Issue With The Tank Mates - Please Help

[windhopper]

I was able to convince my parents into letting me set up a tropical tank and cycled it and began to add some fish. At the moment theres 5 or so Guppies and some Minnows which were given to me by a family freind whose is over-run with them in her tank. My issue now is i went to the lfs and said i was looking for some interesting - but not difficult - fish for my tank, told them what was in the tank and they gave me - 2 females and 1 male Betta to put in the tank. Unfortunatley i had never heard of Bettas before and asked the person in the lfs if they would definitley be alright in the tank with the minnows and guppies and was told absolutely. However its been about 4 days, the females are constatly stressed because they are scared (or it looks like they're scared) of the male, and the male is starting to become agressive. The sad thing is i have no space for them to have their own tank somewhere else and the Lfs wont take them back. So what my question now is, if i take out the male will the females be aggressive towards the other fish, and does anyone know of someone in the wolverhampton/telford area that would be able to take on a male betta - as i do not want to offer him to another inexperianced or unknowledgable person especially if he will end up in one of those horrid betta bowls please help me out here

*the tank stats are fine i tested them at lunch time

 

[celaeno]

i've read that bettas and guppies usually don't do well together, because the bettas don't like other fish with long flowing fins. apparently, they see them as fellow bettas and act aggressively towards them.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Male and Female Bettas (or Siamese Fighting Fish) should never be kept in the same tank together. Even when breeding they are left together for as short a period of time as possile before being separated. This is why often in LFS you will find a single betta kept in each tanks the shop has rather than putting them together. They fight to the death in the wild for terratory and mates so should always be kept apart. I do not ever recommend them for a community tank at all as they are very poor swimmers so can't compete for food and their fins are usually irresistable for nipping. Take all of them back and say that you were given poor advice by the shop. Kick up a fuss and print off some evidence. The shop should not get away with such a basic error. For more info. check out the pinned articles in the labyrinth fish forum.

 

[windhopper]

Male and Female Bettas (or Siamese Fighting Fish) should never be kept in the same tank together. Even when breeding they are left together for as short a period of time as possile before being separated. This is why often in LFS you will find a single betta kept in each tanks the shop has rather than putting them together. They fight to the death in the wild for terratory and mates so should always be kept apart. I do not ever recommend them for a community tank at all as they are very poor swimmers so can't compete for food and their fins are usually irresistable for nipping. Take all of them back and say that you were given poor advice by the shop. Kick up a fuss and print off some evidence. The shop should not get away with such a basic error. For more info. check out the pinned articles in the labyrinth fish forum.

Thankyou, i think i will be steering clear of Betta's for a while until i feel i have the space to accomodate some seperate tanks.