Bubblenest and PH / water hardness

[Emerson]

Is there a correlation between bubblenests and either PH or water hardness? Our male Bettas never seem very interested in building bubblenests after we've had them for a couple of weeks, unless (nod to BettaMVP) there are weather changes.

I know the PH in the spring water I use runs about 7.8, but I don't know how hard it is. I'd say pretty hard, based on the mineral deposits on everything.

Just wondering if anybody here has heard of a connection.

sef

[BettaRic]

Hi Sef,
I'm not sure at all there is a connection. I think most factors depend on the fish's mood (health? happiness?) and, as Betta MVP suggested, pressure changes.
Just to tell you about my experience: since I've had problems with nitrates with my other thanks years ago, I was advised to use deionized water, which I later re-condition; so my water is pretty soft and my pH absolutely stable and neutral, 7.0.
My Lapis-Zu used to build huge bubble nests for months, and little by little he stopped, maybe because he was aging or not stimulated by external factors, such as viewing girls . Right now there are only a few bubbles floating. After his Bettamax shots, there are more, but this cannot definitely be called a bubble-nest.
My poor Ru-Bih, who was kept in exactly the same water conditions and was definitely younger, used to blow huge bubble nests, but not always; actually, the week before he died, there was one that was so big I meant to take a picture of it - which I did not do , whereas when he started being bloated there was absolutely nothing at the surface.
On the other hand, a friend of mine keeps her bettas directly in tap water in very small jars ( ), and they blow bubble nests, but since she hasn't had them for long I'm convinced this won't last long. I have even seen at the lfs here a betta kept in a tiny and narrow display thing with a huge bubble nest. So who really knows?

[Betta MVP]

Hmmm, good question. I wish I knew .

My bettas are all in conditioned tap water with a pretty high PH, around 8.0. They build bubble nests all of the time, sometimes if the weather changes or they can see a female, they build bigger ones. In tanks with filters a lot of times they won't build because of the current on the surface of the water.

[BettaRic]

A link between filters and bubble nests??? Arghhhhh, difficult to say : my bettas were all the time in filtered tanks with slow current, but this did not prevent them from blowing bubble nests.

[RainbowBetta]

You shouldn't think that your betta is not happy if there is no bubble nest.

In my experience, the nests come when the betta has a reason to build one. Either because he is establishing himself in a new territory (new tank, or rearranged one) or when he sees a female on a regualar basis or when the weather changes, indicating the factors that lead to breeding in the wild.

It is generally accepted that a betta will not build a nest if he is sick. But that does NOT mean that a betta with no nest is sick.

[Emerson]

I wish I knew. I know it's not that important, but I would love to see Nappy build a nice, big nest like he used to. Horatio seldom built nests, and it doesn't look as if Bernadotte is particularly interested in it, either (he built a small one a couple of weeks ago, but not since). I just have to wonder if it has something to do with my water conditions.

If it's not the PH, then maybe the hardness.

Do any others of you have trouble with mineral deposits?

sef

[Jenny]

I don't know the exact hardness of my water, but my goldfish tank where the airater sprays gets pretty nasty, so I would guess it's kinda hard. None of my bettas seem to have a problem with it. They all build bubblenests occasionally. Nothing really spectacular, but usually something.

[Megan]

I have HEARD that bettas are more prone to bubblenesting and spawning in softer water... A lot of people will add things to their water in their spawning tanks if they have a high level of hardness. (black water extract, indian almond leaves, etc...) Since bettas come from relatively soft water in nature, they seem to prefer softer water conditions for spawning. I have had people tell me that they had to add water softeners to their spawning tanks because their water was so hard that the males couldn't get their nests to stick together... I can't verify this, since I have always had very soft water and no problems with breaking nests...