Biulu
Fish Aficionado
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2007
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I bought a veiltail (female) betta at my lfs from the female tank. She was clearly the dominant female as she had her colours and didn't show any stress stripes. I wanted a strong female and I like her colouration so I took her home.
Over the course of some months I built up a 20 gallon sorority tank with 5 HM females. I had her in a different tank but she had become nippy to the long fins of other inhabitants, so I moved her in with the other females. Some weeks went by and one day I came home to a disaster; she had attacked all the other females and ripped them off their fins. I separated her from then onwards and nursed the wounds of the other females.
Some time went by again and I was able to lay my hands on a turquoise green hm female; at last! I wanted to breed her with my mostard gas plakat male. When I bought her the breeder said he was not a 100% sure whether she was a female or pk male. However, he had done tests and right there and then we repeated the test. The tests consisted of 'her' being exposed to a female and check the reaction and after that 'her' being exposed to a male and checking the reactions. The result of the test was the same as in earlier occasions according to the breeder which was that there was a positive response from both sides (male and female) when being exposed to a male, and no response at all when being exposed to a female.
Again about a month passed without any trouble, and then some of my other hm females started wreaking havoc on the community. However, that angered apparently the turquoise that turned out to be stronger than the original female starting the fight. Result: 4 out of 5 females died and the other female had her fins so badly damaged that they didn't grow back anymore.
So, my question is, what triggered this unexpected violence? Can betta males actually being suppressed or with a late development, just like in some livebearer species? Has anybody similar experiences? What to do now? Can I still set up a new sorority? I am really hesitant about it....
Over the course of some months I built up a 20 gallon sorority tank with 5 HM females. I had her in a different tank but she had become nippy to the long fins of other inhabitants, so I moved her in with the other females. Some weeks went by and one day I came home to a disaster; she had attacked all the other females and ripped them off their fins. I separated her from then onwards and nursed the wounds of the other females.
Some time went by again and I was able to lay my hands on a turquoise green hm female; at last! I wanted to breed her with my mostard gas plakat male. When I bought her the breeder said he was not a 100% sure whether she was a female or pk male. However, he had done tests and right there and then we repeated the test. The tests consisted of 'her' being exposed to a female and check the reaction and after that 'her' being exposed to a male and checking the reactions. The result of the test was the same as in earlier occasions according to the breeder which was that there was a positive response from both sides (male and female) when being exposed to a male, and no response at all when being exposed to a female.
Again about a month passed without any trouble, and then some of my other hm females started wreaking havoc on the community. However, that angered apparently the turquoise that turned out to be stronger than the original female starting the fight. Result: 4 out of 5 females died and the other female had her fins so badly damaged that they didn't grow back anymore.
So, my question is, what triggered this unexpected violence? Can betta males actually being suppressed or with a late development, just like in some livebearer species? Has anybody similar experiences? What to do now? Can I still set up a new sorority? I am really hesitant about it....
