# Your Betta's personality



## Canis (Jun 4, 2014)

I have too many bettas to describe them all, but my favorite has always been one of my veils named Mr. Magic. He is about two years old, and still has the heart of a four month old. He is constantly swimming around his tank happily, and he loves to flare at anyone who walks by. He also has a thing for dancing around when its feeding time, or when you're trying to get a picture of him. He's a very silly little guy, the only thing that isn't so great is his tail-nibbling habbit XD Oh well, if he likes it short thats his deal I guess. No matter what I do he keeps on nibblin' away. Maybe he wants to look like his plakat neighbor, lol.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I had a blue, white, and black delta (might have had some crowntail in him.. like a great grandparent) named Arist'oto' (like Aristotle but with oto) that I rescued from Petco in April, he shared a planted 20g with 3 otos and they got along well. He was a inquisitive betta and it seemed the two fish breeds traded some habbits. I have photographic proof (set slideshow speed to fast) of Arits'oto' eating veggies.. zucchini to be exact. And the otos became little bold dare devils that liked to dart and play around the siphon when I did water changes >.< they also were never afraid of my hands in the tank. He'd sometimes flare at the otos but never pecked or chased them, they'd even all eat together peacefully, the otos never paid any mind to his flaring either. Arist'oto' wasn't a super eager eater, he's eat betta food fine but it seemed to take a bit of work to cox him to the surface and away from whatever adventure he was on a moment before. Sadly he passed after getting some unknown disease.

My newest betta, Xerxes, is a mustard plakat from Taiwan (aquabid buy), he lives in a planted 7g cube with 2 (new) otos, their relationship is nothing like the others though. Xerxes is very active and swims ALL over the tank -anyone who says betta are upper water column only forgot to tell this one- he has no problem crashing through the black diamond 'sand' and base of plants. He has 0 interest in veggies, and only occasionally flares at the otos but there's no violence or chasing... though sometimes Xerxes crashes into them when he's swimming around and they're trying to move to a new spot to clean on the glass (I don't think he watches where he's going (looking at the betta food bad) when this happens). Xerxes also refuses to flare for a "professional" photo, and won't fall for mirrors or photos of other male bettas flaring. He gets supper hyper when I grab food for him and visually recognizes his pellet bag as well as a tiny plastic cup used to thaw frozen foods (blood worms or brine shrimp).


One thing they both shared is an affinity for fresh escargot (aka they'd eat all the baby snails in the tank they can find) even ontop of what most might say is a large diet (6-7 pellets 2x a day and frozen food 1x a week on rotation) they never got the fat betta look though.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

Canis said:


> I have too many bettas to describe them all, but my favorite has always been one of my veils named Mr. Magic. He is about two years old, and still has the heart of a four month old. He is constantly swimming around his tank happily, and he loves to flare at anyone who walks by. He also has a thing for dancing around when its feeding time, or when you're trying to get a picture of him. He's a very silly little guy, the only thing that isn't so great is his tail-nibbling habbit XD Oh well, if he likes it short thats his deal I guess. No matter what I do he keeps on nibblin' away. Maybe he wants to look like his plakat neighbor, lol.


Waldo is a halfmoon. He was stressed in his old tank. It was in a bedroom where he didn't see us all day. He either blew out his tail and started biting the edges or started biting it out of boredom. He is in a bowl in the kitchen while I cycle a new tank for him. The extra human interaction made him forget his tail biting and his tail is slowly growing back. 



AquaAurora said:


> I had a blue, white, and black delta (might have had some crowntail in him.. like a great grandparent) named Arist'oto' (like Aristotle but with oto) that I rescued from Petco in April, he shared a planted 20g with 3 otos and they got along well. He was a inquisitive betta and it seemed the two fish breeds traded some habbits. I have photographic proof (set slideshow speed to fast) of Arits'oto' eating veggies.. zucchini to be exact. And the otos became little bold dare devils that liked to dart and play around the siphon when I did water changes >.< they also were never afraid of my hands in the tank. He'd sometimes flare at the otos but never pecked or chased them, they'd even all eat together peacefully, the otos never paid any mind to his flaring either. Arist'oto' wasn't a super eager eater, he's eat betta food fine but it seemed to take a bit of work to cox him to the surface and away from whatever adventure he was on a moment before. Sadly he passed after getting some unknown disease.
> 
> My newest betta, Xerxes, is a mustard plakat from Taiwan (aquabid buy), he lives in a planted 7g cube with 2 (new) otos, their relationship is nothing like the others though. Xerxes is very active and swims ALL over the tank -anyone who says betta are upper water column only forgot to tell this one- he has no problem crashing through the black diamond 'sand' and base of plants. He has 0 interest in veggies, and only occasionally flares at the otos but there's no violence or chasing... though sometimes Xerxes crashes into them when he's swimming around and they're trying to move to a new spot to clean on the glass (I don't think he watches where he's going (looking at the betta food bad) when this happens). Xerxes also refuses to flare for a "professional" photo, and won't fall for mirrors or photos of other male bettas flaring. He gets supper hyper when I grab food for him and visually recognizes his pellet bag as well as a tiny plastic cup used to thaw frozen foods (blood worms or brine shrimp).
> 
> ...


