betta bubbles!

[cheezysquirrelz]

I read somewhere that when a betta is happy it blows bubbles, is that true? Mine have piles of bubbles at the top of their bowls.

 

[newaridiar]

Yes. Healthy, happy, male bettas will make bubble nests (those piles of bubbles).


Bubble nests are where fertalized eggs are kept after mating with a female and males do not need to be around a female to build a nest, and I have read that building the nest is actually enjoyable for the male.

 

[Devilishturtles]

True, True...signs of a healthy and happy male betta!! The male gathers the eggs from the female in his mouth, and places them into the bubbles he builds, and takes care of the eggs.

No worries!!

 

[ploughking]

I wouldn't know about this so - my male betta is sunddenly inflated beneath it's neck. Would this be sign of a happy betta getting ready to create a bubblenest, or one ready to explode? There are no females in the tank and it is a small community

 

[angelocarusone]

You know, my Betta (Travis) suddenly became inflated below the neck as well. He was also behaving slightly strange and so I assumed it was dropsy and treated him as so. However, during that time period my nitrate and nitrite levels were just crazy off the charts and so I'm not sure if his odd behavior was a result of that, or if the buldge was normal, or, worse of all if the buldge was was dropsy. I assumed the worst and treated him for dropsy. I used Maracyn-Two and a few days after treatment he seemed to stop behaving sluggish and depressed. But, my tank also cycled that week and all my nitrite/nitrate levels stabilized out totally.

He behaves just like a normal betta does now - he swims around all the time, he eats like crazy, and he patrols the tank as if it was his own; however, he still has the buldge below his neck. He has also yet to build a bubble nest, but I think that's because the water at the top of my tank is to rough for that. But yea, I'm not sure if this is much help. But if anyone knows anything about the mysterious Betta buldge, we'd be grateful.

Just a few questions ploughking...

1) Is he behaving abnormal? (IE: Is he hiding a lot? Not eating?)

2) Aside from the buldge, does he appear to be physically healthy?

3) Is your tank established or is it still going through the cycle?

 

[ploughking]

1) He seems to be eating ok, I wouldn't call it hiding. He swims through my plastic plants every now and again
2) He appears to be healthy, but I cannot see at the moment. My parents are seperated and I'm at the worng house. I dont remember anything wrong
3) My tank has only just finished the cycle and my nitrite levels were extremely high. It was actually quite scary.

 

[angelocarusone]

That sounds similar to my situation. Travis didn't get the buldge under his neck until the levels were VERY scary. I'm still a newbie, but I would probably go ahead and assume that he has dropsy and give him a treatment for it. Unless, of course, the buldge is normal after high levels or common in Bettas. But, I mean, after I treated my fish, the buldge pretty much remains but he just seems significantly better.

Best of Luck...please keep us posted.

 

[ploughking]

Thanks, I will treat him as soon as I can. If that does nothing I'll come back to this topic to ask for help - my lfs would probably say "Oh you've got to feed him more". I feed them once every other day until I get enough fish to eat it all in a day and night, otherwise the water goes cloudy.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I'm still a newbie, but I would probably go ahead and assume that he has dropsy and give him a treatment for it.

Dropsy is a fungal infection that shuts down the organs, and makes the body swell with fluids... If there is just a spot, it probably isn't dropsy. If it's whole body seems swollen and inflated, then perhaps I would treat for the dropsy.

Bettas fan out their gills and flare their fins when they are excited by something near by, or want to show their agressiveness...are you sure this isn't what it is doing?

Other than that, how big is the bulge? Does it look like an infection, or just a bulge under the skin?

Oh, and btw Ploughking, you probably should feed your betta more, he'll grow faster and healthier that way. Just don't overfeed, and you'll be good.

 

[ploughking]

Dropsy is a fungal infection that shuts down the organs, and makes the body swell with fluids... If there is just a spot, it probably isn't dropsy. If it's whole body seems swollen and inflated, then perhaps I would treat for the dropsy.

Bettas fan out their gills and flare their fins when they are excited by something near by, or want to show their agressiveness...are you sure this isn't what it is doing?

Other than that, how big is the bulge? Does it look like an infection, or just a bulge under the skin?

Oh, and btw Ploughking, you probably should feed your betta more, he'll grow faster and healthier that way. Just don't overfeed, and you'll be good.

Thanx for the advice. I am sure that he is not fanning his gills but he does tend to do that once in a while when I feed them some bloodworms. It is a large bulge under the skin, I will see if I can get a photo of it. It will be posted in a week - I only have this fast internet access at weekends with my Dad.

 

[newaridiar]

Bettas do not have any visible physical changes before making a bubble nest that I know of. All they do is suck in some water and blow bubbles back out.

 

[Aragato]

They could be constipated, try feeding them an inside of a pea.