Treating them like kings

[BETTA GOD GRANT ME SERENITY]

Iv been reading loads of Thai based sites reading them about how they look after there Bettas,recomending using river mud,the size of containers that they keep them in etc,And they all say about destroying bubble nests etc, the bettas are oviously happy fellows. My uncle has been keeping tropical fish for 20 years only 5 years have been betta years but he has rarely had any of them bubble nest,As the conditions that there kept in are so far removed from that of there ancestors,prehaps in kindness we are being crule?Or am i just totaly mad?

 

[Dart]

I both heard and experienced that a happy betta's will make a bubble nest...

 

[newfishies]

if there is a filter in the tank, it will destroy any bubble nests they make... they still can be quite happy even if you never see a nest

 

[RandomWiktor]

I have a very heathy, active, happy boy who doesn't bubblenest. He's old, so I'm thinking his drive to mate has left him. My boys seem to make nests even though they have filters, but they don't last.
I agree than many Thai breeders and keepers take better care of thier fish compared to some Americans. I'd be interested to know their reccomended tank size; I keep all of mine in 5 gallons with plants, caves, and filtration, and if they're out doing me I'll be shamed (lol). Can't do the river mid thing though; everything here is so polluted that the native fish hardly survive in it. I would love to have them each in 10's, but this damn apartment only permits 5 gallon tanks ::growls::

Link? I'd love to know their secrets, as many of my boys were rescues and thus have chronic health problems.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Mines had a go at bubble nests, but I think he's just a big wuss at heart.

 

[WhispTech]

mine does bubble nests and seems to be very happy until i come near the tank lol. Im watching him right now building it.

 

[BettaMomma]

I have 7 bettas.
Currently, only one of them really makes a nests of any size - and that's Jack who is off in another room - rarely gets much in-his-face attention, and he seems to really really love life despite that.

He's in a 2.5G unfiltered, heated tank. His temp only stays around 75 degrees, but he's very happy and healthy anyway.

 

[Apache]

I find generally, when my boys are feeling good, they bubblenest... The guys at home are in divided 5.5 gal tanks, heated with lights... the classroom boys are in separate 2 gal heated, without lights and they all build nests... It's funny how different all thier building techniques are... the only time they don't seem to build nests is if they are sick or older.

Both my favorite boyfins, Ferdie and Fred , quit building nests a couple weeks before they died. But they were both older, so maybe that had something to do with it...