The slide show had me laughing. So much for Bettas being carnivores. 

My guys love baby snails too. I thought there were no unauthorized snails in Waldo's tank until I moved him out. Now there are dozens including adults. They must have known they were on the menu so they were laying low.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Varmint said:


> The slide show had me laughing. So much for Bettas being carnivores.
> 
> My guys love baby snails too. I thought there were no unauthorized snails in Waldo's tank until I moved him out. Now there are dozens including adults. They must have known they were on the menu so they were laying low.


Yeh he was quite an odd fella, wish he was still with us, doubt I'll find another quite like him.
I keep having to resist the urge to buy more bettas (lfs rescues or online splurges). If I could find a reliable SMALL heater I'd boot my shrimp and use their picos for 2 more. I'd love to see what other odd personalities I'll find.



[edit]
Oooo just found [this]... Might be time to boot the shrimp!


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## CoryLover8 (Jul 31, 2014)

Merlin prefers to watch me and gets quite excited when he sees me looking at him. I will look away and see him out of the corner of my eye. When I am not looking he just watches me sadly. But once I turn my head towards him, he starts doing his happy dance.

Once he had a shrimp as a tank buddy who bumped into him. The shrimp pushed off of Merlin and all Merlin ended up doing was look perplexed and then go back to watching me. I feel bad going home at the end of the day (office tank) as he loves to watch me.

Merlin is quite inquisitive when it comes to me. He often gets scooped into the container that I use to remove water (a large soup container) as he prefers to check out everything I do. Thankfully he has recently learned to watch me from a few inches away instead of right next to me.

<3 Merlin... damn fish is like a dog.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

[edit]
Oooo just found [this]... Might be time to boot the shrimp![/QUOTE]

Good find! I have to show my Boyfriend. He is an Electrical Engineer. I asked him if he could invent a heater that has a sensor elsewhere in the tank so that the heater would "know" what the real temperature was. He had some argument as to why it would be difficult to create. If you buy one, please review it on TPT. I would love to know if it works. (Not that I need a reason to break my two Betta rule)


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

If I do I'll let you know. From reding others reviews the main problems are:
Shows temp in C no F with no decimal for an accurate temp (so 26C could = between 78.8 and 80.4F)
Calibration is difficult though very tiny hole in back of item
Temp resets after loss of power and must be redone if it was adjusted to something other than the factory set temp (26C)
Don't like the power issue, sometimes we get brow outs here, though rarely black outs


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## 691175002 (Apr 28, 2009)

Varmint said:


> Good find! I have to show my Boyfriend. He is an Electrical Engineer. I asked him if he could invent a heater that has a sensor elsewhere in the tank so that the heater would "know" what the real temperature was. He had some argument as to why it would be difficult to create. If you buy one, please review it on TPT. I would love to know if it works. (Not that I need a reason to break my two Betta rule)


I have something similar using a spare industrial temperature controller. It cycles an electrical outlet on and off. I have a 100W heater set to 82f plugged in. That way there must be two points of failure before the tank gets cooked.

Most temperature controllers use what is called "bang-bang" control, where the heater is turned on if Temperature < Setpoint, and off if T > Setpoint.

This seems like an okay idea, but actually performs very poorly when the heating element and thermometer are separated. It can take half an hour or more for the warm water to travel to the thermometer and register, and the whole time the heater will be overshooting the target, creating unnecessary temperature swings.









A better alternative is to use PID control. My temperature controller has an autotune function that cycles up and down a few times to "learn" how the system responds, then acts more intelligently to avoid over/undershoot.

So far it will stay +-0.1f fairly reliably, although turning on a fan can knock it down 0.4f for a few hours. There are some pictures in my thread.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

691175002 said:


> I have something similar using a spare industrial temperature controller. It cycles an electrical outlet on and off. I have a 100W heater set to 82f plugged in. That way there must be two points of failure before the tank gets cooked.
> 
> Most temperature controllers use what is called "bang-bang" control, where the heater is turned on if Temperature < Setpoint, and off if T > Setpoint.
> 
> ...


That's pretty cool but unfortunately most of us don't have access or funds to such nice toys.


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## bsmurray (Feb 25, 2014)

My betta, Alphie, likes to play with his pellet food. He'll take bites, spit them out, let them float up, watch them closely, then take another bite. He is stalking his own pellets. 

Luckily he's a little older so he's really laid back and is in my 29 g community tank with a bunch of shrimp and small tetras.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Used to have a female betta, dull red fins, whitish-pink body. She was huge, maybe three inches long... I got her at about average sold female betta size, maybe an inch or so long, and she grew a LOT. She lived with zebra danios, and she would do something kinda funny; when they were too close, she would puff out her gills in a way that made her whole head look bigger, and she would accompany it with a quick dart at them. Looked like she was going "boo!" at them. Other than that, she was fairly gentle, but I didn't put any other females in the tank once she got that big because I was worried she'd attack them. 

