Friend having an issue with betas

[Buckeye_ME]

A friend of mine has a question concerning a beta that I'm going to post. Any help is appreciated.

I recently became the proud new (surprised) owner of two beta fish. They are in one tank with a separating wall between them that you can leave a blue dark panel in place to prevent them from seeing each other or take it out every now and then to let them see each other and flare their fins etc. That's not my problem. The problem is that Tommy (the blue one) seems to have a ton of bubbles at the top in his side of the tank. Hilfiger (the red one) is fine on his side. I was concerned so I took them out and placed them in plastic cups of spring water (like the instructions stated that came with them) and then replaced the water in the tank with clean spring water. However Tommy is doing that bubble thing again this morning. I called my buddy who got them for me but he has no idea what to do or what the problem might be. He just figures if there are a ton of air bubbles on Tommy's side, for some reason he's not gettin enough oxygen. I was a little worried. My buddy says not to worry, they are not expensive to replace but I want to try to figure out what is wrong BEFORE I lose Tommy. So does anyone have betas and if so, have you ever had this problem and what did you do to correct it? Thanks!

 

[Mazdaman]

to the best of my knowledge he is building a bubble nest. Totally normal and fine, mine does it and has them all in one corner. someone else may be able to back me up on this but i'm pretty sure thats what it is. To be sure you should test the water for ammonia and nitrate but i don't think there is anything wrong at all. See if the one with the bubbles looks short of breath or looks like he is struggling. HTH

 

[Felf]

they belong to the labyrinth family of fish which means they can also breathe air; it's not uncommon to see them breathing air in highly oxygenated water. male labyrinth fish make a bubble nest on the surface or floating plants so dont worry he's just practicing. the other one might not be doing it because he's not mature yet. hope that helped

 

[swanandmokashi]

yep he is building a bubble nest -
it is also said to be a sign that the betta is happy

 

[oldshell4481]

i dont care for those small tanks with dividers if its the one im thinking of. they are pretty small. i would move them to fish bowls 1-2 gallon.

 

[RoK]

Yeah, pretty sure he's just building a bubblenest. Maybe he wants to have some babies? I think I know what oldshell is talking about, those "tanks" are too small.

 

[minoubinette]

it also means he's healthy! no worries, like everyone said, it's completly normal. I'd had many bettas and they all did it. And I agree with the others, you should move them to bigger tanks, like a gallon each is already better. plus diseases won't go from a betta to another this way. I've had that happen to mine once.
I have 4 and theY've been in their little bowls for a while, tried putting them a couple weeks each in my 10 gal, but either they would be really agressive to my platy or not eat and be really sad. They're used to being confined. ah well

 

[blue_neon]

yeah dont worry it is just a happy betta making a bubble nest