Bubble nests and is it bad to pet my betta?

[BellaBetta88]

Hi everyone! I've only had my guy for a little over a week. He's had to deal with a lot, having lived at petsmart. I brought him home in one of those half gallons, realized that it wasn't gonna work and went out and bought him a 1.5 gallon. Then did some googling and realized, hey, he should at least have a 2.5 gallon! So I moved him into that on Friday. He's definitely a trooper for putting up with all that. He blows bubbles at the top but nowhere near a full blown bubble nest. How often do you guys get those?

Oh, he also lets me pet him but I read that that is bad for him. Do you guys ever pet your bettas? Should I stop?

[BellasMomma]

I have a female so i dont know anything about the nests... but i do try to pet her but she swims away. I like to make her food - pellets or peas stick to my finger and have her jump just a tad outta the water to get it. ITS AWESOME! i do not know though if thats the best idea....

[youlovegnats]

Mine make nests almost as soon as I'm done changing their water- like within 15 min. of water changes they already have a nest. o___o'
I pet mine all the time. xD Just make sure you wash your hands with hot water (no soap!) before you touch them- you don't really know what you've touched. o_O;

[Bombalurina]

You do want to be careful with petting, though - too much or too hard and you can rub off their slime coat. If they are swimming against your hand, that's fine, but I wouldn't actively try to pet them.

[thecoinbox]

Fred blew bubble nest after bubble nest the first year we had him. He hasn't done it since. His brother Barney (other side of the divider) couldn't be bothered.

[Fieldz]

Blowing nests means your betta is really healthy! Congratulations!

[PiscisAmor]

You don't want to try and pet your fish, as that can be very bad for their slime coat and then they get sick. But if you just put your hand in the tank and he rubs against you, he will know what is too rough for him and only rub you as long as he feels comfortable. animals are smart like that. You just let them go as far as they want to.

Bubblenests are weird. It's really an individual thing. My guy never built a nest, but when I bred him he built a massive one. Some boys build them all the time, some need the female pheromones