opening his gills

[ellee33]

My first betta, "Bubbles", has been opening his gills a couple of times a day. I have never had a betta fish before, so I am wondering if this is normal... Is he having a hard time breathing, is he constipated or gassy,... or nothing at all? He was opening them more often on the first day, and seems to be doing it less now.

We have had him for about 6 and 1/2 days. He seems to like his tank... so far. He is eating regularly and well. We love him so much and just want to make sure that he is as happy as possible.

Also, this might be a stupid/obvious question, but... can they (betta fish) hear? We have three dogs that bark pretty often. Will this bother him at all?

Thanks!
Elizabeth

[Rachel]

Hi Elizabeth,
Welcome to betta keeping, it sounds like you're enjoying Bubbles so far. If you haven't had a chance to do so, I would recommend checking out the HB homepage for some basics about their care.

When he's opening his gills, does it look like he's taking a big yawn or does it look like he's flaring at you somewhat like this?

[ellee33]

i'm pretty sure it was your second choice, like he's flaring them open, not really like a yawn...

[Rachel]

This is completely normal then and referred to as flaring. If you hold up a mirror to his tank for a few minutes he will think it's another fish and put on a display for you. Some people think it's a good idea to do this for a few minutes to exercise your fish so to speak. It tends to promote bubblenesting as well, which you can read about here: www.healthybetta.com/articles/New%20To%20Bettas/bubblenest.html

[ellee33]

awesome! thanks!!!

now, do all bettas "bubblenest"? i've never seen one, i don't think... and i have never heard of this before, for sure!!!


thanks, again!
-elizabeth & bubbles


oh yeah, on a side note, i took some pictures of bubbles and i want to post one on my profile, like yours... how do i do that?

[Rachel]

I see you got your avatar picture to work. His coloring looks nice!

Not all bettas will build bubblenests, but it is thought of as a sign of good health and happiness with their living conditions. It's an instinctive thing they do as part of the mating process, although when male bettas are kept alone it is just something for us to enjoy instead. Some bettas will never do it though and others will when they are ill, so it isn't the best indicator of health necessarily. It is neat to see them building one though. Sometimes you can hear them as they blow the individual bubbles. There's a post in the gallery that shows some recent bubblenests from various members' bettas.

As for the noise, I missed that in your first question, barking dogs wouldn't really bother him I would think. I'd be more concerned if you had loud music playing or if there is a lot of noise near his tank on a regular basis.