Females Fighting?!?

[discdogshayne]

My male betta who had been living very peacefully with a male blue gourami just passed away. I wanted to give my gourami some company but didn't want to risk getting a male betta who was agressive (i had owned the betta before the gourami and knew he wasn't super aggressive). So the person at my aquarium store suggested female bettas. She said i could easily have two in with the gourami. For the first few days things were great all of them were living quite peacefully. But yesterday i noticed my red female going after the other female and chasing her relentlessly. This evening my poor lil betta was chased under the filter and got herself stuck--i hadn't seen how bitten her fins had become! I got her off of the filter and quickly set up a spare tank but she isn't doing so well right now. Any suggestions?
I am giving the hurt betta her own tank and will properly outfit it and find some stuff to add to the water to aid in her recovery tomorrow (all this activity happened around midnight!). Any suggestions on what i can do to help her?


My larger tank seems empty with just one small female betta and a small blue gourami any ideas what i could add or should i leave it as is since my female is rather ummm fiesty?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... i've never had females act like this and my poor lil baby getting stuck inthe filter--it was really scary and sad!

 

[*Fishkies*]

Well female bettas can be kept together however one female will generally set that she is in charge. So that's what seems to have happened with your two females.

Also maybe since you one betta is so fiesty, isolate that one in a different tank, and put the calm one back in then that would allow you to have more fish. However you would need to make sure that your "injured" betta is well before she gets to go back in the big tank.

As for now I would say give her some peace and quiet, so that she can calm down and relax with what all has happened. However keep an eye on her to make sure she does not develop any bacterial or fungal infections!!


Best of Luck!!

 

[puppyduck]

Its best to get a group of females rather than just two. We started with 5 and Ariel died of unknown causes, whilst Heather, the smallest, died after being chased. It was very vicious; the alpha Female Jasmine grabbed her tail and swung her round. It must've dislocated hre spine or something because she died soon after with a nasty kink in her back.

However, now the remaining three females seem to get on ok now the hierarchy has been established and they've "weeded out the weak ones" () and are building bubblenests and being quite peaceful.


I wouldve personally stuck to a male betta; these girls are very aggressive towards the corys in the tank where food is concerned. But nevermind, they are very sweet once theyve settled down.


Before Heather had her accident, we were taking her out and feeding her in a jam jar to try and fatten her up. I know bettas need a larger tank but leaving her in there for a little while once she recovered seemed to work. We also made it dark by popping a black legwarmer over the jar. She calmed down a lot then. Better to have a tank though. I would but I've run out of space.

Fins heal fairly well, so she should be ok. Poor little girl. Hope she gets well soon.

 

[Jaded12]

Female bettas do best in groups of 5-6 or more. The more the better because it spreads out the aggression more. Haven't just to females together is usually a bad idea unless they're sisters or are used to being together. As for the girl who got beat up just make sure you keep her water crystal clear and add a bit of aquarium salt (1/2 tsp/gallon) after water changes. Good luck!

 

[discdogshayne]

Thanks guys! The one who got injured (Gino-- don't laugh, our entire tank is named after Pittsburgh Penguin players [with the exception of the gourami who is a Steeler] so they are sort of silly non-gender correctOnames) is swimming a little more today in her one gallon tank. She looks better, her color is a little brighter (though this could be because of a different light) but she is definitely swimming more and better. The female in the other tank (Fluery) is now chasing the bigger male gourami (Kimo). Kimo is faster and will hide in the mountain structure to get Fleury to stop... then he will take after her for a second. Though niether one is nipping at fins or hurting the other so i'm assuming they are just figuring out their place inthe tank. I'm thinking that once Gino is healthy i am going to put her back in the big tank and pull out Fleury and keep her in the small tank. Gino and Kimo got along fine and co-habitated nicely. Any idea what I might be able to add to the tank with a calm female betta and a rather social small blue gourami? Or should I just leave it as is--it's a 7 gallon tank and i think it is sort of silly having two small fish that total less than 4 inches of fish in that size tank.

The reason i didnt' go with another male betta was because i really didn't want to risk getting a hyper aggressive one. I got a betta who lives w/ me at school (i'm home on break and my roomie is taking care of my Troy). Troy is SUPER aggressive--he is constantly flaring at my snail and even flares and puffs his face whenever a person gets close to his tank--my roomie was feeding him one day and a hair slid in the tank so she went to pull it out and lil Troy took after her finger and bit her (i was laughing hystericaly ...she was quite startled!). So i didn't want to unknowingly buy a betta who is like Troy and just sort of hyper aggressive. I think i was lucky with my other Betta who died, Dan. Dan was just really laid back--though he was almost 4 when i added Kimo to the tank. The first day i added Kimo to the tank dan flared once at Kimo but that was it... didn't chase or bite. It was cute though after that for a while Kimo would every now and again swim really fast past Dan then stop and try to hide in the plants and dan would come up behind him and puff his face then they would both swim into the mountain structure. I was just super lucky with a laid back Betta and just a silly gourami

 

[discdogshayne]

Update-- Gino (the injured female) is doing MUCH better, swimming and eating... all is well. Going to give her a few more days to recover and then put her back in the big tank and take out Fluery (the aggressive female) and put her in the small tank.

 

[Jaded12]

Glad to know shes doing better!!

 

[discdogshayne]

AHH! Fleury (the hyper aggressive female betta) is now biting my poor blue gourami! My gourami is much bigger than her but now she's bulying him. i'm hoping that Gino heals quickly so i can get Fleury into her own house so she doesn't hurt my Kimo (the gourami). i'm blaming it on Fleury being red... she's fiery.... but so frustrating...she just wont leave kimo alone!!

-tena