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I recently had to move all my tanks(my wife made me do it) and now all my fighters are closer together. So guess what that means......non-stop flaring all day and night. My question is, is all this flaring a bad thing? Will this excessive flaring impact their length and quality of life? I am interested to see what your take on this question is.

Justin

Colts Fan For Life
30g platy tank: 2 sunburst wag platys, 2 redtailed white calico platys, 2 red wag platys, 1 fry(not sure who it belongs to), 1 Golden CAE.
Bettas:1 VT male

They'll get bored and stop eventually. After that, they might still have the occasional "I'm gunna eat you!" flaring contest, but there won't be the drive and determination that there is to start with.

Flaring in moderation is great for their muscles. It helps them hold up the long finnage and that competitive drive tends to stimulate appetite and get the body into good shape.

Those first few days/weeks though, where the drive is very strong and the fish is coming from relative peace and quiet, they can be a bit iffy. Showing off can be stressful, not only in the mental/emotional sense where they seem to lose the plot for a while, but also physically stressful on their body. If they are really overdoing it and not resting for long periods of time (in the wild, they can back off, not so in most captive situations), I'd try carding them. This is actually a way that breeders keep that intense flaring going for longer, but it can also be used to get the fish used to living in such close quarters without them blowing a gasket in the first week Basically, you block the other fish from sight by using a piece of cardboard, and you remove that piece of cardboard for 20 minutes or so per day. As time goes on, increase the period of time that you let the fish see each other.


Proiding the fish settle in, the occasional flaring and interaction should really make for healthier fish. Lifespan is impacted by too many other factors to say one way or another on that, but I don't think they are going to burn out, if that is your concern.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

They will flare all day just like in the lfs. No harm will come as long as there is a divider.

oo great info so that means I can put the background back on my bettas 10 gal? he was flaring at his reflection non stop and I was worried about stress since he maintains his bubblenest all the time and is very defensiva about it!

It should be fine, even mirrored backgrounds become a non-event for most bettas. Make sure there is a way for him to escape the reflection though, maybe densely plant one section in front of the background so he can go behind that if he's had enough and needs time out from 'the other fish'

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

perfect and thank you! the right side is densley planted and the left side has a decorative pot that he can go into to get away from the current and rest! I'm excited to put the background back on! I fell they make tanks look so much more complete!

If you want to cut it down even more, you could try putting it on with water and a squeegee or veggie oil and a squeegee. It can be tricky to get right but it does cut reflections a great deal and sort of jumps the background inside the tank in terms of vibrancy

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Thanks! That's a great idea!