Flaring question

[Cyndih70]

So, I've been looking at different videos on youtube.com of bettas that are for sale thru aquabid.com

I have noticed that when they are kept in the betta barracks, they are right up against 2 bettas (one on either side). In the videos, these boys are constantly flaring and swimming frantically around their little barracks. Is this a safe and healthy way to keep bettas?

[Mo]

Temperoarily it can. But long term having two male bettas constantly in sight of eachother and constantly flaring can be stressful to the bettas,

[Cyndih70]

So, they say its better to keep them in barracks as opposed to the cups that most chain stores use.... but if thats the case, how do you keep them from flaring all the time? It could days and days that those boys sit in those barracks. So what makes it a better method of keeping them in barracks, if they are going to be stressed due to flaring all the time?

[Mo]

Usually there is something Inbetween each barrack to keep them from seeing eachother

[Cyndih70]

Oh ok...that makes sense. So, when they make these videos to post on aquabid, they obviously want the fish to flare, so they can show off their beautiful fins. Hopefully they don't keep them in those tiny spaces, flaring like that for more than a short period of time to photo and video them. They truly are an absolutely, breathtakingly, beautiful breed of fish though. When they flare out their beards and fins, they just take my breath away!

[Cattitude]

Years ago when I first had bettas I used to love watching them flare. I'd get a small mirror and hold it to the side of their bowl. But, I did it so often that eventually the bettas got used to their own image and stopped flaring.

I don't know if the same thing would happen if you kept the same two bettas side by side for a long time. I do know that some females in a sorority get used to each other and stop flaring whenever they see each other (even though they don't see each other all the time).

[TheCheese909]

It all depends on the Betta itself.. I have had 4 bettas in their aquariums right next to eachother (tanks only an inch apart) and they weren't always flaring at eachother. The two on the outside were the most aggressive and the 2 in the middle were much more mellow and would just sit there or ignore the ones flaring.

It just depends of the fish itself.

[Sheldon31]

In my LFS the barracks have greyish dividers so they can't see eachother that well. Also some have plants or decor to stop too much flaring or a cave for the fish to hide in when he's had enough.

[Cyndih70]

The more I look at photos and such, I can see the little dividers now. I know that having your boys flare once in a while is healthy for them, just seemed to me that if they were doing that for long periods of time, it couldn't be good. But now i can see they only do that to take the photo or video. Its really the only way to show off their fins.