Frustrated and feeling like a crappy fish parent (pictures inside)
I have been working with this one betta for months, trying to make him happy. He was tearing up his fins in the 29g so he got his own 10g. He was still tearing up his fins so Ive changed filters, plants, lighting, removed the driftwood, etc. I made a post about how I thought he might be a biter but Im sure he is now. He has a square(ish) shaped chunk out of the end of his tail when there was nothing to hurt himself on (If you look at the pics, this was around the time the plastic cup was in the tank but after the platy was moved back to her tank.) and Ill sometimes see him curl around on himself and sort of wiggle like a dog chasing its tail...
Well a couple days ago I made a coconut house for him since he doesnt really have a place to hide anymore (since I had to take so much out and Im waiting for plants to grow in). I made sure the edges of the coconut were okay and that he wasnt going to snag himself on it. But you know those 3 holes in coconuts? One of them was really soft and thin after being boiled and I think it was just thin enough to let a little bit of light thru. I guess he got curious and figured out a way to wedge himself in it. I woke up to see him with an open wound this morning. Im treating with melafix and removed the coconut. Im hoping to put the coconut back after wrapping it in moss and/or plugging up the hole with java ferns or something...
Im frustrated about the lengths Ive gone for this little guy and I still cant seem to get it right. Its worse since there were just some posts about bettas getting stuck in terracotta pot holes. But I just cant seem to make him a happy fish. When I watch him away from the tank or when hes sleeping he stays near the base of the plants and will sometimes wrap himself in them. The flow isnt high but I have a second sponge filter in the mail anyway...
Any advice is appreciated.
PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Posted Oct 5, 2015, 10:02 PM UTC
Don't feel bad! Tail-biters will drive you crazy if you let them, but the behavior gives very little indication of you as a bad owner (and you sound great and very caring). Can you try planting his tank more heavily? That helped my aggressive fin-biter a lot.
Since the biting he has been getting a good diet, frozen blood worms and Hikari pellets. He's also been getting slightly more water changes, just to prevent fin-rot. I also purchased Indian Almond Leaves because they're said to add some antibacterial/antifungal properties to the water, as well as calm the betta down.
One thing I noticed in my bettas is that they seem to be more inclined to nipping their tails right before they produce a bubble nest. I'm hypothesizing that building a nest = mating = more testosterone and aggression. If this is the case, then there's not much you can do about it.
In any case, keep trying new things and don't give up! He's still a beautiful fish, even if he isn't perfect :)
Thanks. Im tryin'... I really want to see him happy enough to build bubble nests.
I ordered some java moss to wrap the coconut in. Ill look into maybe getting some wisteria or anacharis to fill some of the empty tank space. Ive been doing water changes twice a week lately but Im not sure if I should this week since the melafix directions say to do a 25% water change on the 7th day of treatment.
Be careful with the Melafix. It contains tea tree oil, which is said to damage betta's labyrinth organ. In fact, Bettafix is the same thing as Melafix but diluted down for this very reason. IMO, it's probably safe to use, but I would be careful with dosage. What are you currently using it for? The open wound or the tail biting? For either of those, you could go conservative and use aquarium salt (1tsp/gallon) instead. That and extra water changes usually clears up most external ills.
One last bit: bubble nests does not indicate good health or a "happy" betta. It just means that your fish is sexually mature; before I knew better, I used to have a betta in a 1 gal unheated, unfiltered bowl that I totally neglected, and that fish would still make bubble nests. I would be far more concerned about activity level, appetite, and color as indicators of health/happiness.
PS: I think it's super cool that your fish and mine could be siblings :)
Ah okay. I had read about people using bettafix but didnt realize it was the same thing. I actually already had the melafix on hand so Ill keep dosing that, just maybe a bit more conservatively. And Ill keep up on the twice weekly water changes. I wasnt going to dose anything yet for the tail biting since I keep up on water changes but the open wound concerned me. It actually looks a little deeper on his left side that his right, I just wasnt able to get a picture of it.
That makes sense about the bubble nests. I just always read about happy betta bubble nests but Ill admit I didnt researched that far into them.
Lol They do totally look like siblings!