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Devorax

Fish Crazy
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Feb 25, 2009
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Merthyr Tydfil, S Wales
As you some of you may know, I have added 6 female bettas to the main tank (my siggie). I have had them about a month and tbh they have never truly 'settled down', that is, they never seem to completely lose their stress stripes. I am puzzled by what this may be.

The tank has a cave for each of them, plus many natural hiding places provided by the bogwood, and the copius amounts of foliage in there, but they never seem to lose the barring. I have on rare occasion seen them with the vertical breeding bars (which then disappeared as soon as another female spotted them). I am getting concerned now for their state of well being. We have had an ammonia problem of late (AGAIN) which has just come from nowhere (ie weeks no none showing then suddenly off the scale in 36 hours after 80% water changes-which may or may not be connected to the fact that we tried to boil all the tannins from the bogwood only to discover in actual fact that you can't).

They have the demeanour of always watching over their shoulder, always on the look-out. We have one in particular that is prone to picking on one particular guppy male (whom has to be frequently saved by placing him in the shrimp tank). Granted water quality may now be giving them grief, as 80% changes are necessary every 2 days DESPITE 2 filters running on the tank that both claim to be capable of handling the tank by themselves, but how can I get them to settle down? Is it that there are fish in there that they simply do not 'like' or are there not enough of them/too many for the tank? They do hang around together ALOT in groups of 2-3, sometimes 5.

They feed well on Attisons Betta Pro and bloodworm, ignoring all other food except that which wriggles, so what can I do? Ideally I'd love to seperate them all in to 3 gallon cubes, but the idea of 8 of them dotted around doesn't appeal to anyone but me, so I can't. Suggestions?
 
have you got pics of all of them? you could have a young male disturbing the peace.
Persist with the other food, when they are hungry they will eat it. :good:
 
Yes, all The Harem have the white spot on the belly, it was THE first thing I checked when I got them home, although a couple do have long ventrals. I am seriously thinking of either lessening the numbers of fish overall, OR giving them their own smaller home though, because I know it's only a matter of time before someone buries me for overcrowding, despite serious filtration overkill. I can get pics of them if ABSOLUTELY necessary but it would be hard to tell which ones I have done and not etc cos they all look very similar....lol
 
The white spot isn't always a guarantee to having a female as lots of juvie males will display them too.

If some have longer ventrils then it could be they are males.

The only way to say with any certainty is for you to show us pics, otherwise it's purely guess work.
 
Right, well, bear with me then whilst I take some decidedly shoddy photos (I don't have the luxury of a Digital SLR yet) but I will get them now that should show them off well enough to allow you to see them clearly. They'd better all be females................
 
Good luck.....I know how difficult it is to get pics sometimes :lol:
 
We have had an ammonia problem of late (AGAIN) which has just come from nowhere (ie weeks no none showing then suddenly off the scale in 36 hours after 80% water changes-which may or may not be connected to the fact that we tried to boil all the tannins from the bogwood only to discover in actual fact that you can't).

Such a large waerchange causing an ammonia spike is making me think that the problem may be from the source. have you checked the ammonia level of the water before it goes in the tank.

As for the females, ive heard they are quite timid fish which dont like bigger tanks (is that true), maybe that could be a problem.
 
Hi

It may be a good idea to identify why the Ammonia is spiking :nod: There is obviously something happening with the effectiveness of the filter. Is the filter big enough to cope? Have you cleaned it recently? Is it blocked?

I would try and work out what happened as a priority as high ammonia will cause stressed fish.
 
Okay, these pics are a LOOOONG way from the best you will ever see but you might be able to make some sense. For ease of identifying them, they are labelled 1-6, all kept at present in glasses submerged in warm tank water in case on is a male, that way I can know which one it is without guessing, as they all look pretty similar.
Here Goes:-
Number1:-
Photo0479.jpg


Number 2:-
Photo0481.jpg


Number 3:-
Photo0488.jpg


Number 4:-
Photo0495.jpg


Number 5:-
Photo0498.jpg


Number 6:-
Photo0500.jpg


IF by any chance some of these shots are inconclusive, say which and I'll try to get better ones. Any definite females PLEASE tell me ASAP as they are NOT happy atm. Thnaks.
 
Their all females as you can see the stress live running though the body.
 
I've had George AND Spike with stress stripes before now (upon arrival after transport) and they are most DEFINITELY males, stress stripes does not determine gender I'm afraid.....
 
well I still say their females, due the line, short pectoral fins and body shape.

I breed many 100's of betts in the past and you as a rule dont get stress lines in males not one their mature.
 
None of them look to be male to us either. Do you know how old they are?

We had a group of females last year and it wasn't until about 2 months later that one of them became very noticeably male. I would just keep an eye on them for a while longer just to be safe, but for now they are all looking female.
 
They all look female to me as well.
Poor things! Hope something is figured out to get them unstressed
 

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