Help with flaring?

One of my bettas (Alpha) is living in my 20 g planted tank with a couple snails. He’s a great community fish but the second he sees anything like a betta he goes crazy. This sometimes gets so bad he loses half of his fins. I try everything to stop him, blocking what he’s flaring at (since it’s usually a wall), different lightings, stress coat, even going in and swatting at him. He’s super healthy, especially for a petsmart betta, and has grown the longest fins out of all of my bettas, even my imported $42 Nemo. Any tips on his flaring? I think it’s the location of the tank, he’ll usually flare at a wall, even the one facing the room. He had his worst “flaring spree” a couple months ago, losing almost all of his tail, and since then he hasn’t lost anymore and they’re almost all regrown, except earlier today when I found literal pieces of his fin scattered around, looks like it’s gone all the way to the root. I know he’ll grow lots back but I hate he’s losing fins to begin with. Not fin rot, I’ll promise you that, pretty sure it’s from flaring since he’s not a tail biter, either, and flares a lot, though nowadays just a couple seconds at a time. Advice?

 

What I've heard people say is tape black (Paper, or something else) to the sides/back of the tank so he can't see his reflection. To the outside.

 

Does your tank have a background? It may be that the light conditions in the room are creating reflections in the glass at the wall side that he is mistaking for another betta.

 

This is probably not what you want to hear but it sounds like he would do best alone in an aquarium. If he flares to the point he damages his fins imo he should be alone. Period.

 

I put cardboard on the back and on one side of the tank to reduce reflection.

 

What happens when you switch off the light in the tank, but switch on lights in the room?
If he is aggressive against his own image, I put a 'wall' of IAL on the inside against the tank wall in my Betta tank, and the flaring subsided after some time. Lots of plants that break up his image may help as well.

 

What I've heard people say is tape black (Paper, or something else) to the sides/back of the tank so he can't see his reflection. To the outside.

Oh, good idea! I haven’t tried BLACK paper yet

Does your tank have a background? It may be that the light conditions in the room are creating reflections in the glass at the wall side that he is mistaking for another betta.

it does have a background, but I’ve covered it mostly with non reflective paper. He usually flares at the other walls

This is probably not what you want to hear but it sounds like he would do best alone in an aquarium. If he flares to the point he damages his fins imo he should be alone. Period.

He doesn’t flare at other fish, just reflections. He lived successfully with neon tetras for about half a year until they all got sick and passed on. (From a fungus, not him) he’s super territorial about bettas but I’ve never seen him ever try to do anything to the neons, even when they swimmed literally a centimeter in front of his face or during feeding. He’s big, too, so I can’t put him in my 5 gallon, he’s like a size between normal and giant.

What happens when you switch off the light in the tank, but switch on lights in the room?
If he is aggressive against his own image, I put a 'wall' of IAL on the inside against the tank wall in my Betta tank, and the flaring subsided after some time. Lots of plants that break up his image may help as well.

I try everything with lights when he flares. He hasn’t done one of his huge ones recently but earlier today a big chunk of his fin was gone, so I’m guessing he had a mini flaring spree that hurt him but wasn’t as bad as usual

 

How is he actually damaging his fins when he flares? Is there something he's getting caught on? Can it be removed or made betta safe, like sticking a filter intake sponge or some filter floss around whatever he's usually catching on?

If you can't betta proof the tank, perhaps as someone else mentioned, it'd be better to move him to his own tank that you can design to be safe for him.

I find my bettas flare the most when the tank is bright but the ambient light in the room is low, as it generates the largest internal reflection. Can you try keeping the room the tank is in brighter, or dimming the tank lights a bit? If you tank is on a timer, maybe change it so that it turns off before it gets late and dark in the room otherwise?

 

I do the same thing as Fisch; I put IAL all around three sides of my tank, and that seems to help. My guy likes to flare a lot too, but not to the point that it is destroying his fins. The IAL helps, and I, too, put black stock paper on the outside of the back and on one side of the aquarium. That cut down a lot of the reflective parts of the tank.

I know how frustrating this can be. I hope some of these suggestions help!!!

 

How is he actually damaging his fins when he flares? Is there something he's getting caught on? Can it be removed or made betta safe, like sticking a filter intake sponge or some filter floss around whatever he's usually catching on?

If you can't betta proof the tank, perhaps as someone else mentioned, it'd be better to move him to his own tank that you can design to be safe for him.

I find my bettas flare the most when the tank is bright but the ambient light in the room is low, as it generates the largest internal reflection. Can you try keeping the room the tank is in brighter, or dimming the tank lights a bit? If you tank is on a timer, maybe change it so that it turns off before it gets late and dark in the room otherwise?

I think how he damages them is banging against the glass too much, nothing else makes sense. His tank is very natural and doesn’t have anything sharp, anything that was sharp was removed. It’s betta proofed. The lights I use come bright and arent adjustable, so I keep them on the white and blue setting. His lights turn on at 10 and off around 7-8. I can’t move him anywhere else, I own four tanks including his, and ones a 10 with two other bettas (behind a divider) the other is a 5 which he is too big for, plus its uncycled. And the last is a 2.5 which I can’t use for obvious reasons.

I do the same thing as Fisch; I put IAL all around three sides of my tank, and that seems to help. My guy likes to flare a lot too, but not to the point that it is destroying his fins. The IAL helps, and I, too, put black stock paper on the outside of the back and on one side of the aquarium. That cut down a lot of the reflective parts of the tank.

I know how frustrating this can be. I hope some of these suggestions help!!!

Good idea, thanks! one of my other boys is also a big flarer but like yours not this bad.