Betta Flaring At New Gouramis

[crazychris]

Have a lovely blue betta in my community tank with no problems until today. He wasn't getting bullied or having his fins torn and didn't bother any other fish. Bought 2 small moonlight gouramis today though and my betta's taken an instant dislike to them . He's following one or the other and flaring at them all the time. Is this likely to stop when he's got used to them?

 

[Amberleaf]

Yes, probably; or it *may* escalate into fighting. ^^; There is no way to tell, as of yet, unfortunatelysies. You may have to return them; just be glad that you caught it in the early stages!! ^^; 8D

 

[crazychris]

So basically it's because he was there first and they're newcomers to his territory? They're not even the same colour as him!! He's never bothered any of the other fish but he was the last to go in so he was the newcomer!

 

[Haych]

did you rearrange the tank before putting the new fish in?

he see's the NEW fish as a threat to his territory, the old fish he's used to.

as bettas are very terratorial, you need to mix up everything so that nothing is his, and he can establish new boundries with the new tank mates in.

if you haven done this, give it a go, then see how things are

 

[mr130gallon]

someone once told me that since bettas and gouramis look sort of the same, the betta may think that the gourami is another male betta and want to fight it. because IME bettas usually dont flare at new occupants in community aquariums usually.

 

[crazychris]

Thanks. Will re-arrange a bit and try to confuse him.

 

[betta fish]

Am I right in thinking that bettas are from the same family as gouramis and because of this it is not wise to keep them together? you may find that he still keeps being aggressive even after the change around how big is your tank?

 

[crazychris]

Am I right in thinking that bettas are from the same family as gouramis and because of this it is not wise to keep them together? you may find that he still keeps being aggressive even after the change around how big is your tank?

3ft. I have two 3ft tanks and have a fighter in each. Think I've solved the problem. I swapped the two fighters over so the aggressive one's now the newcomer in the other tank and my red fighter isn't bothering my new moonlight gouramis. Suddenly dawned on me in bed to try that!!

 

[Haych]

yeah - you've changed the territories, thought it would work!

Am I right in thinking that bettas are from the same family as gouramis and because of this it is not wise to keep them together? you may find that he still keeps being aggressive even after the change around how big is your tank?

i dunno, gouramis are egg layers....

 

[LauraFrog]

Bettas are also egglayers. Both gouramis and bettas are egglayers in the family anabantidae (labyrinth fishes), and generally you shouldn't mix them, but then generally the advice is not to put bettas in community tanks either. So if yours are thriving in the communities and swapping them has worked, I'd leave things be for a while and see how it works. It's possible that if the gouramis are male, as they get older they might attack the betta. Very hard to know, but it might be a good idea to have a one or two gallon jar on hand that you could move the betta to while you set up a tank for him, if this doesn't work out.

 

[Haych]

i meant bubble nest - ha

i didnt know if gouramis are bubble nest builders

 

[LauraFrog]

Yeah, most of them are... some get almost as territorial as bettas when spawning.

 

[Haych]

i DID think they were, then googled it, but obviously didnt read properly