My Zippy Little Fighter

[kn01]

I have a siamese fighter fish, a tiger loach and 4 neon tetras.

I have been reading some forums and it says these fish don't go together, however the woman at Homes for Pets (or whatever that big pet shop is called) said the tetras go fine with the fighter. (They were all living together in the pet shop as well).

I've noticed the fighter chase the neons when there is food around.

Do you think they're all safe together and who is most in danger?

 

[ibbledibble]

I have a siamese fighter fish, a tiger loach and 4 neon tetras.

I have been reading some forums and it says these fish don't go together, however the woman at Homes for Pets (or whatever that big pet shop is called) said the tetras go fine with the fighter. (They were all living together in the pet shop as well).

I've noticed the fighter chase the neons when there is food around.

Do you think they're all safe together and who is most in danger?

not a great idea i think. neons can be nippy fish and may nip your betta. he in turn may get aggressive with the neons and hurt and/or kill them.

as for the tiger loach,
first of all, it gets to a maximum size of 9 inches. what size tank do you have them in? this may or may not be your first problem with the tiger loach.
secondly, its listed as a Fairly territorial fish which a betta is also, which could cause problems. it says to beware of fin nipping towards long-finned fish. is your siamese fighter a pk (short fin)? or does he have long flowing fins? if he has long fins he is at risk from the tiger loach.
and as for keeping the tiger loach with the neons, it says, It is best to not keep Tiger loaches with very small fish or they may begin to disappear rather quickly. so you may soon lose neons. maybe not yet if your tiger loach is still small, but it probably won't take long.

i really suggest you rethink your stocking. the neons and the betta are the 2 most at risk types here i think.

 

[kn01]

Oh no.. this isn't good at all. I can't believe they'd sell me the 3 types of fish together.. I did ask and as i said, they were living together in the shop! It was a huge shop as well with hundreds of tanks and different fish.

We have 3 tanks in our house so looks like some of them are gonna have to move.

thanks for the quick reply.

 

[groupiekilla06]

Oh no.. this isn't good at all. I can't believe they'd sell me the 3 types of fish together.. I did ask and as i said, they were living together in the shop! It was a huge shop as well with hundreds of tanks and different fish.

We have 3 tanks in our house so looks like some of them are gonna have to move.

thanks for the quick reply.

You learned the hard way that most pet store employees will either tell you whatever you want to hear to get you to buy fish or they don't really know anything at all. Even if the fish they sell you dies it just means you have to come back and get another one. Its all just money to them. Here, we have nothing to sell you or gain by lying so we tell the truth.

 

[guppylord]

Do you by any chance mean Pets At Home? Unfortunately they dont have a clue what they are talking about half the time,only yesterday i had to inform a member of staff that half their fish had really bad fungus the fish didnt have hardly any tail it had disappeared also the had numerous tanks with Bettas in with the guppies,platys and mollys the guppies had lost most of their tales the Betta's were in a terrible state,its all about money to them not the welfare of the poor fish,you are much better off getting advice on stocking your tank from this forum

 

[kn01]

Yes! Pets at Home, that's the one.
I wanted guppies but the woman said guppies and fighters don't go, so I asked what did go and she said "any of the fish that are already in the tank with the fighters." and they were all neon tetras and loaches.

I might write them an email telling them because that's awful. The poor fish.

 

[ibbledibble]

as you're in bournemouth you should check out DPFishways. its 2 doors down from pokesdown train station. its run by modaz, whose a member on here and he has a lovely shop with some fantastic fish in it. he specializes in bettas and guppies but has lots of other fish too.

 

[kimberlina]

i have always kept my male fighters with tetras. and i've never had a problem. i only had a problem with platy's as they niped his fins. my fighter at the moment is in with tetras and they get along fine and when i bought him from the pet shop he was in a tank with lots of neon tetras.
i know that bettas have different personalities so maybe some bettas are bothered more by tetras than others

i asked a fish specialist about guppies and fighters too and he said no way to male guppies and male fighters but male guppies and female fighters should be ok. but sometimes the guppies can pester the bettas and when they get fed up they can be aggressive. i think it may be a luck of the draw!

 

[kn01]

Wow thanks, I'll try the fish shop!!

Yes my fighter seems fine with the tetras, but he seems to be teasing the loach; swimming really close to her and nudging her. I haven't seen an violence yet, but I can jus imagine the loach snapping one day! Fingers crossed.