Why does my betta puff out his face & gills sometimes?
When a male betta becomes confronted by another male, he responds by flaring out the gill covers (operculum) and showing the underlying branchiostegal membrane (that beard thingy!) to his competitor. Flaring makes him appear larger and more fierce to his would-be aggressor than he would otherwise look. My male bettas flare at their food, at each other and often enough at me too! Males will flare at females as part of the courting behavior during spawning. Females sometimes will flare too. Besides flaring, you will also notice that the male holds his fins very erect and wide open and that he wiggles his body back and forth really fast. Male Betta Flaring I have found that my bettas love to flare at objects colored red, so pointing a red pen always seems to do the trick for my boys, making them flare like crazy! Sometimes a betta can see a red or other object from his bowl and will flare away like a madman until the bettakeeper figures out what the offending item is and removes it from h
When a male betta becomes confronted by another male, he responds by flaring out the gill covers (operculum) and showing the underlying branchiostegal membrane (that beard thingy!) to his competitor. Flaring makes him appear larger and more fierce to his would-be aggressor than he would otherwise look. My male bettas flare at their food, at each other and often enough at me too! Males will flare at females as part of the courting behavior during spawning. Females sometimes will flare too. Besides flaring, you will also notice that the male holds his fins very erect and wide open and that he wiggles his body back and forth really fast. Male Betta Flaring I have found that my bettas love to flare at objects colored red, so pointing a red pen always seems to do the trick for my boys, making them flare like crazy!
