cleaning bubble nester tank

[daylily]

My betta is quite the bubble nester.

I have him in temporary housing. He was in a planted 5 gallon Fluval Spec, but when I added a couple pygmy cory, he had murder on his mind - so he's in a 3 gallon temp tank until I can get a new 15 gallon cycled for the corys and then will add some other small fish, and put the betta back into the 5 gallon.

His temporary tank has a heater, but no filter, and I've been 100% changing it every other day.

I no more than change it and he's building a new nest. The things are kind of yucky to deal with... I try to get it all cleaned out, but it's kind of -- I don't know - slimy? to clean....

He only has a few pebbles in the bottom holding down a fake plant, but man, he wastes no time making a nest 4-5 inches across.

He tried to build nests in the 5 gallon, but with the filter, they were much smaller. I was able to scoop them out with the little cup the betta came in.

Any suggestions on cleaning up after them? Do I even need to worry about the nests other than draining tank, washing out, and refilling?

[shellieca]

I don't specifically mess with their nests in my 10g or 5.5g. I feel bad they get messed up during a water change. In a smaller tank when I do a 100% water change I just dump out the water & wipe down the inside with paper towels. I've never noticed them being hard to clean up after.

[Fishehgobloop]

I've never had a hard time cleaning a tank that had a bubble nest, either, but if you're feeling the tank isn't clean enough for any reason, try a scrubber or a tank sponge? (A scrubber if you've got acrylic or glass, a sponge if the tank is plastic, so it doesn't get scratched). If you're already using one or both of those, then a paper towel usually gets the excess off nicely, but if you'd like, PetCo and Petsmart both sell this spraycleaner (I believe it's API brand) you can use inside or outside of your tank, it's super effective against algae, slime, and even water stains on the sides of the tank, and it's safe for fish. You just spray it on, wait a few minutes, and then wash it off. I use it when I need a little extra cleaning power for a tank.

[daylily]

Since this is temporary housing, I have a plastic plant in there with him. He builds the nest around the plant, where it meets the surface. It seems kind of sticky to me, and sort of hard to get off the plant. It also tends to stick in the little net I used to get him out of there. Today, I used the cup he came in to scoop him out instead of the net, and it worked better. No problem with the nest sticking to it.

If it is not a problem if some of the bubble stuff is left on the plant after I do the tank clean, then I won't worry about it.

The good news is that it looks like the 15 gallon tank is almost finished cycling. I'll move the cory cats in there, then the betta can go back into the 5 gallon.

I'm looking forward to it - feels like I'm being cruel to him having him in the critter keeper instead of a nice planted tank.

As soon as I clean the tank, he starts on a new nest. By the next morning, it's at least 4 inches wide and close to a 1/4" in height.