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Post by bort on Jan 22, 2006 13:21:46 GMT -5
Hello,
I noticed yesterday that my female that I had just relocated to a heated 25 gallon tank was really starting to become colorful. Then yesterday it seemed like she was losing her color...then this morning I discovered that she now has these cool looking racing stripes on her!! I read somewhere that this means they are ready to breed or something....can someone enlighten me?
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Post by Minaku on Jan 22, 2006 13:28:20 GMT -5
If she's striped horizontally, those are fear stripes, and she's just adjusting to life in a much larger space. She should calm down and stop striping within a few days to a week.
If she has vertical stripes, they are egg stripes, and your female is ready to breed. That's more unlikely since she (hopefully) hasn't been in contact with a male.
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Post by bort on Jan 22, 2006 17:59:46 GMT -5
oh wow...that I didn't know. They are definately horizontal stripes. I guess I will keep an eye on her for now. She seems to still be eating so I guess that's a good sign. I can always take her out if the stripes never go away.
Thanks
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Post by Minaku on Jan 22, 2006 19:52:02 GMT -5
Sometimes females don't stop striping for a long time. Keep an eye on her behavior as the days pass - is she out and about, swimming and exploring? Does she eat food readily? Does she have a safe place to hide and get away from the other fish? Is she cohabitating with the other fish peacefully? If all your answers are no, she's better off by herself. If the answers are yes, and she's colored up, does the food dance, is very spunky, and has some territory to defend, then you can leave her in even if the stripes don't go away.
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Post by bort on Jan 22, 2006 21:03:40 GMT -5
Sometimes females don't stop striping for a long time. Keep an eye on her behavior as the days pass - is she out and about, swimming and exploring? Does she eat food readily? Does she have a safe place to hide and get away from the other fish? Is she cohabitating with the other fish peacefully? If all your answers are no, she's better off by herself. If the answers are yes, and she's colored up, does the food dance, is very spunky, and has some territory to defend, then you can leave her in even if the stripes don't go away. Thanks for the advice. I noticed that she wasn't her usual spunky self, so I decided against waiting a few days and just put her in a tank by herself. I am really wondering what caused this sudden change in behavior. It could possibly be the introduction of 6 phantom tetras into the tank a few days ago. I noticed that two days ago her bottom fin was clamped and she wasn't as bright as when there was just her and the 6 neons..... |
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Post by Minaku on Jan 22, 2006 22:05:23 GMT -5
The tetras sound like they're the culprit. She had just settled down into a routine with the neons and then suddenly, the phantoms were introduced. She might have felt intimidated and constantly terrorized by two schools of fish. One school of neons she could handle - she's bigger and more aggressive.
I didn't know you had introduced other fish to the tank - that info would have proved very useful initially. Oftentimes when people talk about the symptoms they forget to list all the events that had happened prior to when the symptoms appeared. In this case, it was the addition of the phantoms.
If you want to try to keep her in the community tank, it would be good if she had a large-ish cave or hiding place for herself, something she can get in and out of easily yet private enough to make her feel safe. Just make sure there aren't too many potential adversaries (which would be every single fish not of her species) around to make her feel threatened.
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Post by bort on Jan 22, 2006 22:16:13 GMT -5
Yeah that sounds like what happened. I guess she just felt intimidated by the number of other fish there were. I do have a cave like piece of wood that she was hiding in this morning and I couldn't find her. Believe it or not..for the few hours that she's been back to being alone her racing strip is almost gone. I guess she just feels more at home by herself in a smaller unheated tank. Oh well...she would've probably been a lot more stressed out in a few weeks when I get my Black Ghost Knife....
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Post by Minaku on Jan 22, 2006 22:32:13 GMT -5
I do believe it, it means that she's no longer feeling threatened and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of enemies in her space. I'm glad to hear that she's feeling better and is back to her old self.
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Post by bort on Jan 23, 2006 0:01:34 GMT -5
well it's nice that female bettas have these signs they can give us if they are in distress!
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Post by Minaku on Jan 23, 2006 0:02:54 GMT -5
All bettas fear-stripe.  |
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Post by bort on Jan 23, 2006 0:58:48 GMT -5
Would you happen to know the scientific explanation behind this?
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Post by Minaku on Jan 23, 2006 13:22:57 GMT -5
Well, bettas can't talk, and animals can't talk, so they have to resort to visual, aural, or pheremonal ways to express what they're feeling. In this case, when bettas are scared or stressed, they stripe horizontally; when they're aggressive and want to fight, they display and flare; when females are ready for breeding, they stripe vertically.
Not a scientific explanation, but a logical one.
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beta3chg
Junior Bubble Nester
If I were a bird...
Posts: 109
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Post by beta3chg on Jan 23, 2006 19:59:52 GMT -5
Huh, that would explain why when i first got Blues (i was a complete newbie) i dumped him right into his new tank full of (i thought) similar temperature water and he got really scared and i noticed these purple/green stripes on him. He also turned kind of pale...Well, now i know how to tell if my bettas are really freaked out.  |
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sharksrock
Fry
Yeah I'm a fish person. so what?
Posts: 51
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Post by sharksrock on Jan 25, 2006 18:01:07 GMT -5
If she's striped horizontally, those are fear stripes, and she's just adjusting to life in a much larger space. She should calm down and stop striping within a few days to a week. If she has vertical stripes, they are egg stripes, and your female is ready to breed. That's more unlikely since she (hopefully) hasn't been in contact with a male. what if a male has stripes? |
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Post by accountingchick on Jan 25, 2006 18:34:35 GMT -5
If she's striped horizontally, those are fear stripes, and she's just adjusting to life in a much larger space. She should calm down and stop striping within a few days to a week. If she has vertical stripes, they are egg stripes, and your female is ready to breed. That's more unlikely since she (hopefully) hasn't been in contact with a male. what if a male has stripes? read reply #9  |
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