Air Pump Bubbles

[Megzie]

Hello everyone!!
I have a betta, two tetras, two platies, and a pleco. I recently started my community tank and everyone gets along fine. I was watching them yesterday and realized that one platy was drawn to the bubbles from my air pump. She would go down to the base where the bubbles start and ride it up to the top. I though she did it accidentally... but she did it not stop for about ten minutes. I looked back awhile later and my other platy was doing it too. Then my tetras started swimming straight down into the bubbles and riding them up... then... my betta started. I just wanted to know if any of your fish do this or if I just have weirdos.

[Bombalurina]

My betta used to create his own bubbles by making a nest under the filter outflow. The flow would push the bubbles down into the water and he obviously thought they were fry escaping, because he'd catch them in his mouth and try to take them back up. :p

May I make a suggestion on your stocking? Not meaning to lecture, just a few points:
- even a bristlenose pleco is probably going to be too large for your tank as they get 6 inches long. They also have a really big bioload, so he's overstocking you.
- tetras really prefer groups of six. In smaller groups, they are far more easily stressed and therefore more susceptible to disease.
- platies prefer groups of 3.
If I were you, I would rehome the pleco and choose between the platies and the tetras, then boost the group of whichever to an appropriate number. Yes, it gives you less variety in the tank, but the fish are happier. :) Ten gallons is really too small for a varied community.

Good luck with your bubble-riders! :p

[pyro fiend]

meg i wouldnt say you have weirdos.. i had a normal pleco way back when hed ram at the hose to the bubble wall til it came loose ans would use it to massage his back im guessing cause hes place the hose in the middle of his tail and sit there as if saying "AAAH thats the spot" lol
also i had plattys and guppys who did the same thing as yours are foinf with my bubble walls. theyd race around from the end see who cuold get there first then ride the bubbles up and let it bloat them to the center of the tank and do it all over again. lol

btw bomba that is so flippin cute lmao i wants him now! >:O

[Trobar]

I thought my betta was weird too when he played in bubbles. And yes I know he doesn't need it. He gobbles up the bubbles, flares, floats kinda backward and upward til he hits the surface, takes a breath...rinse and repeat. I'm assuming it is a toy for him.

[Megzie]

When I went to adopt I got all of the tetras and platys that they had. I have another tank for the pleco for when she gets bigger, and my filter is capable of filtering a tank twice its size.

Just wanted to know if it was a normal behavior. I also assumed it was a form of entertainment.

[pyro fiend]

ehh i dont think theres such thing as normal behavoir lol all fish are different [well not all but you know what i mean] they got dif attitudes. i untroduced both my bettas to one yesterday the curtin they thought was ok. the stone one was freaked out by it. the other was kinda like ehh what ever lol... most fish will act dif. :P but for yours id say ya its entertainment for them lol