I had another who was this gorgeous greenish color, like a luna moth. She was MEAN. Tried to put her in my community, and she looked around for a minute or two, then she lunged and caught a zebra danio. CAUGHT one. She nearly killed the poor thing before I got her away from it. 
She stayed in her own tank.
My little brother put his finger in there once, and she bit down so hard that when he jerked away, she ended up on the floor. 
Psychotic little thing! Even male bettas usually don't go after danio-shaped things.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Forgot to mention, Xerxes likes to sleep on the substrate, not just rest in the open, but burrow down under the hygro sp tiger (which grows more like a foreground plant than a tall stem for me due to how I planted it) and make a sort of 'cave'/indentation in the sand below it. No little leaf hammock naps for him (not that I'd ever use those plastic things).

Glad I've not had a mean betta like your one gal yet  grumpy girl (probably just mad because she wanted some 'looove' that no male could give her.. or she watched shark week and decided to be a great white, and the danios seals CHOMP).


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## merrycat (Sep 3, 2013)

My first ever fish was a veiltail betta from Petsmart named Fred. 

He had so much personality! Fred would flare at everything for any reason. Honestly, I think it was just his way of showing that he was excited. 

He was also really affectionate and people-oriented. He'd let me pet the top of his head with one finger, just like a tiny blue cat. If I put my cupped hand just under the surface of the water he'd swim into my palm and rest there. I still miss that fish


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## aeroman9000 (Aug 27, 2014)

*Work Beta*

I was just mentioning how the Beta I have at work loves to greet me! Every time I get to my workbench Master Beta flares up and gets all excited, he has soooo much personality. I never really was a Beta guy, but this one needed a home and I needed a fish to nerd out on at work. Wish I could do a bigger tank here but this little 2 gallon HEX seems to make him happy!


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

aeroman9000 said:


> I was just mentioning how the Beta I have at work loves to greet me! Every time I get to my workbench Master Beta flares up and gets all excited, he has soooo much personality. I never really was a Beta guy, but this one needed a home and I needed a fish to nerd out on at work. Wish I could do a bigger tank here but this little 2 gallon HEX seems to make him happy!


Can you get him to follow your finger around while he is flaring? I do that with Diablo. It's fun for both of us.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I bought 2 more bettas this past week and am waiting on the temp controls and heaters to come in the mail. In the mean time I have them set up in the quarantine tank with dividers and extra rubber/plastic mesh(from art store) so they don't see eachother and stress. Also made them a sleeping tube out of art store mesh tied to keep it by the surface, put a few smooth stones in by a loose divider corner to keep it in place, and gave both a lil' blob-o-riccia. Not at all fancy but they're content enough to already have decent bubble nests going, and both recognize me coming up to the tank how and come to the front to greet me. Can't say much else for personality yet, have to wait till they're in their permanent tanks and see how they are.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

AquaAurora said:


> I bought 2 more bettas this past week and am waiting on the temp controls and heaters to come in the mail. In the mean time I have them set up in the quarantine tank with dividers and extra rubber/plastic mesh(from art store) so they don't see eachother and stress. Also made them a sleeping tube out of art store mesh tied to keep it by the surface, put a few smooth stones in by a loose divider corner to keep it in place, and gave both a lil' blob-o-riccia. Not at all fancy but they're content enough to already have decent bubble nests going, and both recognize me coming up to the tank how and come to the front to greet me. Can't say much else for personality yet, have to wait till they're in their permanent tanks and see how they are.


Cool. How many do you have now? Do you have pictures of the new boys yet?
Names?

I know from other posts that you love Anubias. If you have a couple to spare, you can add them to the tank as beds. Waldo and Diablo are still in their bowls and they each have an Anubias. They both nap on the big leaves.

We went to the LFS today. I ritually check out the Bettas whenever I go in. I am threatening to break down Waldo's old Spec III for the heater and plants. My Boyfriend was watching me because he knows there is an empty tank, and that I could suddenly do a 180 at any second and bring home another Betta. But, I think he is starting to get bit by the Betta bug to. I came home the other day to him insisting we get a girlfriend or Waldo. He didn't even cringe when I told him I found Waldo's girlfriend a couple days later:
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&fwbettashm1408555809


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## SailfinMolly (Sep 8, 2014)

I have 6 bettas

4 males two females all in a 30 gallon and they all love each other and never fight


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

SailfinMolly said:


> I have 6 bettas
> 
> 4 males two females all in a 30 gallon and they all love each other and never fight


You know this is going to cause controversy, lol! Not saying I don't believe you, but....do you have pictures? Are they siblings? (you are claiming to have the holy grail of Betta keeping so I'm curious to see....)

Or...are you pulling my leg?! You are aren't ya!!! :hihi:


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## SailfinMolly (Sep 8, 2014)

Varmint said:


> You know this is going to cause controversy, lol! Not saying I don't believe you, but....do you have pictures? Are they siblings? (you are claiming to have the holy grail of Betta keeping so I'm curious to see....)
> 
> Or...are you pulling my leg?! You are aren't ya!!! :hihi:


No man theres even a Pearl Gourami in the tank... my fish are just really lay back and lazy xD

There not siblings in fact some were even bought months at a time apart. 

