Siamese Fighting Fish

[sarah&stua]

Hi

I wonder if anyone can help us, we have a male and female fighting fish in the same tank. Over the last week our female has had a little bit of a swollen belly, no other symptoms and water test all appeared to be fine we decided to just keep an eye on her. Yesterday morning i noticed that she had swelled quite a bit more and last night her back half turned purple (almost exactly the same colour as the male). we also noticed last night that the male seemed to be blowing bubbles and this morning we had three very tiny patches of bubbles grouped together, which have now seemed to have burst. I know that Fighting Fish make bubble nests before breeding but i can't find any information on whether the changes to our female are correct to the breeding process. They share the tank with several other breeds of fish so we can't allow them to breed in there and i don't want to take them out of their normal environment if its got nothing to do with breeding. We never intended to breed them so if this is what is about to happen i would appreciate a little bit of advice, also if i'm missing something and she may actually have a disease any help would be greatly appricated.

Thanks

Sarah and Stu

 

[Josiah]

Does she have vertical stripes?

 

[Andy1982]

Firstly I there are a lot more knowledgably ppl on here but as they're not around I'll try and offer some help! Hopefully the experts will give better advice.

It is often a Bad idea to have a male and female Betta( Fighting fish) in the same tank. they often become aggresive and it'll only end up bad for one of them.

The bubble blowing is a common occurance as he is begining to make a bubble nest. No real worries there.

The swelling is a bit more worrying. Bettas only release eggs when the male wraps itself around her. Do her scales stick out like a pine cone? If so this could be dropsy. I also know that they swell when they have an internal bacterial infection.


Have you any pics? this might help the experts!

 

[mommyof2bettas]

Is your female in a group?
Females should be kept with other females and NOT MALES.
Usually bettas are better off by themselves. What other fish do you have in your tank?
And like Andy1982 said, swelling might be a symptom of dropsy. If the fish's scales stick out then she has it.
Females will not become swollen if pregnant. The male will make a bubble nest, wrap himself around the female and squeeze her eggs out.

 

[sarah&stua]

Thanks all for your help, she has no other symptoms her scales are not sticking out at all.
I've had some advice from other people there seems to be a very mixed opinion on the swelling during pregnancy some people say it happens and others say it doesn't. I have set them up in a seperate tank, the male is definately trying to make a bubble nest now.
I wonder if you could tell me why males and females can't be kept together, mine have lived together very happily for over a year, i understand that 2 males will fight but i have always thought that a male would only fight/hurt a female after breeding. i'm fairly novice at keeping fish i try to get as much info as i can but it can often be contraditory.

Thanks again

Sarah

 

[Miss Wiggle]

males and females can fight too, also once he's decided he wants to breed he'll keep trying and this is extremley stressful for the female.

however fighters have quite individual personalities, some will tolerate tankmates, some won't. So only you can really assess if they're OK together or not, however I believe her swelign is some sort of bacterial infection, this could be stress related due to being kept with him.

IME it's best to just keep the males in tanks by themselves and eitehr a single female in a community or a large group of females together.

 

[zoekin8yg]

Female bettas DO NOT get pregnant they lay eggs. They will fight, at somepoint if not all the time. Males should be on their own. She could be fat and eggy. She could also be constipated or have an internal bacterial infection. A pic might help