Disaster

[JonesyJ666]

For well over 6 months now i have had a male and female betta in my community tank with out any hassle at all, not even a nip.
 
Today i get in and give the tanks the once over as you do, knocked the fry net and it moves millimeters. Turned my back for 20 seconds and the female betta has manged to get in there and has now bitten the tails of most of the fry. 
 
Now she is on the rampage, she has also bitten some of my guppies in this made 40 mins or so, so i have put her in another tank to calm her down. 
 
Other thing i have noticed is the male betta is looking very very poorly. Was 100% and his normal self this morning. Could the female cause any harm?
 
Thanks guys

 

[KrystaK]

Well first of all, never keep a male and female together unless you are planning on breeding, and even then keep it as beirf as possible, one will usually kill the other. Second, never keep a male betta with guppies, the male will see the bright tails of guppies of as threatening his dominance and attacking. This is also possible with females, though some are calm enough to be kept with other fish - generally not guppies. 
 
I think you should keep her in the other tank permanently.
 
Yes she probably bullied your male.
 
The male may have helped in bullying the guppies, I suggest you move him to another tank as well (And not the same one the female is in!)
 
May I ask how big your tank is? How many of what kind of fish are in it?

 

[JonesyJ666]

Well first of all, never keep a male and female together unless you are planning on breeding, and even then keep it as beirf as possible, one will usually kill the other. Second, never keep a male betta with guppies, the male will see the bright tails of guppies of as threatening his dominance and attacking. This is also possible with females, though some are calm enough to be kept with other fish - generally not guppies. 
 
I think you should keep her in the other tank permanently.
 
Yes she probably bullied your male.
 
The male may have helped in bullying the guppies, I suggest you move him to another tank as well (And not the same one the female is in!)
 
May I ask how big your tank is? How many of what kind of fish are in it?

sorry dont believe in this never do this and never do that. i havent had a problem for 6 togther and the male infact longer than that with no probs?

 
How many times have you seen on the news about a pitbull or rottweiler or whatever having mauled a child and the owners saying that the dog has never done anything like it before? Just because any particular pitbull hasn't mauled a child yet is no guarantee that it will never do so.
 
Same with bettas. I'm sorry that you don't believe KrystaK, but I agree wholeheartedly with her that males and females shouldn't be kept together. If you don't believe me either, I suggest you search the archives of this site, and see how many times, and how many people have given the same advice. Bear in mind that these fish have been bred to be aggressive towards others of their species, so that it can form a gambling activity in Thailand, where spectators bet on which fish will kill the other. Rather like pitbulls, in fact.
 
With regard to a betta's compatibility with guppies, reports do vary. Some individuals will not tolerate guppies, some do.