Do bettas play in the substrate?

[DarkSoul]

yesterday, I noticed that the gravel in my tank had been disturbed, and not just disturbed, there were big ditches, and some of the heavier glass rocks had all seemed to accumulate in the corner.

Not only that, there are a bunch of pebbles in my plants that were not previously there.

the glass rocks, while still small, seem like they are much too large or heavy for a betta to move, and the indentations left in the gravel seem like something only a chicilid could do.

This also seems strange since the day before yesterday when I changed the water, I spent some time replanting plants that came up, and I leveled the gravel.


now the craters are covered up again, and there is more gravel in the plants.

wtf is he doing in there?

Ive seen him swim down into the gravel, but it doesnt look like hes flashing, it looks more like he is trying to make his home a little more "homey" or something.

is this a common thing for bettas to do?

[babychristie]

do you have kids? My three year old has been in trouble so many times trying to catch the fish with the net. LOL

[DarkSoul]

yes, its my daughters(6) tank, but she knows better than to be playing with it, and she understands that fish are sensitive.

this was weird, I cant imagine this fish moving that much gravel, especially those bigger glass stones.

there is no other explination for this, other than the 2.5mm baby snail I have living somewhere in the tank, and I highly doubt the snail did it.

[babychristie]

I bet she done it and you just don;t know it. fix everything back and tape the tank over night or during the day to see what's going on!!!

[jtburf]

or just literally tape the tank with tape, if it is disturbed(the tape) then you know who dun it.

[b19fish]

it could be skin and gill fluke parasite that causes irritation and the fish scrapes it self against objects or he could just be itching him self.

[DarkSoul]

I guarantee you it was not my child.
there is nothing around that she could have used to even dig that deep .... even standing on the chair, her arm never would have reached to the bottom of the tank, and besides that, I know my child, and i know she would never play in the tank. shes a very responsible 6 year old.


I see the fish swim into the plants sometimes, and sit weirdly, like he will swim into the hornwort facing down, and then just play dead for a few mins, then hes off doing his thing.
or he will swim int othe plants, and just hang out on the bottom for a min or two, but he never sits around long. And I watch him as often as I can, I havent yet seen him actually do anything that might be flashing.

he does swim up and down the sides of the glass sometimes, but Im certain he can see a glimpse of his reflection and he is trying to fight this other fish.... he doesnt flare, even with a mirror, but he swims the same way when I put the mirror up.

I think he has been used to sitting next to other bettas and not being able to reach them, so he doesnt flare. my theroy anyway :)

[DarkSoul]

oh man, I just looked at my betta, and one of the "rays" on his anal fin seems to have ripped right up to his body.

so now his anal fin is in two pieces pretty much, one big fat fin, and one tiny little string like fin where it was ripped.
I know his tail was previously in all one piece, so how did this happen?

there are no other fish in the tank, and I cant figure out how he ripped his fin.

I know that he can sometimes see his reflection in the glass, and gets rather angry.

[Sploke]

If he's using his fins to blow gravel around, that might tear them up. I've never seen a betta do that before though, and unless you have super lightweight gravel (as in, it practically floats), I can't see a betta generating enough force to blow gravel around like that, especially enough to get it tangled up in the plants. What you're describing is something I could expect to see in an african tank, not a betta tank.

[jrh]

I see the fish swim into the plants sometimes, and sit weirdly, like he will swim into the hornwort facing down, and then just play dead for a few mins, then hes off doing his thing.

In my experience, betas will swim in to plants, and just rest sometimes. If you catch him sleeping at night, that's probably where he'll be.

Messing with the substrate and rocks is unusual though. If you look at their mouths, they're upturned to get at mosquito larvae and stuff that swim at the surface of the water, and to gulp some air. They're not really equipped to pick up and move pebbles.

[DarkSoul]

In my experience, betas will swim in to plants, and just rest sometimes. If you catch him sleeping at night, that's probably where he'll be.

Messing with the substrate and rocks is unusual though. If you look at their mouths, they're upturned to get at mosquito larvae and stuff that swim at the surface of the water, and to gulp some air. They're not really equipped to pick up and move pebbles.

and all of the above mentioned is why im so confused, its estes gravel, and I would guess fairly heavy, in terms of gravel... and these are craters, at least 2 or 3 times the size of the actual fish in some cases.

I have seen him swim into the gravel and pick at it, possibly grabbing some food or something that is on the bottom, but i have yet to see him actually dig one of these holes.

is there any possibility that he is looking for snails? I had a small snail in my tank that I can no longer find, for whatever reason, but he may have been able to eat the snail.
Though my daughter says she seen the snail crawling down the glass the other day.

im confused, especially over the pile of glass rocks that was over on one side of the tank.... like 15 of them all in one little pile..... wtf?

Pics.... Its sort of hard to see the actual depth, but i think you can see the level of "devistation" from what WAS a level, flat substrate.

[DarkSoul]

well his tail is more than halfway healed now....... im still lost on this though.

[pcnicholson]

I've got 2 betas of my own with different personalities but one thing is for sure on both of them. They pay no attention to the gravel whatsoever so I have no clue.

[Lady G]

Hmmm...maybe someone came in your house, messed with the tank, then left just to make you wonder how the heck did that happen? have you made anybody mad lately?:naughty: LOL, that would be a fun way to "mess" with someone:grinyes:

[DarkSoul]

well, I have leveled the gravel again, patted it down nicely with my cleaning rod, So I will see if this happens again.

Ive been thinking, there is a chance most of the craters were from me, but the rocks all being piled up in one corner confuses me.... because that wasnt me lol.

[nynikki]

Do you sleep walk?? LOL... I kid, but when I have a lot on my mind I have been known to sleep walk, and I always end up doing the strangest things.

[wataugachicken]

maybe you just have some sort of convict cichlid 'poltergeist' in the tank that appears at night, moves everything around, and beats on your betta.

sounds like the most reasonable explanation so far.

[Lady G]

I think Wata solved the mystery:eek3:

[jrh]

Do you sleep walk??

Or take ambien?

[laurabb]

Our betta's tank has a flat marble substrate, and he does play with the marbles at times. Mostly he's rooting around for a bloodworm that dropped or something, but at other times he's moved the marbles with his nose/head. He sometimes does this after a water change and gravel vaccing. I kept hearing clinking noises from the tank and wondered what in the heck it was, and then saw him moving the marbles around. At night, he slept on the marbles, with his head resting on one like a pillow. Not sure if this is the case in your tank (and no idea why your betta's fins would be ripped), but they can play with the substrate.

[Eupterus]

maybe you just have some sort of convict cichlid 'poltergeist' in the tank that appears at night, moves everything around, and beats on your betta.

sounds like the most reasonable explanation so far.:rofl:

I've never had bettas move gravel before...I'd think they might if in an empty bowl where they'd get bored.

[gikthechamp]

I saw my apple snail burrowing in the substrate, he even uprooted a plant. Maybe it was your snail?

[DarkSoul]

my snail is only about 2.5mm in size.....

since the releveled substrate i havent seen any craters..... weird.