Why The Sudden Personality Change? :(

[ghostchoir]

My betta Leo was by far my favourite fish a few days ago. He was friendly to all the other fish (he gave them a slight nip ocasionally, but, well, so do all the others) and amused me a lot because he spent most of his time trying to ram himself into places much too small for him such as curving himself around the smallest plants or holes.

On Saturday evening, I put him into isolation. Because I didn't have anything more appropriate, I used a large fish purchasing bag and put him in there (giving him quite a bit of room to swim and also getting to keep him in the main aquarium. Yes, I kept the top open and very easy to access so he could still get air! Having never had a betta before I was unfamiliar with their diseases and sadly I thought he had dropsy - it turned out he didn't, he had just overeaten. So first thing Sunday morning he was released back into the community aquarium.

Ever since then he has been absolutely horrible, mainly to the cories. He's constantly chasing the panda cories around and biting them, one now has quite a large chunk missing from his tail. He no longer spends his days bending himself around things or exploring, just sneaking up on other fish. He seems to have had a complete personality change, he is NOTHING like he was before.

The tank is 125 litres with 14 plants and three ornaments - basically, a LOT of places he could be hiding so that's not the problem.

I don't think I have much choice but to get a small tank for him to live in on his own which makes me sad as he was such a nice fish before. What I was wondering is - why is he being like this? And why does he only seem to hate the panda cories? He doesn't mind the julli cories or the glowlight danios - and the pandas stay in their group (and usually group with the jullis as well) so I'm not sure why he's targetting them.

 

[girl4God81]

Bettas (especially males) are very territorial! He will much prefer to be by himself in something smaller, than with the rest of the fishies. Before I knew much about bettas, I too added my (not so) little boy to my community tank and he became aggressive. You little boy probably feels better now (he may have been constipated before too) and is being his normal self. What I have learned though, is that they will all eventually become aggressive (with an exception to 1 I had who was about 2 1/2 yrs old and not aggressive, but his was because of age I suppose). It may take them awhile, but it's just a better idea to keep the male seperate anyway. I have mine in a 2.5 gallon and he's made huge bubble nests, and he's active and happy as can be. I got mine at petmart for $9.99, very cheap, and a little filter for that size is (if i remember right), close to $5.00. Depending on where you live, you may not need a heater in the summertime, but if so, they are also around $5. for a tank that small!

 

[mommyof2bettas]

I was gonna say excatly what girl4god said also, bettas will surpirise like this many, many, many, many, many times. This is why I always advise people to keep an extra tank if you keep your bettas in a community. danios and bettas also don't mix well, so that extra tank rule applies even more.

 

[Maxsmom]

Bettas are funny... each has a very different and distinct personality. While I haven't had a betta long enough to see huge changes in his personality - except getting more "comfortable" with his new home.

The others made a good point by keeping a spare tank when you have community tanks - for just-incase...

Mommyof2bettas - you have this in your avatar: "PLEASE, BEFORE ADDING ANY FISH TO YOUR TANK, DO A FISHLESS CYCLE, WELL, AT LEAST IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR FISH!"

Can you explain that? I'm about to start a 5 gallon tank - I wanted to use BioSpira but I can't get it here in Canada (without paying a small fortune.) So I'm going to use Stability (by Seachem) for aiding in cycling my tank. I belong to another board as well... and many have cycled their tanks with their fish in... I am a bit nervous about it. How did you do your fishless cycling - what did you use for ammonia - ammonia or food? Just curious about your experiences. Thanks!

 

[ghostchoir]

It's odd that everything I read said the danios and the betta would probably hate each other - when they don't mind each other at all. They ignore each other completely and have even happily shared food together without nipping each other to get out of the way once.

Whoever said he would calm down and settle into normalcy was right - he's back to ignoring everything completely and just bending himself around plants, haha. I'm thinking perhaps he knew the one he attacked was a weak one? The cory he bit has since died, I assume of stress, but it never really fit in with the others and didn't shoal as much as the other pandas did.

Either way once I can get him a bigger tank he will be going in it just to be on the safe side! The only thing I can afford at the moment are the tiny tiny ones and I would feel bad putting him in one of those as he likes to swim and needs the room. He's leaving all the cories (and danios) alone since calming down again so I think it's okay for now - either way I'm hoping to get the tank by the end of the month.

I've noticed that he gets more nippy around a certain tree ornament, I think because he has decided it to be his. The only time he chases fish away is if they are too close to that. The rest of the tank he is fine with them and will willingly go and lie down next to them.

Either way he WILL be getting his own tank. It's just such a shame as he seemed to really like the space the big one gave him and there's no way I could get another that size!