Hi! I posted here a while ago about my rescued betta Antigone. I’ve improved his tank a lot, his extra caves and plants arrived and the water is perfect, in case anyone remembers him.
Now, I have a slight problem. I’ve come to suspect that he’s partially sighted or blind. He really struggles when his tank is moved around and when I put his new plants in he kept running into them and getting surprised. He does this around the entire tank and often looks right at me but only notices I’m there when I tap gently at the glass, then he gets really exited because he thinks that means food haha.
He also can’t find the food when I feed him, he’s constantly letting the food drop to the floor and then can’t find it afterwards, I’m currently feeding him directly from a pipette.
I got him a mirror today and he couldn’t find it at all, he flares occasionally at his filter when it makes noises (the cables occasionally knock together outside the tank) but he didn’t flare at the mirror, I had to bring it really close before he knew it was there and proceeded to keep swimming around it and poking it.
I hope I’m just being paranoid! But let me know if you have any advice or questions, I’m happy to answer any of them!
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1rp6w6z
Posted by RodneyTheDuck
1 Comment
It is extremely possible that he is blind. Although, usually blindness shows up in bettas with the dragonscale gene (which I suspect he has from the metallic sheen on his back) through diamond eye (scales grown over the eye, which is not the case here). But this behavior is very much indicative of blindness. I would continue to do what you are doing! Usually it is recommended to train them to go to a certain spot to be fed, but that is usually done when the owner notices a progression in blindness, not when the owner receives the betta blind. Avoiding changes in his tank may be a good idea too, so he doesn’t hurt himself or get too stressed. It could be partial blindness or complete blindness. Im not too familiar with his color layers and the issues they may genetically entail, minus dragonscale causing diamond eye (of which he doesn’t have), so I cant say for sure if it is specific to his breeding or just a coincidence. Good luck, he is sooooooo beautiful.