Bad Betta

[andyt_uk]

you may have seen my post last week when i announced the death of my suspected pregnant platty - no obvious sign of illness or attack.
watching the remaining in habitants closely (male betta & male platty) i was 99% certain the betta was responsibly for the untimely death.
It may have been more foolish than anything but as the betta seemed to be getting more aggressive i figured if i added some more tank mates he would calm down again - so i bought 2 new female platty (slightly larger than before) and i just couldnt resist the c julii so got 2 of them
all i can say is BAD move - in less than 24 they corys were dead - clearly attacked - i didnt see it but i dont doubt it was the betta.
after much discussion and heart ache we decided we had to remove the betta - we didnt want a tank with just a betta, and we cant afford to keep replacing his victims. so sadly we had to put him out of everyone elses misery.
part of me felt "its just a fish" while part of me was genuinely upset.
i do blame myself as i shouldnt have bought the corys, or i shouldnt have had the betta in the first place knowing its reputation.
we live and learn i suppose.
i now have 6 neon tetra and 3 platty, and the platty look so much happier with their new tank mates - so for now i am telling myself i did the right thing

 

[Jht]

by put him out of everyone else's misery do you mean killing him off? please tell me you did'nt kill him

 

[aernympha]

you killled him!!! why didn't u take it back to the shop u didn't have to kill it

 

[akhtar]

what a sad story, you should have put him into his own little tank! sorry bout the betta

 

[guppymonkey]

So the moral of the story is that if fish harass other fish to death than they must be killed? This makes as much sense as the death penalty! We'll show you! If you kill than we will kill you to show you that killing is wrong!

 

[cassandra]

that's sad about the betta, but you could of put him in his own fish bowl or even got a little girl or boy to take him im sure that would of made their year, or take him back to the pet store but what happened happened and we all learn!!!

 

[White Whale]

after much discussion and heart ache we decided we had to remove the betta - we didnt want a tank with just a betta, and we cant afford to keep replacing his victims. so sadly we had to put him out of everyone elses misery.

You could have just put him in his own pint-sized betta jar. Just clean the water everyday and feed him once every other. Or you could have sent him to me. Not all bettas are aggressive against its tankmates.

 

[juliethegr8t]

Yikes guys don't jump all over him - he did what he thought was best! If that means putting the betta down, then so be it. He says he didn't want a betta-only tank, which is some people's preference. Perhaps he could have given the betta away, but andy - if not, you probably didn't have much of a choice, can't have him keep killing all your other fish. Sorry for all your problems, that's never fun for anyone!

 

[freshmike]

100% agree with juliethegr8t.

 

[lizard]

100% agree with juliethegr8t.

Me too! Sorry to hear about your fishy troubles, Andy. I can understand why you decided what you did. Un-fun as it was, you did what you thought was best. Good for you. Good luck with the new fish (Try some Corys again...they're great little fish!)

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[-=DG=-]

You killed the fish because it killed another?

Poor thing was only doing what comes naturally (thats why they are called 'fighters' i suppose)

Hope you at least done a quick and clean job!

 

[wuvmybetta]

bettas hold true to their name, FIGHTERS, WARRIORS!! I'm appalled, I'm sorry, but I am! Ohhhhh I could go on and on but I'll bite my tongue and leave it at this...... you could have got him a small jail type home for less than 5 bucks,he'd of been happier in IT than in a big tank anyway You put him in that tank and he was under the assumption that it was HIS and doing only what came natural to him. My oldest male went on several killing sprees in the community and ended up in his own 10,guess I could have saved 20 bucks and just crushed his skull,right?




edit: after reading your post AGAIN, have you tested your water parameters?,that's a helluva lot of fish in a 7, no wonder he knocked a few off (if it wasn't ammonia spikes that killed them )

 

[Jo]

Sorry for your mis-haps andy, I know how it is to have a rogue fish that attacks others my Molly went mad and killed two of the others...I was very close to killing her myself, but luckily I had a different tank that I have put her in at the moment.

People, think that you should back off a little bit, he just did what he thought was best. People may not agree and thats fine, cause everyone likes to run their lives differently, sure that I have done things that a lot of you wouldn't agree with, but if the forum started getting all shouty that might put me off visiting again. Andy is a fairly new member here and I think that as Andy was obviously upset about having to get rid of his Betta (as I have been at having to euthnaise fish) perhaps we should show what a caring forum we really are and give him a bit of support. We don't want to scare off new members do we...

 

[lizard]

People, think that you should back off a little bit, he just did what he thought was best. People may not agree and thats fine, cause everyone likes to run their lives differently, sure that I have done things that a lot of you wouldn't agree with, but if the forum started getting all shouty that might put me off visiting again. Andy is a fairly new member here and I think that as Andy was obviously upset about having to get rid of his Betta (as I have been at having to euthnaise fish) perhaps we should show what a caring forum we really are and give him a bit of support. We don't want to scare off new members do we...

I agree, Geeza. I've probably done things people don't agree with, but hey...I do what I think is best. Right now, I have a single Platy in a one gallon tank. I know it's not the "ideal" home for him, but if he's in the 10 gallon he constantly gets chased and harrassed and doesn't get to eat. I think he's better of in the one gallon where he can eat and not get harrassed. Some of you probably wouldn't agree with that. Just because one person does something someone else didn't agree with doesn't mean the person isn't doing what they think is best. Andy also did what he thought was best. Perhaps he didn't want to give the fish away, as he was afraid it would kill its next owner's fish. Please don't leave us, Andy! Again, good for you for doing what you thought was best.

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[david27]

Hi I agree with lizard and geeza, Lets just point andy in the right the direction not get on his back, I'm sure he hated doing what he did and he did it for what he thought was the right reasons. He was thinking about the welfare of his other fish and whilst his choice wasn't perhaps the best one I'am sure we have all made mistakes in the past, I know I have but it is important that we learn from them. As for keeping a betta in a small jar it is something I totally disagree with, a fish should have room to swim.
Good luck Andy with whatever you choose and I look forward to posts letting us know how your tank is and perhaps a few pics.

All the best

David