Ill try to get pictures soon  

I think why there so nice is because of the Gourami being twice there size, I think my bettas realized there not the biggest and baddest thing out there and they became more docile. I always put my betta in a bowl next to the tank so they can see into the 30 gallon for a week beofre introducing


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

The last Pearl Gourami I owned was a serial murderer. Now I know you are pulling my leg!


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## SailfinMolly (Sep 8, 2014)

My pearl gourami is incredibly peaceful..but he is a survivor from a cichlid attack....I was a noob back then


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

When you have a chance, post a picture for me. Bettas are my favorites and a tank with multiple Bettas (usually all girls) is a beautiful sight to behold!


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## SailfinMolly (Sep 8, 2014)

You got it  I'll take them tomorrow during feeding time


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

Thank you. That would be awesome!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Varmint said:


> Cool. How many do you have now? Do you have pictures of the new boys yet?
> Names?
> 
> I know from other posts that you love Anubias. If you have a couple to spare, you can add them to the tank as beds. Waldo and Diablo are still in their bowls and they each have an Anubias. They both nap on the big leaves.
> ...


Pretty gal betta, but after paying for fish, shipping to US, and transhipper fees, its nearly $50 (rough range) so make sure you want THAT fish before you buy from Taiwan. "course I shouldn't be saying such things since Xerxes is from Aquabid.. he doesn't look like his auction photo anymore though. I alwasy look at bettas when i got into teh fls too (ours allow you to take your dogs in.. Mine hates that I make him stay put while I check out betta.. he wants to go sniff over here, or say hi to that person/otehr dog over there...
Anyways, yes I love anubias but sadly, due to a seller on this site (who I can't name in open forums as it would be giving a review and get me a warning/reprimand from admins) i got a batch of diseased anubias with rhizome rot which killed off my collection (it can spread in a tank), the few that survived I got rid of since I was so frustrated about the loss (i was sooo close to having my collection done, maybe 3-4 species left to fill it out :c). But I have the itch for anubias again so I might redo the 20g as a betta sorority and use anubias as the plants.


as for the person with 4 males and 2 females in a 30g, if you mean the wild types (not our lfs veil/delta/crown/plakat) than yes I beleive you could do that, if you mean the splendids kind (our usual bettas) then show a photo.. better yet a movie of them peacefully existing.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Opps forgot the photos (sorry they're kinda crappy quick pics, and no the white one does not have shredded fins/fin rot, its part cellophane and a little of the fins are transparent)
3 total betta now, no names for these two yet (waiting till they get moved into their tanks and settle in to figure out names)


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## IDR (Apr 12, 2014)

Have a veil tail in a 5.5G with some ghost shrimp. Handful of larger ghosts are still kicking just fine, and get along OK, but I watched him stalk, attack and swallow whole a smaller one yesterday. Kinda funny. He swam around for a few minutes with antennae sticking out of his mouth before he got the whole thing down.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

IDR said:


> Have a veil tail in a 5.5G with some ghost shrimp. Handful of larger ghosts are still kicking just fine, and get along OK, but I watched him stalk, attack and swallow whole a smaller one yesterday. Kinda funny. He swam around for a few minutes with antennae sticking out of his mouth before he got the whole thing down.


Mmm sounds like he wanted 'lobster' for dinner ^_~ I've not kept shrimp with my bettas yet, but they do like their escargot, only the medium/large mts are safe, baby mts (surprised) , pod, and ramshron snails don't last long.

Tangent:
I actually threw a cherry shrimp into my husbands dwarf puffer tank, and am surprised to see the little bugger is still in there 4 days later, he's not hiding and the 2 puffers aren't hunting him  I think they're a bit dumb lol. Going to be redoing my shrimp jar this weekend (got the bubble bowl last weekend)and dumping the few shrimp from it into the puffer tank as food.. now not so sure if they'll ever get around to eating 'em.. I guess these 2 only like worms and snails x.x


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## IDR (Apr 12, 2014)

Yeah, I've got MTS snails in the 5.5G as well. Haven't seen him eating any, but I'd imagine the smaller guys will be picked off as well. Natural population control.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So after today I can say my mustard gas boy is very... Resourceful and determined.. And damn I have no idea HOW but he got to the other side of the tank divider... He subsequently fought the white betta for an unknown (suspected short) amount of time and appeared to not be wining.. And after being :discovered, separated, and put in a different tank not near the other- is sulking.
The white betta appears to have shrugged off the battle and just going about his day.
If Pandora wasn't a feminine name I think that's what I'd call the mustard now.. But can't call him a girl...
Mustard boy will not be sharing the quarantine with the other anymore since I still can't figure out how the hell he got to the other side of the divider which was sewn tightly together with lids against the dividers with no gaps and a few inches between water level and top of dividers.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

AquaAurora said:


> So after today I can say my mustard gas boy is very... Resourceful and determined.. And damn I have no idea HOW but he got to the other side of the tank divider... He subsequently fought the white betta for an unknown (suspected short) amount of time and appeared to not be wining.. And after being discovered, seperated, and put in a seepage tank not near the other is sulking.
> The white betta appears to have shrugged off the battle and just going about his day.
> If pandora wasn't a feminine name I think that's what I'd call the mustard now.. But can't call him a girl...
> Mustard boy will not be sharing the quarantine with the other anymore since I still can't figure out how the hell he got to the other side of the divider which was sewn tightly together with lids against the dividers with no gaps and a few inches between water level and top of dividers.


