Discussion about bettas and tank mates

[itiwhetu]

If you are going to keep fish with a Betta just make sure they swim in the bottom part of the tank. Guppies, platies etc swim towards the surface so will just annoy him. Cory's go up and down so will annoy him. Fish like Cherry Barbs will stay near the bottom not swim to much and the Betta won't care if they are there or not.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I'm afraid I'm one of the boring ones of the opinion that bettas should be solitary ...why risk it?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Betta must live alone.

They are hard wired genetically to fight....they do so in the wild, they do so as sport in several Asian countries. Their other name is Siamese Fighting Fish...kinda gives their nature away really.

That cute little Betta...male or female, makes no odds...can be the most docile creature for weeks or months but once it fixes on a target tankmate, that tankmate will die....might not be tonight ot this week...but it will die.

Betta have a very specific set of body language signals...

Curving tail & fins around floating food to stop other fish from eating, this moves onto doing the same with sinking food

Staying stock still and allowing other fish to swim past, then without warning snapping around and grabbing their fins or tails

Feeding time, all other tankmates stay near or at the bottom, tails to the Betta, stock still....a sure sign of the Betta bullying and starving them, also a general drop in tankmate activity and unwillingness to schoal anywhere near the Betta

Mysterious injuries on tankmates...tails, fins and eye area....thats your last warning before that fish will be dead very soon, usually overnight with the target fish is dozing

If you MUST put a Betta with tankmates....always have a spare cycled aquarium on standby (not for the victim(s) but for the Betta). Never place tankmates with long flowing tails or fins, a Betta (male or female) cannot differentiate tween species and they will spot the flowing parts and assume intruder on their territory and they will attack and kill it.

Never use any medication with the name "FIX" on the label as that will severely damage the labrynth organ on a Betta (same for all surface breathers) and can be fatal. Melafix etc contains tee tree oil which destroys that organ thus suffocation will happen.

Basically only very experienced fishkeepers should consider a female sorority since despite what the person in the petshop tells you, a female can be just as Jeckyll & Hyde as the male.

They are not beginner fish imho. They are the potential Pitbull of the aquarium and once a Betta has attacked and killed once, he or she will never tolerate tankmates ever again and should always be kept alone.

 

[itiwhetu]

Betta must live alone.

They are hard wired genetically to fight....they do so in the wild, they do so as sport in several Asian countries. Their other name is Siamese Fighting Fish...kinda gives their nature away really.

That cute little Betta...male or female, makes no odds...can be the most docile creature for weeks or months but once it fixes on a target tankmate, that tankmate will die....might not be tonight ot this week...but it will die.

Betta have a very specific set of body language signals...

Curving tail & fins around floating food to stop other fish from eating, this moves onto doing the same with sinking food

Staying stock still and allowing other fish to swim past, then without warning snapping around and grabbing their fins or tails

Feeding time, all other tankmates stay near or at the bottom, tails to the Betta, stock still....a sure sign of the Betta bullying and starving them, also a general drop in tankmate activity and unwillingness to schoal anywhere near the Betta

Mysterious injuries on tankmates...tails, fins and eye area....thats your last warning before that fish will be dead very soon, usually overnight with the target fish is dozing

If you MUST put a Betta with tankmates....always have a spare cycled aquarium on standby (not for the victim(s) but for the Betta). Never place tankmates with long flowing tails or fins, a Betta (male or female) cannot differentiate tween species and they will spot the flowing parts and assume intruder on their territory and they will attack and kill it.

Never use any medication with the name "FIX" on the label as that will severely damage the labrynth organ on a Betta (same for all surface breathers) and can be fatal. Melafix etc contains tee tree oil which destroys that organ thus suffocation will happen.

Basically only very experienced fishkeepers should consider a female sorority since despite what the person in the petshop tells you, a female can be just as Jeckyll & Hyde as the male.

They are not beginner fish imho. They are the potential Pitbull of the aquarium and once a Betta has attacked and killed once, he or she will never tolerate tankmates ever again and should always be kept alone.

Good reply, have you bred Bettas and raised their young.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Good reply, have you bred Bettas and raised their young.

My dad bred them...but that was before the myriad of colours and fin lengths happened...they were still bad tempered fish though, that trait has never changed and it likely won't change.

 

[itiwhetu]

My dad bred them...but that was before the myriad of colours and fin lengths happened...they were still bad tempered fish though, that trait has never changed and it likely won't change.

But your father was out of fish by the time you were nine. So have you had experience breeding Bettas.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

But your father was out of fish by the time you were nine. So have you had experience breeding Bettas.

I don't like Betta or their breeding methods used

So no, I have not bred them and I never will. I have owned them a few times but that was due to inheriting them from owners who could not look after them properly or the fish had attacked other fish in their aquarium

 

[itiwhetu]

I don't like Betta or their breeding methods used

So no, I have not bred them and I never will. I have owned them a few times but that was due to inheriting them from owners who could not look after them properly or the fish had attacked other fish in their aquarium

You write so passionately about their behavior and what they are like I thought you must have breed them.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

You write so passionately about their behavior and what they are like I thought you must have breed them.

I have watched the way that they behave with other fish.....body language speaks volumes. And when in Asia I watched them fight too, not pleasant to see and thankfully not often seen in aquariums, owners only tend to see the aftermath of such a fight...dead/dying fish on the substrate or floating.

All animals, including humans, use body language and its often much louder than people realise...if they know how to interpret it and, with aggressive traits, act upon it before it goes too far as in the case of the Betta