The Importance of Temperature, Individual Size and Habitat Arrangement on the Bubble Nest Construction of Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens Regan, 1910)

In the present study, the importance of temperature, individual size and habitat arrangement on the bubble nest construction of Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens Regan, 1910) was investigated. 75 males and 15 females of B. splendens were used for the study. Ten aquariums (33 × 100 × 60 cm) were used and were divided into two sides by a glass layer. Aquariums were aerated and heated by aquarium heaters. Cartons were placed in the wall of aquariums in order to prevent excess lighting. To observe the importance of habitat arrangement on the bubble net construction, adult of male B. splendens were maintained in aquariums having different color raffia (white, black, gray, green, blue) or in aquariums having a natural water plant (Lemna sp.), artificial plants (made from plastic material) and raffia (white, black, gray, green and blue). Males of B. splendens were exposed to 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 C in order to observe the effect of temperature range in the construction of bubble nest. Fish samples in different length were set up in aquariums to find the relations between fish length and area of constructed bubble nests. In the present study, it is found that B. splendens is able to construct bubble nest in a wide range of temperature (25-29 C), and the best result is observed from the fish maintained at 28 C (mean bubble nests area: 43.15 ± 6.74 cm), habitat arrangement gives a better result to encourage males in the construction of bubble nests, and there is a positive, but a weak relation between constructed bubble nests and individual size (r= 0.45).