Which leads us to another personality trait. They are smart!

Glad they didn't do too much damage to each other.

Waldo and Diablo haven't made bubble nests for a couple of weeks. I noticed they are currently competing for who can make the tallest nest.


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## Fundulopanchax (Sep 13, 2012)

My female Betta splendens is the best forager I've ever had. When I bought her from my LFS, she and several other tiny juvenile bettas were picking around among the plants in the 'plant tank' and weren't even marked for sale. When the employee was bagging her for me she said she doesn't feed them, they just feed themselves. Well, she still does forage all day on top of sufficient feedings in a community tank. And now she's permanently round-bellied :/


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sorry not personality, but was asked to give info on this
Well got the azoo micro controllers and the heaters (cobalt mini 10watt) in yesterday, set up the mustard in a 2-3g quarantine with it after testing with 2 thermometers for a few hours, it held about 78-79 range. He's been in over 12 hours and still alive, not toasted or frozen so all looks good so far.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

AquaAurora said:


> Sorry not personality, but was asked to give info on this
> Well got the azoo micro controllers and the heaters (cobalt mini 10watt) in yesterday, set up the mustard in a 2-3g quarantine with it after testing with 2 thermometers for a few hours, it held about 78-79 range. He's been in over 12 hours and still alive, not toasted or frozen so all looks good so far.


Good news!


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

Now that Diablo is in the new tank, he likes to climb up on the spraybar and get a shower massage. 

Here he is getting his tail massage:


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## touchofgreen (Nov 3, 2014)

Sid is a spunky fish. He's constantly on the move, investigating everything in the tank two or three times. He loves the little nooks and crannies of the tank, and I will see him maneuvering through places that you'd think he would have gotten stuck. He likes to patrol the front and watch me while I am on the computer or reading. After two days, he already knows I am the person who brings the food and has started the prerequisite Betta puppy eye begging for more. He is a voracious hunter, not a single black worm has escaped him alive. One tried, started to get buried into the substrate but was found immediately. He then likes to play with his meal, he will eat half and then spit the worm out only to chase it in the current. He hasn't rejected anything yet, but then again, I don't feed him junky flakes. 

He really is a cool fish, full of personality!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So Magnus got spunky and now will nip my finger if its in his tank.. but only if it's 1 finger, once more start getting in the water he won't nip. He also decided duckweed was food when I tried to put it in the qt tank. He's now in his main tank and tried to eat the saliva minimia but its too big.
I got a new betta today (dumbo male juvie) can't say much for personality yet but he was horrified of the big 10g qt and sponge filter when put in (after drip acclimation).. don't think he'd ever seen a filter or had so much room before. He cowered in the opposite corner for the first half hour... now (8 hours later) he's hanging out by the sponge filter in the fax cave made from it and the ages media set on top of it that leans against the glass wall/corner... silly boy. will post more personality on him in a few weeks as he's settled in.


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## bobfig (Aug 30, 2014)

heres mine. no name yet but all he dose is swim around and flare up when he sees his reflection.


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## Alan79 (Nov 17, 2013)

I've had 4 bettas. None that really did anything special compared to those people have mentioned here.

The first one was friendly but i don't remember anything more about him because he only lasted a week before i over adjusted the PH with chems from my LFS & he died. The most interesting part of him was his rescue. I worked in the kitchen of a boarding school at the time and he was used with 3 comets as a prank fish. The teachers always had water jugs on their tables in the lunch room so the students added fish one day. I took home the betta and 2 of the comets and another worker decided to try fishkeeping with the remaining comet.

The second one I own/ed is Venus. She is a fat little thing despite me trying to cut her food down for a while. I never knew they ate snails I am guessing thats why i don't see baby Ramshorn snails in my betta tank. She likes to take food directly from my hand. If i drop bloodworms in her tank she will catch every single bit that sinks through the water column. She is intelligent though. I borrowed a male Betta to breed with her and she learned a few tricks off him. Prior to meeting him she never saw tall plants as a resting platform, now she likes to burrow between Crypt leaves at the surface or sit on the internal filter.

The third Betta i owned was the one i borrowed for breeding. I was gifted him when the girl who owned him moved interstate. Sonic would largely ignore people until you tapped his tank. You only needed to tap softly and he knew it was feeding time and came over like he was your best friend. If you were not feeding him you were none of his concern. He died recently but before he passed on the girl who had owned him prior to me visited and i swear the little bugger recognized her. He went nuts when she got near the tank and was actually social with her. 

