rileyrk190

I have a ten gallon in my dorm room that is divided with a piece of glass, which houses a female betta and a male. I was wondering if this presents a problem, because all the male does is attempt to get at the female. Will he eventually stop? I feel like i'm torturing the poor guy, but have no intention in breeding them. If i should consider a solid colored divider, does anyone have any ideas on how to do it leaving the glass, and what materials i could use to do this? I enjoy the fact that my betta's are active because i think they do enjoy occasional social interaction, but i feel like i'm driving him crazy. He has proceeded to make a bubble nest, but basically never leaves the side by the divider.

rileyrk190

I thought I would post some pics of my week old bettas. The female is Hildegard, and the male is Kryztoff.

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Drea

Love your Bettas...and their names! I've never had them in a divided tank, but maybe giving them some more time in their tanks, the male will settle. It can take even a week or two for a betta alone in a tank to settle.

Do you have a heater, filter for them?

rileyrk190

Thank you! They're after composers ( krystoff penderecki, and hildegard van bingen).I do have a filter, but its home at the moment. I plan on doing very regular water changes until i get it up here. As for a heater, while I agree i should have one as a backup, dorm rooms are VERY warm and the tank is very close to the hot water heater; I have to sleep with a fan on and its generally less than 10 degrees out..lol I am confident that the water is kept at a tropical temperature.

Drea

Your Welcome You really should get a thermometer, they're not too many . At least you can monitor the temp. Bettas like to be at 80-82deg, and they will swim fast alot if they are trying to get warm. Plus you will really see their colors get vivid when they are warm, and they may be calmer with a heater. Since you don't have your filter now, be sure to do water changes weekly, between 10-20%. and use a water de-chlorinator.

Jendayi

You could get some plants and place them in front of the divider to make it more difficult for them to see each other. This might be a bit easier than messing with the divider panel...

They are both gorgeous, btw! I love their colors!

Tazmiche

First comment is they are GORGEOUS fish!!!

I agree with Jendayi, plants and ornaments to block most of the view. I have a hamster plastic tunnel in one of my tanks to give the fish something to do, maybe that could be a distraction for them, i know quite a few betta owners use them too.

How does your tank work with the glass? Is it like 2 tanks in one? I ask as i have a 3ft tank empty and i have been thinking of dividing it!! Please keep posting. Michelle

Allie

Mine two are in a divided tank too. At first my male was insane then he got use to it. They do noticed each other once in awhile. They too seem to enjoy the occasional interaction. I made sure had have lots of fake and silk plants so they can hide from each other. My male is always making a bubble nest. All my males I have had made them even when they were alone. Here's a pix of their tank

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Barbrella

I have two girls in a a divided tank. I had to add a piece of craft canvas over the divider to block their view of each other at a spot where aggression was the worst.

You can get this craft canvas at any Walmart for about 1$ a sheet and you can get a sheet big enough to cover your divider.

You can see the piece I added in this pic.

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rileyrk190

Yes its like two tanks in one. If you purchase report covers( plastic cover and a plastic binding that slides over the sheet to keep the papers together), which are like a quarter a piece, you can silicone them to the sides then slide the glass right in, which Lowes cut for me for free. The glass was like 2 dollars, so it was an easy fix.

Thanks everyone for the comments!

0morrokh

He'll probably settle down eventually. I have a male and female in a divided tank and they want nuts the first few weeks, but now they're settled down. It would be a good idea to get a thermometer to check the temp of the tank. Even if it stays within tropical range, the temp of the dorm may fluctuate, and a changing temp is stressful. Some people even use heaters on coldwater tanks to keep the temp stable, even if it naturally falls within the correct range.

Btw, I love your bettas! Both very pretty.

chickadee

It is a nice tank and my 25 gallon is set up with a Plexiglas divider similar to yours. My one word of caution is, if the male is hyper he will jump over the divider if he can. They can jump 2" or more if they get too worked up so sometimes only leaving the water level down is not enough. I got a small piece of the craft canvas that was spoken of and made a small T top to the divider on mine as I did find both of my fellows on the same side after the one decided to "visit" the other side. It is a cheap fix and saves a lot of heart failure (theirs and mine). After they get used to it in a few weeks you can probably remove it if you want. I chose not to but they will get used to the fact that they cannot get over the thing. I do also put a piece of craft canvas down on one side of the Plexiglas when they get too worked up as I do not believe in letting that type of behavior go on. It is stressful to them and many betta diseases are brought on by stress. When the situation is settled down or at night when the lights are off, the plastic canvas can be removed and they settle down.

