lisa-on-ice

I woke up this morning to an awful sight, one of my gorgeous little guppy boys has a great chunk out of his beautiful tail. To my dismay i found that another of my boys seems to have lost his tail completely!

I instantly suspected (and knew this could happen, but after a few weeks of peace i thought i'd escaped this) My collection of tetras (neons and penguins) who are known fin nippers. My betta seems fine but i put this down to his ;arger size and ability to defend himself.

Later that day however, my partner watched the tank closely and noticed the Betta chasing the guppies and any other fish that swam close. He is exhibiting alot of aggressive behaviours and so my question to you guys is this;

Are Betta known for being aggressive towards other community fish?

luna

Bettas are quite notorious for being bad for community tanks. People here will specifically tell you not to house them with other fish, but especially not guppies or other fish with big fins, for exactly the reason you're encountering.

Sounds like you're going to need a separate tank to keep him in, for the sake of the rest of your fish...don't suppose you happen to have an unoccupied 5-10g tank that's cycled just lying around?

lisa-on-ice

Haha no unfortunately not! Thanks for the advice, we'll have to move him out, the guppies are expecting fry soon as well so its probably for the best. Such a shame i loved him so much! Now i've lost a lot of respect for little hunter.

COBettaCouple

Bettas do poorly in community tanks. Most of the time it ends with either a dead/injured Betta or dead/injured fish among the rest of the community. Guppies present an extra problem with those beautiful tails, which triggers an even stronger territorial response in the Bettas. It would be best to move your Betta to his own tank and for the gups, Vita-Chem, Fish Protector or StressCoat will help the fins heal faster.

Narcicius

Hope your guppies make it, and congrats on the soon to be fry.

Allie

I agree with the rest...betta need to be in their own tank. They are super aggressive little buggers.

Firecracker

except mine, who got his butt kicked by a pair of platies.

lisa-on-ice

We temporarily secluded him with a makeshift tank separator (as we do not have a spare cycled tank!) but found this morning he had somehow managed to jump over and rejoin the main tank!
We had to make the big decision as the whether we would have to return him, but have fallen in love with this little brat, so we just purchased a more permanent home for him.
This won't arrive until Monday however so the makeshift divider may have to do in the meantime...

finmama

maybe you could take a bit of water out for the time being? Bettas are known for jumping...I would go at least an inch below the top of divider. He seems pretty determined lol

voiceless_kat

[quote=lisa-on-ice;334689]We had to make the big decision as the whether we would have to return him, but have fallen in love with this little brat, so we just purchased a more permanent home for him.
quote]

See how they are?? As Allie said, they are little buggers, but man, they win your heart. You really have to respect their pugnacious-ness ( I don't think that is an actual word, so it fits bettas even better) and determination. Jumping over it's divider, what a brat is right! Aren'\t they adorable?

I would be upset as well if the gups were injured. I hope they heal up and reward you with millions of beautiful babies...lol--been there, done that, loved it!

I tried a sorority with female bettas once. They were the smallest little things, and they would swim around and flare this tiny little flare at one another. Well, they thought it was a big flare. I had to seperate them, and I lost all 3. The worst luck I have ever had with fish was those 3 little girls, that had been in with neons & other small tetras at Walmart and seemed fine. ( I didn't know much at that time either) They were all weak and sick. That was a lesson hard learned when I first started with bettas.

I hope you will keep us posted on the gups and the betta!! Good luck!

Val

chickadee

You might try getting something even a stiff piece of cardboard and making a small even 3 or 4 inch wide T type top on top of the divider if that will work and see if it will stop the jumping. Once he sees just one time that he cannot jump over it he may stop trying.

I am so sorry that Mr. Betta is not going to behave, but they do not know that other fish with long flowing tails are not other betta males. It is a perceived threat to them. He is really just following his natural and normal instincts to protect his territory from intruding males of his own species. So please do not be upset with him. They have been raised alone from the very first sign of them being a male in jars and cups. They have not had the advantage of being used to having other fish about them and getting used to their company. It is not really fair to expect them to know how to behave in the community tanks when they have never been able to swim with the others before and have no idea of what they are let alone who they are or why they are there. Bettas do not do well with any fish that have long fins, or that challenge the same territory they reside in. They do get along sometimes with fish who are bottom dwellers or nocturnal in nature because they seldom cross paths. It is very much preferable to leave bettas alone though as they do not get lonely and much prefer our company to the company of other tankmates.

I know that you love your fish and this has distressed you but the betta did not know he was doing anything wrong and would not have been as likely to attack another fish had he not felt that it posed a threat to him. This betta will not be able to be trusted with even calm and placid tankmates now as he is too excitable. He will have to be kept alone. Usually once a betta begins to attack tankmates they will continue.

Again, I do hope the guppies will be okay, and I do hope you can forgive your betta and let him know that you forgive him. They do need our attention and I would hate to think that he is punished for his actions.

Rose

lisa-on-ice

I tried your cardboard idea and so far it seems to be working well. Haha something new to entertain him with as well!

Its so hard to be mad with such a beautiful fish, i know its not his fault and im the first to admit i still have to learn alot about the habits and needs of all my individual fish. Am getting there slowly! I guess its the sort of feeling when a child does something bad. Disappointment but still love the little things!

I think being moved around like this may have stressed him a bit. It looks like he is starting to lose a bit of colour in his body. I'm a little worried but hopefully he will last until his new home is established...

chickadee

Yes that is a sign of stress and could even be that he was feeling very threatened. You may have a problem with his health before this is over. They can make themselves sick over these types of things. Bettas are very high strung fish and feel depressed very easily. It is hard to believe but if he starts to wilt and just not swim much you may have to spend some quality time with him and handfeed him and make over him a bit to get him going again. It is hard to realize but they have died just from being upset. I just don't want you to lose him over this.

Rose

COBettaCouple

Is he a red Betta? They especially seem to lose color when stressed. One time, I took our red Betta out of his tank to clean it and he started turning white in a matter of minutes. I agree with Rose and I think some time talking to him and maybe some thawed frozen bloodworm treats would really help him.