I bought a young male this week who has just learned to approach me for food. It will be a while before i work out if he has quirky traits.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Update on the still unnamed new boy:
Well can't say what exactly is his personality yet.. seems like his has split personality disorder. Sometimes when he sees me by the tank he'll swim over eagerly and watch me or peek at the surface to see if I have food. He'll even play peek-a-boo/hide and seek with with with some fake micro sword/grass plant I keep outside the tank (too rough for betta fins). If I duck down by it so I can't see him but he can see the top of my head or noting he'll come looking then I poke up to the side of the grass he swims to the side, go back down and pop up above the grass he'll go there.. very cute ^^ That said though, sometimes he doesn't seem to notice or care that I'm there.. and occasionally just freaked out for no apparent reason and gets stress stripes then zips away along the bottom...I'm not doing anything different at these times than when he's playing with me..

Also his dietary preferences are a little amusing. First day he came home he was here in time for lunch on Wed, a meat day.. on rotation was brine shrimp (which looks like the dissolved.. I don't know what (food??) in his cup that was just semi translucent white fluff now) he found and ate the thawed frozen brine shrimp fine. The next few days were pellet meals.. and it took a bit to get him to figure out the surface has them.. had to make them sink a few times to get him to eat, but he's figured it out. Well last night was another meat meal, this time thawed frozen black worms... he's have no part of it. He watched them bob at the surface and sink and would not touch them.. I fished the food out with tongs (he didn't flee surprisingly) then gave him pellets which he was much more inclined to eat (and quickly). On a lark I grabbed out 1 live black worm when I went to feed my husband's dwarf puffers (they only eat live stuff), and put it in the new boys tank after getting his attention. It was thin but almost as long as him.. he watched it sink, following it down as it wiggled.. I thought he was going to ignore it.. then SLURP! Sucked it in then did a fast little happy looking spin, guess he liked it ^^ I tried one more frozen worm and got a "I'm not eating _that_" stare... Wonder what he'll think of thawed bloodworms for next week..


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

Finn sleeps all day. When he does wake up, we are the center of his universe. He loves attention. If we go to the tank to talk to him, he will lean his pectoral fin on the glass so that he can sit in one place without swimming and stare at us. I have never seen any other fish do this. After Finn eats, he chases his Rasbora tank mates for a couple of minutes and then passes out on a plant. Finn loves to see himself in the mirror. He will parade around, fins and tail gloriously extended and then shoot himself a glance into the mirror. He does this over and over...until he passes out.

Buster is a mini Shamu in looks and personality. The first time I saw him jump out of the tank it startled me. He jumped a couple of inches into the air to bite the water bottle I was using to top off his tank. If I put my finger above the water, and say "Buster bite me!", he will jump out of the water and bite me. Moss has volunteered to grow all over the log in Busters tank. I recently found out that he uses the thick moss carpet as a bed at night. The first time I saw him sleeping in his moss bed, he was laying on his side in it, fast asleep. Buster likes to flare at me. A couple of mornings ago I came out to feed him, I didn't see him anywhere. As soon as I turned on the light he came zooming around the corner flaring at me. I think he planned to startle me!


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## Frosty Fisher (May 27, 2016)

Love the thread idea! Subscribed


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I'm glad I saw this thread, it's so fun to read. My bettas don't do anything nearly as interesting as some of your stories- but they did each have little individual traits. One of my first bettas, Flash, lived in a gallon bowl. One day to prove to myself his conditions were ok -I had live plants in there w/him and did large wc weekly- I took a pic of the test tubes for water params in front of the bowl. Flash started flaring. I swear it was at the colors in the test tubes! I took them away and he calmed down. I put them back and he flared right at them. So funny.

My second betta, Pinkie, moved up from a bowl into my old 20L he lived with cherry barbs, otos and for a brief time two siamese algae eaters. He was cool w/the other fishes. I give them fruit flies and Pinkie would jump out of the water to take a fly off the end of my finger. Like yours, AquaAurora- he ate zucchini when I fed it to the otos. Would tear chunks off with a lot of effort. It's actually what killed him- took too big a bite once and choked before I could react fast enough.

My current betta Oliver, doesn't mind snails but won't share his tank with other fish. I had to take the otos out. When I tried giving _them_ zucchini, Oliver had no interest in it for himself, but kept the otos off of it. He seemed possessive of this new thing in his tank. I tried five or six times, and Oliver would never leave it alone, even though he didn't want to eat it himself. The otos never had a chance to figure out it was food.



AquaAurora said:


> ... they do like their escargot, only the medium/large mts are safe, baby mts (surprised) , pod, and ramshron snails don't last long.


 They eat them shells and all? My betta never learned to do that. I've had unwanted ramshorn and pond snails hatch in his tank and he ignores them unless I smash them for him. I think he doesn't know he could get them on his own.

He's not a very exciting fish but in the evening when his light comes on if the room is dark he parades up and down the glass constantly flaring at his reflection. I got over putting fake decor in my tanks long ago but kept the skull because it's Oliver's special hideout. Every time I do tank maintenance he hides in the skull. It's getting tangled with java fern root hairs under there but I'm reluctant to lift it out to trim them because I think it will stress him out! 

