I have one male betta in a 5 gallon tank. For the first week and a half, he was in a 1.5 gallon with no background or anything. He sometimes inspects his reflection, but I've never seen him really flare... until now.

His new tank has a background on the back side. It's blue with pictures of green plants, and for the past hour my little Braveheart has been going wild over it! He's flaring, trying to bite at the glass, and even his gills are frilling out! He just won't stop. He's been in his tank for a day now, and as I said he's never shown any interest in attacking his reflection before. Should I remove the background? I don't want him to make himself sick! He refuses to come away from that side of the tank...

I wouldn't have started a new thread, but the only other posts and information I can find concern bettas attacking their reflections, and he's never done that before...

EDIT:

I went ahead and removed it, and he immediately stopped. Has anyone else ever had a betta that attacked a background and not his own reflection? It's so weird!

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Creatures great and small, I love 'em all! But mainly the fish.

Yes many times the background will cast a mirror like reflection.You can try to plant it heavily along the back,to break his site and then try to add the background back.I have a male who will flare at his self daily,swimming along the side.He only does it for about an hour each day,but a little exercise is good for them.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Thanks for the answer! I guess the reflection from the background is more visible than the reflection in clear glass. It was so weird! I have plants all along the back of the tank, but he still went for it. Do you think a lighter backdrop would help? The one I had was a little dark, but they do sell really light ones.

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Creatures great and small, I love 'em all! But mainly the fish.

Im not sure.Most of my tanks are painted black on the back,lol.The one who flares like that though,his whole tank is see through,so go figure.What color is the fish?It could be him standing out too much against the background.I would certainly try a lighter one and see if it helps.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Oddly enough, he's dark blue and so was the backdrop! Well, and green. His reflection actually shows up more clearly in the see-through glass than it did with the backdrop! Bettas are so strange! He hasn't flared at all since I took away the backdrop, so I'll try a lighter one tomorrow.

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Creatures great and small, I love 'em all! But mainly the fish.

Could just be one or more of the colors on that particular backdrop. Did he focus on any particular point on the background?

My Brad does not like red (I've heard that is common). I put in a glass thermometer and he flared at a little red patch it has on it. He flared at it a lot at first, then off and on for a couple of days. 3 weeks later I don't think he even notices it.

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"Have a betta day!" -Bob Vang, VangsPlakat

Not really, but he did focus on the darker parts of it. I'd never heard of a betta attacking something just for its color!

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Creatures great and small, I love 'em all! But mainly the fish.

HA! So I tested him with blue, black, and red pen tips just now. Looks like Brad dislikes black and blue pen tips today but the red doesn't bother him that much, it just gets a quick flare and then he ignores it.

Fickle little fishie!

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"Have a betta day!" -Bob Vang, VangsPlakat

Aww, that's cute! Is he the one that's in your profile picture? He's pretty!

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Creatures great and small, I love 'em all! But mainly the fish.

Yes, Brad's my avatar boy.

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"Have a betta day!" -Bob Vang, VangsPlakat