Just curious with those of you that have or had fish as pets

[gatorman_07732]

We had to have our dog put down a while back and to give the girls a little immediate happiness we went out and got a Beta fish because we didn't want to rush into anything.
Anyway, we are about six months into having this Beta fish. The strangest thing that I have never seen before, is at times he lays on his side like he is dead. If you tap on the bowl he starts doing fast laps. The first couple times we actually thought this fish was dead. Just curious if anyone has come across this behavior before.

[channingcrowderhungry]

Weird. I'd take a water sample in to get tested.

[Gator515151]

We always had bad luck with fish. We had an 80 gallon octagonal tank when the kids were little. One of my sons caught a tiny large mouth bass at the lake in a dip net. I let him put this 1" long bass in the fish aquairium. He ate about $400 worth of tropical fish.

[gatorman_07732]

Just an FYI, this fish has been doing this for a long time. The first time was funny because it was after my wife cleaned the bowl and she called me into the kitchen and said he's dying as he was just floating in the clean bowl and water. I naturally did the sensitive thing and accused her of killing him. She called me back and he was swimming around normally. Ever since then he does this regularly.

[g8torjeff]

His behavior smells fishy to me....sorry...couldn't help myself. I had plenty of fish and the only positive was you didn't have to take them for walks. Cleaning the fish tank was always a pain. Just not a fish person I guess. Get your daughter another dog or cat, much more fun to play with.

[gatorman_07732]

His behavior smells fishy to me....sorry...couldn't help myself. I had plenty of fish and the only positive was you didn't have to take them for walks. Cleaning the fish tank was always a pain. Just not a fish person I guess. Get your daughter another dog or cat, much more fun to play with.

Would it help if I told you the fishes name is Tebow? Just sayin :laugh: and its just a little bowl not like cleaning a tank.

[ufrulz2]

We have had a goldfish in a 10-gallon aquarium for about 4 years. Sucker is huge now. We don't feed it regularly, nor do we regularly change the water or clean the tank, but he's a hardy little bugger and is no worse for the wear. I've never seen it "play dead," however.

[vaxcardinal]

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=45224

[gatorman_07732]

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=45224

Awesome, thanks vax. This is like out 3rd or 4th beta fish and the first time we witnessed this. I guess I named him Tebow for a reason being he is different