# New betta attacking the side of his tank.



## Fishnoob78 (Oct 30, 2005)

My betta that i've had for 4 days now has been attacking the left side of his tank on and off for about 5 hours now. 

He swims up and down, side to side and in circular motions very quickly. A few times it looked as if he bumped himself on the tank pretty hard. I dont know if this is normal betta behavior since this is my first one.

I just placed a piece of paper over the left side thinking maybe he was seeing his reflection.

Tank is 5 gallon, temp-80

PH-7

Ammonia 0-.5
Nitrites-0

He seemed to start doing it after my 40% water change, and I also put in a new heater.


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## PaulInKingston (Dec 4, 2005)

*Flaring*

If he is seeing his reflection then this is normal. Flaring is actually healthy to a degree. It may be the location of a light that is causing this. Mine usually do it in the eveing for a few hours on & off.


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## Fishnoob78 (Oct 30, 2005)

PaulInKingston said:


> If he is seeing his reflection then this is normal. Flaring is actually healthy to a degree. It may be the location of a light that is causing this. Mine usually do it in the eveing for a few hours on & off.



I hope thats what it is..the paper seemed to calm him down a bit.

It's almost like very quick, quick little side to side jerks as if something is bothering him or he wants out. He was flaring on the right side of the tank a lot but this is different. No raised tail or gills out, just quick side to side and circular motion.


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## PaulInKingston (Dec 4, 2005)

Exactly, the very quick side to side jerks are normal.


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## Fishnoob78 (Oct 30, 2005)

PaulInKingston said:


> Exactly, the very quick side to side jerks are normal.


Ok good then. 

Years ago when I last had fish(not bettas) I had a couple die unexpectedly after having very erratic swimming movements. So when my new betta started doing that I was a little worried. 

Thanks for your help.


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## Alisha (Aug 5, 2005)

yep sounds like the fiesty little guy is just seeing his reflection. Nothing to worry about. ;-)


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## [*][ShelBy][*] (Feb 11, 2006)

Yeah My lil' guy does that quite often, almost seems like it's his daily exercise...lol


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