Male Betta Stuck To Filter Inlet.

[Ma84]

Hi everyone,

I've put a male betta and 3 females in my community tank today (juwel lido 120) and they seem happy, the male swims around alot and after a while he swims back to the top and rests in the floating plants I've just put in. He also appears to rest on the java ferns at the bottom of the tank.

He doesn't seem to have a problem swimming against the current right next to the outlet, but he occasionally swims towards the filter inlet, he just drifts towards it slowly and then gets stuck across it. He doesn't seem to be trying to get away, Ive just been switching the filter off until he moves but obviously I can't be there all the time. Is this normal? Would it Be advisable to leave him for a minute or 2 to see if he does eventually move?

I'm not reading any ammonia or nitrite and the nitatre is barely registering.

Just as I was writing this Ive just noticed he was following one of the females and got a bit close to the inlet, Half of his tail got caught but as the female swam away he chased her and managed to pull away. (when the females aren't there he doesn't seem to be interested in pulling away)

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Marc

 

[Fishy friend2]

You should ideally take the male out and place him to his own 5 gallon tank to prevent any fighting between him and the females, and to prevent this from happening again

 

[comocrayfish5]

You should ideally take the male out and place him to his own 5 gallon tank to prevent any fighting between him and the females, and to prevent this from happening again

agree. you should know not to put male and females together unless you are breeding

 

[lilfishie]

Agree with above separate the make and get a few more females to stop aggression issues. Chances are the current is too strong for him. Bettas need very minimum water movement due the the amount if finnage

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

when I had an internal my betta would swim up and plaster himself against it - it looked like he was stucked but I think he just found it a good place to rest because he could easily swim away from it when he felt like it. That could be what yours it doing but i can't really tell, but like the others have said- it's not a good idea to mix male and female bettas

 

[Ma84]

Thanks for your advice. Everything I've read on the Internet prior to buying them seemed to be split about 50/50, for keeping males and females together. And generally the main comment was the level of aggression depends on the personality of the fish. I've also read that females should be ok in groups of three (again depending on the individual fish). From what I've seen so far of their behaviour I'm inclined to agree that 3 females is sufficient as they have plenty of space and have shown no signs of aggression at all (it is early days though)

The male does tend to chase the females occasionally, in some cases he flares and swims after them for literally 3-5 seconds and then gives up (there was more aggression between my cherry barbs when they were introduced) Based on what I've read , given the amount of space they have and based on lack of aggression I've seen so far, with respect to fighting I'm happy for them to be together. However i do appreciate that you likely have more experience with bettas than me so I will be keeping an eye out for any changes in behaviour.

As for the filter issue, he seems to have learned his lesson, he still swims to that area of the tank but gives the inlet a wide berth.

Cheers

 

[Ma84]

when I had an internal my betta would swim up and plaster himself against it - it looked like he was stucked but I think he just found it a good place to rest because he could easily swim away from it when he felt like it. That could be what yours it doing but i can't really tell, but like the others have said- it's not a good idea to mix male and female bettas

I thought thats why it might have been but didn't want to leave him there to find out.

 

[omega59]

did you say Cherry barb? they would probably fight to death! I'd remove the male asap. I am also new at Betta's too, but you need to do more research it seems google is your best friend

 

[lilfishie]

Seriously if you dont want to wake up to dead fish remove the male. You'll be amased how many times i hear *yeah there fine no issues at all so why should i separate* a week later its oh no my fighters are dead personally as a breeder its not worth the risk.

Plus you'll get so much more enjoyment from your male when alone there personality really comes out

 

[Ma84]

did you say Cherry barb? they would probably fight to death! I'd remove the male asap. I am also new at Betta's too, but you need to do more research it seems google is your best friend

Cherry barbs are peaceful and are fine with bettas. See the link below, one of many sources i've read (in addition to books) which indicate cherry barbs are peaceful and are ok to be in a tank with bettas, also id like to add that theyre together now and im having no problems with aggression.

http/www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/cherrybarb.php

Like I said above, I've done research and part of that was to look at the experiences of other fish keepers and decided it would be ok, and so far it is.

I do appreciate the comments etc, but I didn't ask about compatability Of the fish I've got, I've read up on it, made a decision and there is negligible aggression (i little bit of chasing) between the male and female bettas and no aggression at all from the betas towards my other fish or the other way around.

 

[Cazgar]

There may be no aggression between the male & female Bettas yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if at some point you get injured fish.
That "little bit of chasing" could soon become serious aggression
Females can be kept together, but even they have their disputes, & in a group of just 3 you may find one gets picked on.
Keep a close eye on them & I hope there won't be a sad ending

 

[HannahBear77]

It sounds like your betta just likes Resting on it, My male will swim along and will like to rest on the filter every so often sit there then swim away and do that for bout five minute

It doesn't matter about the personality of the fish you have males and females aren't suppose to live with each other hope your successful with it and don't end up with dead fish
(don't mean to sound rude if it sounds like I am)

 

[Fishy friend2]

While the personlity, aggession and how passing any tyoe of fish, including bettas will have a subtancially large effect in what type of fish that it can harmoniously co-exist with, typically male and female bettas don't work together and are known to fight to the death which is why your situation should only occur on accident, or during a breeding period as the majority if the time they will figh, and taking that .01 percentage chance can potencially kill, cause illness or stress your fish out to the extreme which In My Opinion, isnt worth it take the risk. Aggression towar other bettas concerning male/females situation usually occurs 1-2 weeks after introduction, as while they are just settling in they are already stressed and will sometimes show a minimal amount of aggresion towards the other fish but as they settle in and get used to their particular surroundings they will become aggresive and territorial, attacking other fish with similar characteristics such as other labyrinth fish, other bettas, colorful fish, long finned fish, large fish, and colorful top dwelling fish. When you start to notice aggression you should ideally seperate the male Betta from the others, along with bumping up the numbers of females as aggression is likely to occur in numbers below 4

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

+1 about the males and females being not together

My male is a lazy so-n-so and he occasionally just lets the current plaster him against the leaf of a plant or my rock ornament (not sharp) so I think this is normal. He doesn't ever get sucked against the filter intake but I imagine yours is doing a similar thing.