agabr123

We have a female betta, Artemis, that was living in a 10 gallon community tank and within the past couple of days we added 2 dwarf gouramis and 2 cory cats. Normally she was eating 2-3 betta pellets 2 times a day, but now that we are feeding the community tank she eats as much as she possibly can. She is fast and, to make matters worse, lives at the top of the tank. The gouramis are slower and a little timid and like the bottom of the tank. This afternoon we noticed that she was extremely fat but still very active and willing to eat. We separated her and put her into our temporary quarantine tank with no other fish. Other posts said that fat bettas can be constipated but ours is still very active. Is she just very full? Is it possible that she can live in the community tank if she is so fat? Is there anything we can do besides separating her from the others while we are feeding them?

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!

Betta's are piggys..and will eat anything ....gourami's are very territorial and after they get use to the tank, they will hurt or kill your betta or visa versa....she could be egg bound as well but Im guessing shes helping herself to all the other food as well...betta's also will get constipated on flakes and that could be the issue...if you can, her own tank is best for her health and safety and she will be so much more personable...or keep the corys and betta in the 10 gal and return the gouramis...goodluck and can you share some pics sometime?

Lucy

It sounds like she's eaten too much. They sure are little piggys.

You might want to fast her for a day for so, no matter how much she begs. Keep an eye out for constipation. After a couple days of fasting offer her a few bits of thawed frozen shelled pea.

I wouldn't recommend keeping your betta with dwarf gouramis someone could get hurt or killed especially in such a small tank.

agabr123

So far they haven't been aggresive towards her, but I'm sure it's possible since they've been fairly timid as we only got them a few days ago. If we do decide to put her back in we will definitely keep an eye on them. She tried to eat the flakes and kept taking some and then spitting it back out, but I think she found the shrimp and was pigging out on that. We got one female and one male to try to prevent any aggresive behavior from anyone, and so far they've left her alone but we'll see. We may keep her in the quarantine tank for a while to see how she does, but I'm not sure we have room for another tank just for her. As it is, we have two 2 1/2 gallons and one 10 gallon. Originally, we had tried to have three female bettas in the 10 gallon but they ended up attacking each other so now one has her own tank (the most aggresive) with a cory cat and they are doing fine, Artemis (the fat one) was the least aggressive so we kept her in the community tank, and a friend of ours took the third.

Oh, and we'll have pictures up soon! Of her and the other tanks, hopefully they won't be too shy.

Lucy

We love pics so post some soon!

Oh! Welcome to Fish Lore
I hope Artemis is feeling better soon.

agabr123

Pictures of the 10 gallon and Artemis are up in the gallery and one of her is attached.

The 2 1/2 gallons are coming soon.

Attached Images

artemis2.jpg (71.2 KB, 46 views)

Lucy

Aw she looks about the same coloring of my Prissy!

agabr123

She just got those stripes again when we put her into the quarantine tank. They finally went away a few days ago after she had been in the 10 gallon for a little while and even after we added more fish she still didn't have the stripes but they're back again.

Oh, and the huge stomach is not normally there. It is a little hard to see but basically where the black part ends is how big she normally is.

Lucy

They sound like stress stripes. Are the kind of grayish and horizontal?
Once she gets settled she should get back to normal.
You might want to add a plant for her to hide behind so she doesn't feel so exposed.
She also needs to be kept warm.

agabr123

Yes they are. I'm sure she's stressed, when we first put her in QT I got the temperature as close to the same temperature as the 10 gallon as I could, but it has been dropping. And it's also much smaller, I'm thinking about putting a couple of our extra plants in too since there aren't any right now.

agabr123

She seems to be declining and is a lot less active now. I was able to get the temperature to about 75-76 but I'm basically using a lamp and I don't want her to fry overnight if I leave it on but if I turn it off it will drop to around 70.

Lucy

I'm sorry she's doing poorly

She really needs warmer water, about 80F
I'm afraid the water is just too cold for her and will escalate any problems she's having.

agabr123

We'll leave the lamp on overnight, hopefully it will get to around 78-80 and not too hot for her. She is still moving a bit and on Wednesday we'll try giving her a little bit of pea.

agabr123

Artemis has been doing much, much better! She's gotten considerably smaller and is almost at her original size. Thank you all for your advice.

Lucy

Oh! I'm glad to hear it. Thanks for the update.

Red1313

Yay!!!

COBettaCouple

That's good news

goshguppies

We lost a male betta as well. He was our baby in a 2 1/2 gal hex tank then we got a 55 gal for free and went to LFS for fish.
After reading down thru these posts.
Could it be possible that the gouramis killed our betta?
If so would it have been the dwarf or the goldens?
We miss our "Squirty" very much

Lucy

gishpuppie, I'm really sorry about Squirty.
If you have a question it's best to start your own thread. agabr123's betta has recovered.
It's quite possible that why he didn't survive whether through aggressiveness or overeating, in hind sight, it's hard to tell. Most bettas don't do well in community tanks.

agabr123

I'm sorry about your poor betta