New Females

[Essjay]

On Saturday, I bought 7 female bettas for my 60 litre tank (I sold the last of my endlers to make way for them).
One of them was the obvious 'boss' from the first minute, but she got worse. She spent Sunday chasing and biting all the others, then yesterday I saw her bite hold of one of the other's ventral fins, then twist from side to side, still holding on. I immeditely put her into one of my home made breeding traps (made for the endlers) and the tank now looks like it has different fish in it! The 3 that had stress stripes and no colour have lost their stripes and have coloured up. There's still a bit of chasing, and a couple of them circle each other with their fins spread out, but nothing nasty.

So what do I do with the aggressive one? Will it be safe to release her from the trap? The only other tank I have is my community tank which includes honey gouramis, so I assume this is not a good idea.

Any suggestions welcome!

 

[shaz3271]

hello there

could it be possible that you have a male there?, can you post a picture so people can see

sharon

 

[Siamese Fighting]

I am very interested in how this turns out as I am interested in having 4-6 female bettas together.

If indeed she is a she, maybe house her separately or take her back?

 

[Essjay]

I'm afraid I don't have a camera, not even on my mobile phone. The fish does have a white spot, but she's still quite small and I understand juvenile males can have this spot? She's interested in her reflection but doesn't flare at it, and when she chases the others, she flares at them but it seems to be gill covers only, no beard. What else should I look for to confirm it is a female?

I have just done an experiment. I put her in a bag and floated her in the male's tank for a couple of minutes. He flared at her but she got stress stripes and did not flare back. If she is a male, would this be expected with her being in a bag and the male in his territory?

She's back in with the others now. So far, no chasing or nipping but 3 of them have stress stripes back and they run away when she gets near!


As a side issue, one shop I went to said they didn't stock female bettas as they carry a nasty virus which hits suddenly and will kill every fish in the tank - not so bad in a female only tank, they said, as no other fish would be killed by the virus, only the bettas!! Has anyone else heard of this?

 

[devon_charm]

Well unless that shop has been getting in / being sent sick fish in the first place i have never heard of this before, i have had females with lots of other community fish and they have all been fine. I have pygmy corry in with my girls now and have done for moths and they are fine too...so i think its safe to say that the LFS are a little wrong