Tips For Getting Your Betta To Flare?

[JustKia]

I've got a super chilled male betta. Either a superdelta or (as I am leaning towards) a half moon. Seems to have some rosetail as he has a lovely ruffled egde.
Only he's so chilled he never flares. I've tried putting a mirror in with him - nada. He loves bubbles and the flow from the filter (yes, he's an odd one LOL)
Now, I don't want to go upsetting him, but it sure would be nice to see the occassional little flare LOL
After a lot of consideration I moved him and his tank mates into the community tank, where he has made himself completely at home (read made himself the boss LOL) and still no flares.

 

[AdAndrews]

im no expert, but i think they only flare when they are angry so why would you want to do that, its prob similar to puffers puffing up, they may only do it if they feel threatened

 

[azulfire24]

maby show him a pic of a boy betta?? or a girl betta??? idk my one ct elmo flares at everything all the time, looks more like a lion then a betta lol! and his divided tank mate octavious has never flared... ever.... and he is gorgous, a 8 ray ct and i cant get a pic of him flareing to show anybody how nice he is cause all his pics he looks like a funny hm with feathers or fuzzy at the ends of his tail.............

lol what can u do?

 

[danni_69]

im no expert, but i think they only flare when they are angry so why would you want to do that, its prob similar to puffers puffing up, they may only do it if they feel threatened

noo.. bettas flare for different reasons, when they feel threatened by another male, or when they are threatening another male, when they are courting females they flare too.. *i think ^^* and my Fred just tends to cuz he's a moody lil thing!!

 

[AdAndrews]

thats ok then. yea, make them feel threatened, thats lovely

 

[Night61]

mine use to flare at me when i woke up in the morning. that's why he got moved away from my bed.

 

[Kariann]

Not had mine long, but he doesn't flare much either and seems quite chilled generally speaking. I also tried the mirror several times and he went to hide in his hollow log poor thing..LOL.. some fighter !! However, when I came in this evening the lights were off in the room but his tank light was on and he was flaring all over the place....perhaps he's scared of the dark?

 

[love4aquatic]

Not had mine long, but he doesn't flare much either and seems quite chilled generally speaking. I also tried the mirror several times and he went to hide in his hollow log poor thing..LOL.. some fighter !! However, when I came in this evening the lights were off in the room but his tank light was on and he was flaring all over the place....perhaps he's scared of the dark?

one of mine never flared even when other males flared at him...but....when he saw a girl....he flared his head off!!!

 

[electric yellow]

mine use to flare at me when i woke up in the morning. that's why he got moved away from my bed.

So you moved him because he flared?

My PK Shimmer loves flaring now he has the hang of it. He use to only do small flares and now he throws his whole body into it! I let him play with his mirror for about ten mins a day. It also lets me check his fins when they are totally spread to make sure there is no damage from the heater or stress bites etc.

 

[Christi_22]

My Betta, Aslan is pretty chilled most of the time, he will flare at a mirror if he feels like it, or sometimes he will just move away and think about it. He has also flared at the camera when I took a picture (see my sig) The most spectacular display though was when my Zebra Snail was on the front of the tank, Aslan decided to show JUST how he could flare, showing off his gorgeous fins to amazing effect. photo opportunity missed unfortunately lol

 

[bronzecat]

mine use to flare at me when i woke up in the morning. that's why he got moved away from my bed.

So you moved him because he flared?

No, it gave Sailornight nightmares

 

[Night61]

mine use to flare at me when i woke up in the morning. that's why he got moved away from my bed.

So you moved him because he flared?

No, it gave Sailornight nightmares

lol i moved him for a fish that was happy to see me in the morning.

 

[Jdubz]

use a cosmetic mirror or a small mirror that will get him flaring..

 

[JustKia]

He will follow the mirror, but no flares.
AdAndrews - it's not like I want him to flare constantly, like I said I don't want to go getting him all upset, but it would be nice to see for sure what tail type he is.
No girlfriend for him I'm afraid LOL maybe when we move to a bigger house...

 

[wilsonnw8]

This sounds funny but when Sam was low I actually printed a picture of a female betta out from the internet and stuck it to his tank (image inwards) so he thought he could see a girl and it worked he flared and displayed at his "girlfriend" for a while before realising she wasnt moving!