what does it means when a male betta spreads out its gill to a female?

Question

i have a male betta fish. he looked lonely so i bought him a
mate. and i got a bigger tank. so i put them in together.
but the male keep following the female betta and spreading
out its gills! what should i do?

Answer 1

That's exactly the reason why it's a big nono, unless you want to breed them
you never put male/female or male/male together
However, you can put at least 3 females in a 10 gallon tank together with enough live plants in there
you can fit 5 of them in there including a couple of cory cats (bottom feeder)


Hope that helps
Good luck


Eb


For livehelp, follow the link in my profile

Answer 2

You should not put a male and female betta together,one of them will end up being killed.When he flares his gills he is being aggressive towards her and you need to remove her right away.The only time males and females can be together is if you were breeding them which takes much skill knowledge.If you have at least a 5 gallon tank he could have some small peaceful tank mates just not another betta.

Answer 3

Depending on how big your tank is and how many hiding spots there are he may be being territorial. It's a good idea to either separate them or add in either another female or a few more plants to give them both hiding spots. Your male will attack your female if he feels threatened enough, and she just might take a nibble of him if she feels the same! Check the top of your tank regularly for the bubble 'nest' happy males usually make when ready to breed and keep an eye out for him guarding it. If they breed you'll know, and if you plan to keep the babies you'd better keep an eye on the tank and get them out before too long.

Answer 4

from what i know the male Betta decide....usually three to five females will be kept in there own tank and dropped into the male tank for fifteen min's at a time...plenty of cover and a healthy supply of meaty food (ground or chopped krill) can induce the notion of a 'good season'...unfortunately the danger of Betta breeding is that the male will pick a mate or two and the other will be treated as a threat and usually killed.

Answer 5

If you have a large tank then they might be fine, but you should really keep them seperate. They will fight with each other until death like males/males. Keep them seperate until you want them to breed. Also, bettas don't get lonely. If you were worried, then getting a few mollies or community fish (NOT gouramis, they will fight with them) to put in there to keep him company.

Answer 6

Usually those types of fishes should be left solitary unless it's mating time. To my knowledge when a male spreads his gills it's a sign of being territorial and most likely attack her. If he doesn't attack her, he may want to mate with her.

Answer 7

That's just how betas react. He is either warning her away from him or trying to court her by showing how impressive he can be. Just keep an eye out for aggressive behavior and make sure that if he starts abusing her they are separated.

Sometimes adding another female will help by taking his attention off her for a while too.

Answer 8

Thats just how they are. Agressive by nature. If you notice any biting remove the female. But they should be fine. You may even end up with some fry.

Answer 9

get the female out, as they dont belong together unless for breeding.


wow.i cant really believe that you would do that. please do research about bettas as that is a common no-no.

please see my betta site for help: http://www.bcaquatics.com

Answer 10

the best solution for this probe is to get another female betta.....