Help! My betta is a tail eater?!?

Question

My betta lives in: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752291

and I am upgrading to the Eclipse Hex 5 in a month (with a heater and such)

I have had my betta for about a month now and for the first week or so his tail was beautiful!

In the last week or so he has been eating (yes not just biting EATING) his tail!?

I do 50% water changes once a week so the water should not be too bad.

Is he stressed or bored or hungry!?

The water is a little cloudy right now but since I just changed the water its just bacteria right???

I moved his plant to the other side of the tank and he happily swam around for about 15 minutes before he tried to bite his tail again.

What the heck is wrong with this fish!?

Answer 1

buy him lots a realy tiny fishy to eat!!! XD

Answer 2

http://z7.invisionfree.com/BettaBreeders...

Best place that I can direct you. Good luck.

Answer 3

Betta's will do then when they are stressed.  The sooner you can get him into a larger tank the better.

**

Answer 4

I agree with the other two answers.  My betta does the same thing.  It scares me to death but if he has small fish to eat then he will leave his tail alone and he will eat the tails of any other fish.  

they are beautiful just a little weird

Answer 5

Does it have white specs that look like sugar or salt on it? Maybe it has ich and it is trying to scratch itself?

Answer 6

uh, dude, horseshoe. thats almost illegal! As for the asker, get a new tank

Answer 7

...Anna, keep chaging 30% of his water every 3 days, ok?

...the cloudines is ammonia....the tank is going through a normal, nitrogen cycle

....during the cycling time (~2 weeks for a small tank) the chemicals that build up are toxic to all fish, and cause many behavioral activities, because the fish are stressed, and perhaps in danger (of dying due to toxic levels of ammonia)

....let the filter run and soon it will grow aerobic bacteria to eat ammonia and nitriites

....please install a live plant or two (not plastic)

....in a small tank ammonia problems happen fast! but a live plant can absorb some ammonia that helps to soften the situation

....the plant eats ammonia and the bacteria eat ammonia, plus you make water changes every 7 to 10 days, change 30%, ok?

...the fish will relax once he gets clean water and some plants where he can relax and feel safe