He doesn't recognize if I'm holding a particular food container or not, but he definitely notices when I am there. When I sit up in bed in the morning he comes out from his resting spot and cruises up and down the front glass. Sometimes he notices I've walked in the doorway from across the room, and gets excited! I'm not sure if he only does this when it's me, or if he dances when any person approaches. My cherry barbs for example think it's food time whenever _any_ figure stands near the tank- me, my husband, a kid. I think if I stood up a cardboard figure or punching bag near the tank they'd beg food from that too.

The only thing that makes me concerned is that Oliver has never built a bubble nest. Is he just so laid-back he doesn't make the effort, or has no interest since there aren't females around? But sometimes I wonder if there's something I'm not quite doing right by him, if he's not happy enough to make bubbles.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

JJ09 said:


> They eat them shells and all? My betta never learned to do that. I've had unwanted ramshorn and pond snails hatch in his tank and he ignores them unless I smash them for him. I think he doesn't know he could get them on his own.


Not the shell, they bite the heads off and suck the bodies out as best they can. 
I have goldfish now and one of them (a blue oranda) will eat small pond snails whole (including shell) when i drop them in (they're above the size of their pellets/chopped off gel food).


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## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

The betta in my dp was lazy, super lazy. He'd spend 90% of the day lounging against the intake of his Fluval tank. He really enjoyed digging in my Aquasoil, he'd lay down in it and shimmy from side to side and push it into piles everywhere.

The betta I have now is very curious and always on the move. Patrolling the tank, lounging at the bottom, chasing floating leaves, the thermometer, checking out anything that moves. Totally opposite of my last betta


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## MantisX (Aug 25, 2004)

I have mine in a 6 gallon edge with shrimp. He doesnt bother the shrimp one bit, not sure why. Im about to move him to a new 20 gallon home and get him a female.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

MantisX said:


> I have mine in a 6 gallon edge with shrimp. He doesnt bother the shrimp one bit, not sure why. Im about to move him to a new 20 gallon home and get him a female.


I wouldn't suggest housing them together permanently. If you do try it, keep his old tank running as an evacuation shelter just in case. Also, if they breed, are you ready to be the parent of dozens of baby fish who will eventually need to be separated as they become aggressive?

More than a couple of decades ago (pre Internet), I had my first Bettas. My boy lived in a 29 gallon community. I didn't know any better. He seemed lonely and I found two beautiful females at the pet store. I added them to his tank. Everything was fine at first until they started attacking him. I had to buy another tank for the girls.

Females can be kept together. Some people on this forum have kept sororities and had them fall apart due to aggression problems.

I don't want to discourage you if you want to try keeping them in a 20 gallon, but think it through and make sure you are ready for what may happen.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

AquaAurora said:


> I have photographic proof (set slideshow speed to fast) of Arits'oto' eating veggies.. zucchini to be exact.....


I like what you use for a weight- I've tried putting veggies under a small rock or pegged down w/a wooden skewer and it doesn't work too well. What's that you tied onto the slice w/fishing line? a big glass bead or some other kind of bauble


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

JJ09 said:


> I like what you use for a weight- I've tried putting veggies under a small rock or pegged down w/a wooden skewer and it doesn't work too well. What's that you tied onto the slice w/fishing line? a big glass bead or some other kind of bauble


Glass bead from an art and craft store.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Thx- I'm going to look for something like that! Is there a certain gauge of fishing line you use that's easier to tie off than others? I don't have fishing supplies in my house (in spite of keeping so many fish, haha) so not sure what kind to get for uses in the tank.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

I had to share. I trimmed Buster's cryptocorne yesterday. I chopped a large leaf off and didn't notice it floating around the tank until this morning. I was running late so I left it floating. I got home late tonight and saw it in the tank. I went to grab it and Buster started attacking the stem end. He kept biting and biting it, so I started taunting him with the stem. He grabbed it and we had a nice little game of tug of war before he got bored. He never ceases to amaze me.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

JJ09 said:


> Thx- I'm going to look for something like that! Is there a certain gauge of fishing line you use that's easier to tie off than others? I don't have fishing supplies in my house (in spite of keeping so many fish, haha) so not sure what kind to get for uses in the tank.


I use low poundage clear fishing line-usually in the 4lb range. I find lighter line is easier to tie, but I have to do 3 knots to keep it from coming loose.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Thank you for that detail. I looked at local craft store- two of them actually- and couldn't find any glass beads I wanted to use. I'm actually going to buy some on etsy- maybe use them to tied down watersprite in the back of my tank too, where it keeps trying to float up.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

Varmint said:


> Finn sleeps all day. When he does wake up, we are the center of his universe. He loves attention. If we go to the tank to talk to him, he will lean his pectoral fin on the glass so that he can sit in one place without swimming and stare at us. I have never seen any other fish do this. After Finn eats, he chases his Rasbora tank mates for a couple of minutes and then passes out on a plant. Finn loves to see himself in the mirror. He will parade around, fins and tail gloriously extended and then shoot himself a glance into the mirror. He does this over and over...until he passes out.


