Betta

[debbie888]

Hi

I am wondering if someone can help me, I have one betta, and wondered if they like to be kept as single fish, rather than in a pair?

I am new to the hobby and also wondered if anyone could tell me whether my betta is male or female, as if they do like company of their own kind, do not want to get a male if mine is a male, as I know they fight....can anyone help, I have posted a couple of pictures so if anyone can offer advice on the gender of my fish, this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Debbie

 

[debbie888]

Here is another picture in case the other is not too clear

 

[stang1]

Hi Debbie and welcome to the forum.
Looks like you have a very beautiful Veiltail male.
Males should never be kept together as they will fight and rip each other to shreds. Males should never be kept with females for pretty much the same reasons. A male and female should only be kept together for breeeding and even then, it's only for a short period.
What size tank have you got him in and has he any other tankmates?

Edited to add: Not sure looking at that second picture if it is a veiltail, might need a second opinion!

 

[debbie888]

Hi Debbie and welcome to the forum.
Looks like you have a very beautiful Veiltail male.
Males should never be kept together as they will fight and rip each other to shreds. Males should never be kept with females for pretty much the same reasons. A male and female should only be kept together for breeeding and even then, it's only for a short period.
What size tank have you got him in and has he any other tankmates?

Edited to add: Not sure looking at that second picture if it is a veiltail, might need a second opinion!

Hi Stang

Well I have 'him' in a 120 litre, or 32 gallon didn't know which to say as some people understand litres and some gallons, I just have a couple of guppies 3 mollies and 2 platies, I may add a couple more fish eventually, but I am waiting for the ones I have to settle in...the reason I asked is that he always seems to be just floating round the tank on his own, feel a bit sorry for him...ha thought he might be lonely, but glad I asked now as I am not interested in breeding even though I have 3 mollies and know they are notorious for producing young, I may go down that route with the mollies if they are to have some little babies.

So he will be quite happy in the tank then?

Debbie

Ooops forgot to say thanks for the welcome, am sure this forum will be most helpful an very interesting to read.

 

[stang1]

Unfortunately, not all Bettas do well in community tanks as they are solitary fish by nature.
They end up with their own little territory and become aggressive with any other fish sharing "their" space. They also don't like too much flow as where they com e from the water is fairly still.
A lot of people keep their Bettas in a tank on their own or in a divided tank. Mine are kept in a divided tank which is filtered but the flow is very minimal.
If you have the space/money it is worth getting him a little 5 gallon tank and keeping him by himself. Yopu may well see a change in his mood and behaviour.

 

[debbie888]

Unfortunately, not all Bettas do well in community tanks as they are solitary fish by nature.
They end up with their own little territory and become aggressive with any other fish sharing "their" space. They also don't like too much flow as where they com e from the water is fairly still.
A lot of people keep their Bettas in a tank on their own or in a divided tank. Mine are kept in a divided tank which is filtered but the flow is very minimal.
If you have the space/money it is worth getting him a little 5 gallon tank and keeping him by himself. Yopu may well see a change in his mood and behaviour.

Ok thanks for the info, might be something I think about, he does not seem aggressive at all at the moment, he seems like a placid little fella, seems to just swim about minding his own business, has not bothered with the other fish at all, nor them with him, I will see how he gets on...he is very handsome tho, very colourful and have to admit to being fascinated by him.

Debbie

 

[stang1]

You may be one of the lucky ones and find that he's ok in the community tank!
They are beautiful fish which is why I have 4 of them, just wish I had room for more! You'll become addicted like the rest of us before you know it.

 

[OldMan47]

Bettas are known to sometimes have problems with fancy guppies and similar long finned fish. They are sometimes the victims of very active larger fish like mollies. My own experience with them is that they get along with most anything that doesn't go around picking on other fish. Some that he will not be OK with are tiger barbs and serpae tetras. Both of these fish are among the ones that go around nipping other fishes fins. A betta with his long fins and slow movements just becomes a target for such fish. If you watch the fish you are thinking about putting in with him for a few minutes and they make rapid biting movements at the local pet shop, they are likely to be a problem for your betta. I have not had problems keeping bettas with more peacfiul fish but won't put one with my endlers because I am trying to breed the endlers and don't need a betta feeding himself on endler fry. Otherwise they would probably be fine together. I often keep bettas with platies, corydoras, otocinclus and similar fish with no real problems.

 

[lovemyfraggies]

I have a male betta that lives in a community tank with mollies,guppys,tetras,ghost shrimp,snail and he is very happy. He's always swimming and get along great with the other fish. I was making a comment today that he thinks he's not a betta. Bettas are funny they all have different personalty's.

 

[Talius]

I had my male betta in with some mollies but the mollies kept shoving him into a corner so I took him out. My poor betta just stood there and took it.

 

[hollyp0p]

my betta also lives in a community, he has lived with neon tetra, but i don't recommend these as they fin nipped my betta so they went, my betta loved zebra danios, think he thought he was one lol....

He's soon to get some harlequin rasboras as new tank mates, these are VERY peaceful community fish....other tank mates are danios as i said, white cloud mountain minnows, any rasboras, corydoras (my male also lives with a pitbull pleco happily)
there are many sorts of fish that can work, and as long as you get nice big shoals of the little fish, it will probably work out ok, just remember to keep a backup, spare tank or way of sectioning off part of the tank for the betta if things don't work out