Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping => General Fishkeeping Chat => Topic started by: Fiona on April 12, 2015, 08:44:43 PM

Title: Frank and his snail. Bubble nests and flaring.
Post by: Fiona on April 12, 2015, 08:44:43 PM

I had a nerite in Frank's tank to keep the algae in check but he'd flare at it (which I believe can had an adverse effect if the betta does it too much) and the other day I caught him trying to bite it's shell so I thought Frank would be better off without it, so I popped it in another tank.

I mentioned in another thread that Frank was making bubble nests so he must be happy...well after the snail came out he stopped building them. So i popped the snail back in today and suddenly Frank goes back to flaring and bubble blowing and he's built himself a smashing bubble nest again. He doesn't do it all the time but he actually searches his tank to find this snail. Its a red spotted nerite.

Even though he''s flaring could he actually be enjoying the company of this snail?

Title: Re: Frank and his snail. Bubble nests and flaring.
Post by: fishcake76 on April 13, 2015, 08:42:43 AM

Hi Fiona,

It sounds like having the snail around makes Frank want to breed! He flares at the competition (the snail) and then builds his nest. If the snail is very brightly coloured this could be the trigger!

Excessive flaring can be stressful for Bettas but nest building is possibly his way of dealing with that stress?!

I could of course be completely wrong!  I bet Sue will know!  :)

FC76

Title: Re: Frank and his snail. Bubble nests and flaring.
Post by: Sue on April 13, 2015, 12:48:11 PM

I've never had a betta that shows more than the odd moment of curiosity in snails. I've had the ones that look like bumble bees, all black and yellow stripes, and plain brown, and now plain grey snails in with mine over the years but never large or red nerites. It may well  be the colour that is setting him off.
You could always try taking the snail out again and see if he stops nest building again.

As fishcake says, excessive flaring is not good for the fish but a few minutes flaring every so often is supposed be good excercise for them - this is why some people show the fish their reflection in a mirror for a few minutes every day. I've never done that though.


You will find references saying that a male betta which builds bubble nests is a happy betta. But more recent info suggests it is just the way a fish is and is nothing to do with how happy he is. He is just convinced an egg ripe female could happen along sometime soon so he'd better be ready.
Maybe the snail is triggering this reflex in frank  ???

Title: Re: Frank and his snail. Bubble nests and flaring.
Post by: Fiona on April 14, 2015, 08:03:22 PM

Hmmmm I'll try taking the snail out again and see what happens. I just want to make sure he's happy in there bless him.