I got a picture of Finny being so Finny today. Note the strategic use of the left pectoral fin to hold onto the spraybar so that he can sit still and not swim, in order to stare at me.









Lazy? Or just hoping the nerita will finally put itself in a good position to be eaten? Maybe he was a goby in a previous life.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Varmint said:


> I got a picture of Finny being so Finny today. Note the strategic use of the left pectoral fin to hold onto the spraybar so that he can sit still and not swim, in order to stare at me.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice! Aristocles likes to rest on the thermoemter suction cup a lot. This is an old photo, usually he notices me looking he gets up and does a wiggle but happy dance at me ^^ This is right when he stopped, he'll sink onto it more if he stays put.
http://s1382.photobucket.com/user/Aqua_Aurora/media/Aquarium/027_zpsbqspd3jm.jpg.html?sort=3&o=266


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

AquaAurora said:


> Nice! Aristocles likes to rest on the thermoemter suction cup a lot. This is an old photo, usually he notices me looking he gets up and does a wiggle but happy dance at me ^^ This is right when he stopped, he'll sink onto it more if he stays put.
> http://s1382.photobucket.com/user/Aqua_Aurora/media/Aquarium/027_zpsbqspd3jm.jpg.html?sort=3&o=266


I love his elephant ear fins. He sure is handsome.

I think all of the long finned Bettas have it in common to find a good spot to rest after dragging their fins and tails around. Waldo was also fond of the thermometer as well.


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## VinceIII (Mar 3, 2016)

My aquarium is on my night stand, and sometimes I'll wake up to find my betta at the glass looking at me.

He can be skittish about changes in the aquarium. If I put something new in the aquarium, he'll sometimes go up to his "hiding corner" for a couple of minutes before calming down, going to explore the new item, and soon getting used to it.

I'm surprised by how comfortable he is with my hand being in the aquarium. I might, for example, be wiping algae off of a leaf or repositioning a plant, and he'll casually swim slowly within an inch of my hand. He doesn't flare, but just comes by and hangs out.


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## Breaking_betta (Jul 4, 2016)

My gf has 10 but she would have a hundred if we had the room. All of the ones we've had, have had different personalities. We have two now in a divided Spec V that don't bother with the cherry shrimp. They can be a cm away from each other and there's no reaction (yet). The first betta we had with cherry shrimp would zip down to look at them but swim away. The cherries were breeding with the betta in the tank. Then one day, an adult pumpkin shrimp died so I went to pull it out of the aquarium with tweezers. The betta swam up as fast as I had ever seen him swim and bit onto the head of the dead shrimp. He kept taking in more as I tried to gently shake him off. The little guy won and ate the whole shrimp. He was bloated for days. After that the shrimp started disappearing one by one. Once he learned the were food it was over. I have video of me feeding blanched carrots to the shrimp and betta. A shrimp was on the carrot as I held it with tweezers and the betta would take bites of the carrot without bothering the shrimp. We have a female betta that is the most aggressive one we've had yet. I put her in with scarlet badis and she would hunt them down and attack them. If you put anything (tweezers, fingers, thermometer) into the tank she will attack it. I occasionally hold my fingers 1.5" inches over the water to get her to jump up and bite my finger. One of our current betta with the shrimp is timid and frightened at anything. When I do water changes he will hid in the substrate under plants.


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## brandy3392 (May 2, 2016)

My female bettas are much more active and spunky than my males. They get overly excited at feeding time and love to jump. I have one female in particular that jumps out of her tank at least a couple of times a week during feedings. No matter how careful I am or where I have the water level, she still jumps out. Luckily the tank is very close to the floor and she lands on carpet. So I just pick her up off the floor, plop her back in the tank, and she goes about her business. Very weird fish.

My hands and arms are also not safe in the tank with my females. I routinely get attacked and pecked at. I have a bird tattoo on my forearm that they especially like going for. On a few occasions, they have latched onto my arm so hard that I can pull my arm completely out of the water with the fish still hanging onto it. I've owned countless types of cichlids and other aggressive fish, yet my female bettas are the only ones that attack me.


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

brandy3392 said:


> My female bettas are much more active and spunky than my males. They get overly excited at feeding time and love to jump. I have one female in particular that jumps out of her tank at least a couple of times a week during feedings. No matter how careful I am or where I have the water level, she still jumps out. Luckily the tank is very close to the floor and she lands on carpet. So I just pick her up off the floor, plop her back in the tank, and she goes about her business. Very weird fish.
> 
> My hands and arms are also not safe in the tank with my females. I routinely get attacked and pecked at. I have a bird tattoo on my forearm that they especially like going for. On a few occasions, they have latched onto my arm so hard that I can pull my arm completely out of the water with the fish still hanging onto it. I've owned countless types of cichlids and other aggressive fish, yet my female bettas are the only ones that attack me.


Piranhas! Cute! :wink2:


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## Varmint (Apr 5, 2014)

Finn's new thing is to jump out of the plants at random like a Jack in the box. (Please excuse the algae. Finn decided his Neritas tasted good. I now have to battle algae on my own).


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