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my betta seems to be very happy and active in his tank now that hes alone. he always hangs around the front of the tank watching me at my desk. i thought that since hes in his own tank now with no filter to agitate the surface of the water that he might make his first bubble nest. but all he does is go to the surface and blow just a single bubble and then swim away from it. why does he do this?

also i noticed something really neat that i could never see without getting really close to him. i always thought his eyes were small solid black dots on his head. but he actually has a deep brown iris. its kinda neat.

Hi,
I do hope there is some slight circulation within the tank.
Give him time to get acclimated, well fed, and the temperature just right, and he will get "the urge" and begin to blow a bubble nest. The nest will need something for the bubbles to cluster around. Generally this can be leaves from plants that have grown up to the surface, or sometimes floating plants.

You can speed up the process by placing a tank with a female or two adjacent to his tank where he can see them and interact with them.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Mirrors for about 30 seconds will make him active a bit, and he may try and show off to prospective females by building a nice big nest to show off. Don't leave the mirror there as it can just cause stress. The betta on food packages often works as well the first few times.

How old is he? I have noticed with the ones I've had in the past that as they grow older they're less happy to make nests and will often only blow a few.

A very low powered filter or airstone can provide slight surface agitation. I have kept bettas in unfiltered uncirculated tanks before, however its imperative that they get water changes ever few days (depending on tank size) if you do that. In both situations surface plants can help. Just make sure that he will still have some access to the surface.

^_^

hes in a 1.5 gallon hex. i have a cyperus helferi in a rear corner beside the heater. it should get more than tall enough to offer support for a nest. i do a 10% change every 3 days and vac the gravel once a week. i keep him active by dropping something colorful into his tank attached to a string and he flares up and chases it around. what would be a good way to agitate the water a little bit? the pump i have has two nozzles for hoses but it isnt adjustable. i feel like dropping a bare airstone into his tank would be too much. also hes about 5 months old. i figured him to be about 4 months when i bought him on december 29 of 13 by his size and undeveloped colors. this was him on the day i bought him.

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and this is him now.

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Hi
And thanks Babelfish for the chime in.
Right now the main concern is providing the fish with a safe home in which it is comfortable. While I'm thinking of it, wow! What a difference in the two pictures... Good work.

If you are going to breed the fish, you will want a much larger tank. You need to consider several things to successfully breed the fish. It should be well planted with some of the plants rising to the surface. The plants at the surface will provide anchor for the bubble nest. They will also provide hiding places for the female once the breeding process is completed. If you are not there to remove her immediately, he will chase and kill her. It's a strenuous process and she will be exhausted and beat up. You will need to move her to her own tank, such as your current 2.5 gallon tank, and feed her with quality food so she recovers.

There needs to be room in the tank for him to chase her around during the breeding process.

Once eggs hatch, and he allows the nest to fall appart, the fry will be free swimming, and he will start to eat them, so he needs to go back to his own tank as well. A larger tank allows you to care for the batch till they get larger and need their own homes. For a filter you want to use one
of the inside the tank, sponge filters. The air rising up the tube will provide the circulation for the tank. Do not use a filter that will suck the fry into the filter.

I would use a 10-20G or even a 30 for the breeding tank.
But then I'm conservative.

When you have a tank large enough for breeding and he is comfortable in it, then purchase another 2.5 or 5g tank and a couple of females. Plant it well, and feed them well have both their tanks around 80 degrees. Set the small tank against the larger tank that he is in so that he can see them. Good food, a nice comfortable home, the right temperature, and seeing the female, will get him started building the nest. When he's built a nest, and at least one of the females is full of eggs, then you can introduce her to his tank.

Research on the internet as there are all sorts of articles on how to successfully breed your fish.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

ive actually done a boat load of research on breeding. the best educational videos i think might be a 9 part series on youtube that a "master breeder" created. he breeds very differently from others and explains why, and the do's and don'ts. he kinda jumps from point to point but once you put it all together it makes sense and i cant really argue with his logic. heres a link to the first video in the series. tell me what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvzVPd29DoU. and thanks its nice to know that im actually taking proper care of him. that photo was before i put him in his own tank. heres one of him in the 1.5 hex.

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i know that bettas love to explore their surroundings. bearing that in mind, would a betta do well in something like this? i already have everything i would need to build something similar, and then decorate each compartment differently, so that he always feels like theres something new to look at each time he swims somewhere else.

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Hi,
You know some of these things are really interesting and amazing to look at. But...Have you ever considered how much work it is going to take to keep that thing algae free and the substrate that clean? Hours and hours, just begin to describe the work entailed to keep something looking like that for three months, much less any longer. All those things look really beautiful and well landscaped to appeal to the eye, but few who purchase anything like that consider how difficult they are to scrub free of algae, and keep the gravel that clean. What happens if he "gets lost" in the bottom globe? I assume there is some sort of pump/filter assembly that circulates water through it? I guess he'd "breathe" water till he found his way back to the top section, where I assume there is some air?

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

ok good point

also i never received an answer to how i could get some circulation in his tank without dropping an airstone into it. the pump i have is meant for 60 gallon tanks. i feel like that would be too much disturbance on the waters surface for him to be able to make a bubble nest later on

Hi,
We have so many topics open at once that I guess I missed that question. Sorry.

You can use filter you have in the tank, or you can use a sponge filter such as one of those in this link below:

http://search.aol.com/aol/image?q=inside+aquarium+sponge+filters&v_t=keyword_rollover

I would suggest that you use the inside filter in the plastic box that you have now. I would strongly urge you to use one of the sponge filters in the tank in which you breed the bettas. The fry (baby fish) can get sucked inside the plastic box and die where as there is no way that can happen with a sponge filter.

If you don't want to purchase a smaller air pump, you can use the one you have with the purchase of a set of gang valves such as in the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/JW-Pet-Company-Accuair-Aquarium/dp/B001CQ69I8

You have to divert nearly all of the air out of the pump somewhere else. Later on, when you have several tanks, you can use the valves to adjust for the needs of each tank. I've seen gang valves with six outputs, and if you need more then you simply connect another set of valves to the first set, and on and on.

Connect a length of airline to the first valve, and insert a cloth pipe cleaner into the tube then connect the tube to your filter. Open that valve, say half way. Open all of the others all the way and turn on the pump. There should be no air bubbles coming out of the filter as all the air is going out the other valves. Now, slowly, start closing the valves that are venting into the air while watching the filter in the aquarium. Closing the valves increases the resistance to air flow out of the extra valves and puts pressure into the hose going to the filter. When you have two, or three bubbles in the clear tube out of the top of the filter, you have the system adjusted correctly. You want some circulation in the tank and some suction in the filter. Two to three bubbles rising, one after the other, still in the tube coming out of the filter will provide that. You can experiment with it to refine the circulation by increasing or decreasing the air flow out of the extra valves.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

at the moment im not planning on breeding so something like that isnt quite necessary but i will definitely keep it in mind. i saw something on youtube today as i was brushing up on how to hatch brine shrimp because i finally ordered 25 grams earlier. the person in the video i was watching used an adjustable valve that controls the air flow. i dont imagine something like that being very expensive at all, its very easy to use and it works.