JULEZ

hello

I was wondering if anyone could help me... I recently lost my male fighter fish, he was swimming oddly on his side and sinking to the bottom of the tank then he seemed ok for a while and back to his normal self. Then I found him the next morning he had died overnight.


My question is ....I also have two female fighters* left... Should I replace the male or will they be ok on their own, I have had them for about a year and the male for around 15 months before he passed away...

I have a large 4'x2'x2' tank with 1 dwarf gourami, 2 frogs, 4 diamond tetras, 4 buenos aires tetras, 4 zebras, 2 harlequin tetras, 3 mickey mouse plattys , 2 corydora catfish and 3 ottos plus my 2 female fighters. They all get on well together.

Thanks

COBettaCouple

Bettas can be quite happy on their own, so i think they'd be fine.

Carillon

I agree ... I don't see any reason you would have to replace the male. Also, there's no guarantee that your new male will be as happy with the setup as your last one. I've heard of male bettas and male gouramis having territory disputes and getting into fights. I can't back this up with personal experience, as I've never kept my male bettas with gouramis. From the sounds of it, your current tank setup appears to be peaceful or at the very least all your fish have called a truce. Why ruin a good thing?

JULEZ

Thanks for the replies, Its really appreciated*

Could I ask one more thing please, My son who is 11 asked me to get some guppies I know they shouldnt be placed with Male fighters but would the female ones be ok with them or not??


Thanks

COBettaCouple

females tend to be more territorial than males. sometimes a betta will get along with guppies, but it's mostly a bad time for the gups.

0morrokh

You're actually pretty lucky the female Bettas get along. I've heard of a lot of female Bettas fighting, although some can live together if they grew up in the same tank. Don't get a new male--the females would not like having a new Betta added to their territory.

I would personally not try to add Guppies. It's just too risky in my opinion. They would likely end up wiht nipped fins.

Ok, this note is just "for the record"--if all your fish are getting along then I'm not saying you need to move any of them. In general, Bettas should never be kept with Gouramis, any tetras, or any other Bettas. The reason your fish are getting along is because of the huge size of the tank. Most Bettas and Gouramis will fight each other over territory, and same with any combo of Bettas--two males, a male and a female, or two females. Tetras tend to end up nipping the Betta's fins in smaller tanks.

So Julez, you are one of the lucky ones who has Bettas that can be kept in a community, mainly due to the size of the tank. But to other people out there who may be just setting up a Betta tank, realize that putting Bettas with those other fish, and especially keeping more than one Betta together, will not work in anything but a huge tank.

One more thing to note. Keep an eye on the two Bettas. Because one of them died, it could be that their hierarchy has been upset. If the male was the alpha Betta, now that he is gone there is no one in the highest position to keep the others in line, so the two remaining Bettas could begin fighting to become the new alpha Betta. If this happens, you may need to separate them or it is possible they will try to kill each other. It would be much more of a likely problem if you had a smaller tank, but do keep an eye on them anyway.

Phloxface

I agree, I would definately NOT put another male in there. You were very lucky to have a mellow male who didn't try to kill the gourami. Another male would almost certainly fight. If they are all getting along then don't add anything else in there or you will upset the balance of the community.* I know all too well how visciously female Bettas fight with each other. IMO they should NEVER be together in a tank. I think it worked for you because it is a very large tank (about 55 gallons?) but it could also have been because of the male. I would keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't start fighting now.
Another thing I really don't recommend to anyone is keeping male and female Bettas in the same tank. Often the male will harrass and chase the females to the point of stressing them to death. The only time they should be together is during spawning and then closely supervised so the female can be removed when it is done before the male kills her.

JULEZ

Hmm seems I have been very lucky!! , but I will not add any guppies, I would hate to upset the peaceful tank I have and I will keep an eye on my female bettas. My LFS recommended I put 2 females to the 1 male to stop him harrassing one female all the time!!! He knew it was a community tank and never mentioned any of the problems I could have faced...

Thanks for all the advice everyone

COBettaCouple

they just want to sell .. and probably don't know to begin with.