I just put my boys together in a divided tank.
My VT, Reuben is being a huge butt. He swims up to the divider and just sits there, and Gilbert flares and freaks out at him, then Reuben just swims away. xD
Yeah. One time I accidentally placed my female Betta with my blind male Betta. the female flared and flared while the male just ignored her and went on with his thing
Here's some. I may get some hate for this buuuuttt....
Flaring is stressful. Bettas don't need interaction.
Flaring is only bad if it gets to the point the males are ripping fins. Since I keep mostly plakats I don't usually have this issue. I had an in depth discussion with transhipper and judge Linda Olson about "carding" bettas. She did experiments awhile back and concluded bettas are social creatures and communicate in their own ways (flaring). Generally flaring only lasts a few days between neighbors until the next water change. If you do card and flare your bettas it will give them an ego boost so to speak. They flare and then BAM the enemy is gone.... the males think "I'm awesome, I scared him off...".
*prepares for hate PMs/angry members D:*
I always thought flaring them for a little bit was healthy. Poseidon gets the mirror for a few mins and I come back to a small bubble nest. I think he's destroying them afterward, though. That filter is not powerful enough to do the damage.
Actually MrVampire I'm pretty sure a lot of us agree xDD
I have veiltails. Now, I've worked it out that I know who "strains" themselves to flare - those are the ones who'll blow their fins. Some don't stress at all and it is effortless, and they never blow a fin. However, I do it for conditioning, or exercising because it's good :) and yes... it is bad when they get too stressed haha. My girls flare, and now once in a while (after their mexican stand off, torn fins and a booboo) they flare, and that's it. It's a way to work things out, tell each other things, and stand their ground :)
I think it makes sense that they are social. In the wild, each betta doesn't get it's own 0.5 gallon puddle, they have territories, and they communicate with each other by flaring, probably quite often. Maybe in a way it's better to keep two males together through a divider.
This is a GREAT post, Bomba. I've heard all of those before ...
My favorite is probably "It's too much work to take care of them the way you do." they usually say this after they finally realize they're giving bad care.
The way I do? Excuse me, but I'm treating them like living creatures! If you don't want to spend the time or money to take care of a living creature, then you're just immature and irresponsible!
I'm slowly turning into the crazy fish girl on campus ... I have a hard time respecting people that don't take care of their fishies properly.
MrV, I think most agree. Flaring is healthy and should be encouraged, but not at stressful levels.
I think it makes sense that they are social. In the wild, each betta doesn't get it's own 0.5 gallon puddle, they have territories, and they communicate with each other by flaring, probably quite often. Maybe in a way it's better to keep two males together through a divider.
same with my females... you see Savannah's territory is middle, the other blue is left front, the steel blue is right front, green right back... they cross, they flare :) or they show off a little, that's all haha. Being in a 40 gallon I felt they were okay to flare, deck it out, and they've done it and they are fine with only one booboo (Rose got popeye from being smucked).
I was told at the store I got my females I should have tanks for each single one of them. I have a TANK. I KNOW they are bettas. and some cannot be together for females
Another thing I've heard is "my betta LIKES to be petted". I won't say anything on it, other than I think they tolerate and/or trust you, but that's about it.
i agree that bettas can be social. i've stopped putting things between my betta's tanks when they can see each other, and noticed that they generally do their own thing, and flare only once in a while, and then it's just a little bit, then they move on. my girls actually enjoy watching each other, and Medic stopped glass surfing when she had a neighbor to watch. but, that doesn't mean they'd want a tank mate all the time, yeah?
Yeah. One time I accidentally placed my female Betta with my blind male Betta. the female flared and flared while the male just ignored her and went on with his thing
that's exactly what happened with my Ichi, and my blind boy, Theo. they were in constant view of each other, 24/7, and never had issues. i guess at one point, Ichi flared, and saw Theo ignore him, and was like 'okay. he knows who's boss', and didn't bother him after. he seemed to enjoy watching Theo go about his business, and never tail bit until after Theo passed. :I
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they cross, they flare :) or they show off a little, that's all haha. Being in a 40 gallon I felt they were okay to flare, deck it out, and they've done it and they are fine with only one booboo (Rose got popeye from being smucked). 
