be pointing out to them "there it is, there it is" after they lose track of the food in their excitement.

Sometimes my little ones do that as well They get so excited about the food they forget to track and eat it! To make sure they see it better, I like to have them chase their food for a bit....they get a brief workout and they track their food easier, haha. Andre can actually leap out of the water and snag a pellet from my finger tip more often than not, he's so cute when he does that

 

AHHH....

I think Spot really does have sight problems though. his eyes are hazy red on the upper part and he moves his head around to focus. He is not blind but as he sees you approach his tank he wiggles his head, semI flares until he hears your voice.Will sit with your fingertip on his nose until you move his food into his eyeshot. It is VERY obvious he has trouble seeing and it breaks my heart. We say 'come on you dope the pellet is on your nose'........... if you move the pellet and he catches a glimps of it he snaps about the water like a loon hoping to get it. You really have to feed him. He's a heartbreaker.....he's even got my dad sucked in!!! chats to him all the time!!! Says 'hello son' Poor Flame and Kiz are 'the fish upstairs!!'....lol fish Grandad of the year or what!!????? ( I know he cares really!)

 

yea, it's hard to resist them and he sounds like a great little Betta. They can have vision trouble and we just have to help them out like you do. Some ideas might be to tap where the food is or dip everything in garlic guard to help his other senses lead him to food.

 

good call re garlic guard!! I'll try that!

 

good call re garlic guard!! I'll try that!

I use garlic guard too, but the food only sinks if I use that. If it's dry, it'll sit at the top of the tank if they don't see it at first. But, if they don't get the garlic guard, sometimes they'll reject their food

 

With spot it is his sight, he gets his food as we help him. My poor little fish!!

 

With spot it is his sight, he gets his food as we help him. My poor little fish!!

He's a fortunate fellow to have a mommy who cares about him so much

 

yea.. you know that in his betta way, he appreciates his betta mommy helping him find the food.

 

Oh guys!!!! Ty x

 

Bloodworms will still float and so will daphnia after being soaked in garlic gaurd as they are light to begin with. HikarI pellets may also I am not sure but I would be pretty sure the small Atison's Betta Pro pellets will as they are TINY. They problem with them is they are so tiny he may really have a problem with finding them.

Rose

 

True on both counts about the Betta Pro pellets. They float pretty good, but we often have to help them find the pellets.

Bloodworms will still float and so will daphnia after being soaked in garlic gaurd as they are light to begin with. HikarI pellets may also I am not sure but I would be pretty sure the small Atison's Betta Pro pellets will as they are TINY. They problem with them is they are so tiny he may really have a problem with finding them.

Rose