Female Betta Problem.

[BettaBlackiie]

Hello, kinda new to this forum so. Itaou'll have to bear with my noobness.

I have 8 bettas and fry, my latest female I only bought 2 days ago. She's living with my other females and a male pretty peacefully. This morning while I was doing my tanks and just feeding, I noticed she was lying on her side? She was floating on the top of the tank on her side, and when I toughed her she swam away but then went back to the same position? I put her in a separator and tried to feed her but she wouldn't even take the brine shrimp.
My tank parameters are perfect and it's a 40 litre tank with a submersible filted and temp at 26 degrees Celcius.
Does anyone know what's wrong? This has never happened with the rest of my bettas, some I've had for over a year. Any help would be appreciated thank you

 

[Sophie]

Not a betta expert, far from it but 8 female bettas and a male in a 40L tank is too much? I could've read wrong but that's what I got from your post. What are your water readings?
Ammonia?
Nitrite?
Nitrate?
How long has the tank been running for and did you cycle it?

 

[BettaBlackiie]

No they're separated between a 40L and a 30L, 4 in each tank

Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
And nitrate is <50

It's been running for over a month now and it had cycled..

Another thing I need to add, when buying her the guy in my LFS dropped her. It was not from a great height, a meter maybe less.. Could that have made her do what she's doing? She seemed fine the last 2 days untill this morning.

 

[Sophie]

Might've caused internal damage? No idea.
Hopefully another member will pop up with ideas. Could she be being bullied by other members?
I know the betta lovers on this forum don't keep their males and females together unless it is to breed then they are immediately separated after that.

 

[BettaBlackiie]

But to only show 2 days later, I'm quite confused.

She wasn't being bullied, I watched her for at least an hour on her first day and continually back and forth to check her since. My biggest female swam up to her a few times but there was no aggression or flaring, she just followed her. The male I'm keeping with them completely ignores her, he's a very peaceful betta, and is more interested in my big female with her breeding stripes. I've been very lucky so far with bettas.

 

[Wildbetta]

Sounds like your female is having swim bladder issues.  This could have been caused by the fall at the LFS or by fighting (that you are not seeing) between your other bettas. I would keep her separated with an ability to get to the surface easily with warm water closer to 28C if possible. I also recommend fasting her for a couple of days to help her system which she is dealing with the other issue.
 
Now you have several problems that need to be addressed.  Male and female bettas do not need to be kept in the same tank unless it is for spawning purposes and then they need to be separated.  Even in the best case scenario where there doesn't appear to be aggression -- there is and all involved are living in high stress. It is also not advised to keep female bettas together in groups of less than 6 because of the aggression between them.  Females can be a lot more aggressive than males and tend to be a lot more sneaky about it.  If you do not understand betta body language you would probably not pick up the aggressive signals that are sent back and forth between them. Your best bet would be to put all of your female bettas together in the 40L and put the male by himself in the 30L.  This would be the healthiest and least stressful for all your bettas.

 

[BettaBlackiie]

Sounds like your female is having swim bladder issues.  This could have been caused by the fall at the LFS or by fighting (that you are not seeing) between your other bettas. I would keep her separated with an ability to get to the surface easily with warm water closer to 28C if possible. I also recommend fasting her for a couple of days to help her system which she is dealing with the other issue.
 
Now you have several problems that need to be addressed.  Male and female bettas do not need to be kept in the same tank unless it is for spawning purposes and then they need to be separated.  Even in the best case scenario where there doesn't appear to be aggression -- there is and all involved are living in high stress. It is also not advised to keep female bettas together in groups of less than 6 because of the aggression between them.  Females can be a lot more aggressive than males and tend to be a lot more sneaky about it.  If you do not understand betta body language you would probably not pick up the aggressive signals that are sent back and forth between them. Your best bet would be to put all of your female bettas together in the 40L and put the male by himself in the 30L.  This would be the healthiest and least stressful for all your bettas.

Okay thank you I'll try that

And about keeping the females with the male. They've been together for over a year now, there's never any injuries or fin nipping at all. But in fairness the male is pretty old and shows almost no interest in the females. There is alot of distraction in the tank with a mirror (he doesn't even flare at it anymore) live plants and caves.. My females don't show any stress stripes unless I have them with a different male.. they just seem to get along these three.. but if I ever see any aggression, flaring or stress stripes I promise to separate them I know it was taking a shot in the dark putting a new female in..

 

[Wildbetta]

I personally would remove the mirror.  They are fine on an occasional basis but very stressful if left there all the time.  Females will not always show stress stripes when in the company of other females and the most damaging aggression like body thumping does not always show any outward signs.  You have been very lucky so far with keeping your bettas the way that you have and it is a balancing act that could fail at any time.  I do recommend you split your bettas up to where you have your females all together in the bigger tank and your male in a separate tank.  After reading your original post again, I must ask -- How many bettas do you have?  How many are male/female?  

 

[BettaBlackiie]

I'll remove the mirror then. I think the reason I've been able to do this is because my biggest female and male seem old. They are very active and alert. But I notice on the male around his face the colour tends to fade a little and he loves resting in my floating plants. It's quite risky but so far so good.

8. 2 males, 3 females and 3 unknown late fry. I had 30 or so fry but I've sold them on except for 3 runts.. 2 male and a female I think but I'm not sure. One of the males is a little crowtail with the same coloration as a cambodian but he's young and aggressive so he's on his own

 

[BettaBlackiie]

A little update- She passed away.. Will my lfs replace her? Its only been 2 days and the guy in the shop did drop her.

I noticed when looking at her after shed passed that her belly or chest seemed out of proportion, as if bloated or full of eggs.. can this be explained?

 

[Sophie]

A little update- She passed away.. Will my lfs replace her? Its only been 2 days and the guy in the shop did drop her.

I noticed when looking at her after shed passed that her belly or chest seemed out of proportion, as if bloated or full of eggs.. can this be explained?

 
I doubt highly that they will replace - you witnessed him drop her and decided to still accept the "goods". Normally if it was 24 hours yes but I guess you can try.
They normally expect proof of body/photo and water samples.
What was the LFS?

 

[372xp]

One of my females is a notorious jumper, she has lept clear of the tank several times landing on the floor a good 1.5m downwards. After putiing her back in the tank she sulks about for a day then is back to her normal self. She is a big girl. So what I am saying is this probably werent the problem. So you probably wont get a refund. Her new tank and tankmates could well be the issue here. Dropsy can cause bloatedness.

 

[Sophie]

One of my females is a notorious jumper, she has lept clear of the tank several times landing on the floor a good 1.5m downwards. After putiing her back in the tank she sulks about for a day then is back to her normal self. She is a big girl. So what I am saying is this probably werent the problem. So you probably wont get a refund. Her new tank and tankmates could well be the issue here. Dropsy can cause bloatedness.

 
Surely if she had dropsy you'd notice the signs (pine-coneing)?

 

[372xp]

Not always, I had one go last week, I didnt see any signs except lethargy until it was too late. She died the next day in a hospital tank.