Fun time for Bettas?

[SlavetoImpulse]

Originally Posted by ChrissyCav916

I was trying to get Blu to come close to my finger in his tank, (bonding if you will) & I noticed he started to flare his gills.
So in doing some research, I read some of these posts last night, & I tried the mirror trick, well now he flares every time I come near his tank, is he pissed at me now? & I notice you say it's good for them to flare, may I ask why, what does flaring do for them?

Flaring for male Bettas is like saying "I'm bigger than you are", kind of like how other male species in the animal kingdom fight to determine who is the dominant male. That's my understanding of it, anyway.

Four of my six tanks sit on a table in my room, and my fish occasionally like to flare at each other. Sometimes even my female gets in on the fun. Lol. She doesn't flare, but she'll swim up and down, bouncing like a ping-pong ball, when she has the attention of one of them.