Betta's battle with the driftwood

[Maurie]

Hello everyone,

I acquired my first Betta a few weeks ago, Sir Gizmo. He is in a low-flow filtered 5 gallon tank with plants, and up until a few days ago, a piece of driftwood. This driftwood had been with him for a couple weeks and he had been fine with it. Then, after a full tank water change (before the filer) he decided to go to war with the drift wood. He began flaring and thrashing at the tip of the drift wood. I quickly took it out, and even had to move one of his floating moss balls to that corner to get him to fully calm down . He's fine now, but I miss having driftwood in his tank and the water conditioning it will provide over time.
Has anyone seen this behavior before with their Bettas? Any suggestions on how to have a piece of drift wood in their yet disguise it somehow? Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Maurie

 

[Purrbox]

I'd just put it back in. He was probably just feeling extra good after the water change and decided he wanted to go after something. I'm sure he would have calmed down given some time and gone back to ignoring it.

Welcome to AA!

 

[rich311k]

Sounds like he was playing to me. Mine are always flaring and doing the tough guys act at anything in the tank.

 

[MisticX]

also sounds like a territorial protection

when u did the water change the Betta might have hit himself against the wood, took it as an aggressive act, and remembered it.

he remembered it even when the tank was full, and had to neutralize the territorial intruder.


but then again ... this is just an hypotheses


never really had Betta, so i couldn't know, but i had other territorial fish that did this kind of scenario

 

[Sahabo]

I agree with Purrbox and the others. My betta is very active, especially after water changes...he flares a lot, zips around, and pops his mouth open and closed really fast at everything. I would put the wood back in and give him time to get used to it again. Just run your hands over the wood to make sure there aren't any really sharp areas. File them down if needed.

Good luck!

 

[Zagz]

I agree, some bettas are very playful and like to show off. My crowntail flares quite often but my half moon is more relaxed and flares rarely.

 

[pitt420dude]

Yeah I wouldn't worry until the driftwood gets fed up and fights back.

 

[Sahabo]

Yeah I wouldn't worry until the driftwood gets fed up and fights back.

LOL!