Rose

0morrokh

Oh good point Rose, I forgot to mention that. I solve the problem in my tank by keeping the water level low-about 2-3 inches below the top of the divider, so they can't jump it.

mlinden84

There's nothing I would say that hasn't already been said here, but I just had to tell you how beautiful your fish are! I used to have a male betta exactly like yours, his name was Scuba.

Barbrella

I did the same thing as Chickadee and put a piece of the canvas on top of the divider. This way, no need to have low water levels (which may not stop jumping) or worry about the fish visiting each other.

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COBettaCouple

Congrats on your beautiful bettas!

rileyrk190

thanks! I'm going to add some plants or something, because i cant bare to watch them anymore. I feel like i'm torturing them, because all they do is stare at each other. I was waiting to see if they would get used to each other but now the only have one thing on their mind..

COBettaCouple

Betta can get like that. Our Aslan would just sit there and flare at his filter box until we had to put paper around it. Anytime it would fall off, he'd go right over to the box and start up flaring. I hope the plants and all works, but honestly, now that they've gotten like that I think they'll need to be in seperate tanks as they'll most likely do what they can to see each other, possibly injuring themselves trying to squeeze into tight spots.

rileyrk190

Well, fortunately there aren't any tight holes in my tank. I have it very basic, because i'm in a dorm and i need my tank to be more convenient than aesthetically pleasing to the eye ( however not compromising the health of my bettas). They have actually calmed down quite a bit towards each other. I havent been able to get the plants for the divider yet unfortunately. I'm totally dependent on my roommate because of his car and my lack there of. Also, the nearest fish store is forty minutes away because i chose to go to college in the middle of nowhere..lol So anything i need, needs to be shipped, but i have things in case of emergencies. They both finally started doing there own thing lately and tend to only get frisky if i turn my desk lamp on. During the day my room is dimly lit, so they must just not see one another.
On a side note, my male seems to have fins that appear pinched together ( it sounds like the "my bettas fins are glued" thread). I mean I know what a sick betta looks like, having had a few that have been ill at one point or another, but this one is as lively as ever, and eats very well. I have been medicating daily with aquarisol, but it doesn't appear to be improving. He's not losing weight at all, and doesn't appear to have any unusual behavior at all.

COBettaCouple

I'm not sure of the name, but I think it's not uncommon for betta to get fins 'stuck' together like that. Our Angel has a little bit of that on her tail fin.

rileyrk190

Should i be concerned or will it go away on its own? he had such a beautiful flare, so i hope its treatable.

I appreciate you answering all of my betta questions, so i hope you dont mind but i have another..lol My water tends to become very foul smelling very quickly. I have also never had this happen before. I have had bettas in smaller tanks (before i found the site and learned that a 5 gallon is optimal) and the water even without filter would remain clean smelling for at least a week. With my ten gallon divided set up, it becomes unbearable after two days. I know i need to get a filter, and i'm sure that would help, so i guess i'm just curious as to why its doing this? Could it be that the gravel is smooth, not allowing bacteria to get in the crevices of the rock? I generally feed dried blood worms, with brine shrimp on occasion to vary their diet (not sure if thats the problem either).

AggieYen

Oh your 10 gallon doesn't have a filter?? That would be why it fouls up so quickly. You need to get a filter in there like... yesterday Bacteria shouldn't/doesn't make the water smell - any filter will do, although most of us here recommend external / hang on back filters. Don't get an undergravel - I use an internal filter because of the hood on my tank. But yeah.. that's a crucial part of your tank set up. You have multiple bettas in the tank now, so there's a lot more waste going in.

COBettaCouple

I'd really recommend a few things asap:
1) A filter that outputs at least 100gph.
2) A tank divider with holes in it to allow filtration to get to both sides.
3) An API freshwater master testing kit
4) A bottle of Prime for treating the tap water.

What you're probably smelling is either large amounts of ammonia or nitrites. The Prime will help protect your Bettas from the effects that is having on them.

chickadee

The brine shrimp will add to the smell too. If they do not eat every last scrap of them they will stink to high heaven. I do not recommend them as they do not have the nutritional value of foods more readily accepted by the more mature bettas. It may even say on the can that it is not recommended to be fed more than a couple times a week and then remember that they are in the shell and the bettas do not eat the shells only what is inside so there is always a leftover bit that is going to disintegrate and smell. I gave up on brine shrimp long ago and good riddance.

Rose

rileyrk190

Thanks for the help. I have a submersible filter, i'm just waiting until i go home to get it..But that just reminded me that my friend on another floor in the dorm who had a betta (unfortunately she left the top off, it jumped out, and she found it too late), has a filter. I will get that in there tonight! I do agree that the divider needs holes, but unfortunately its glass, because oddly enough glass at lowes was cheaper than lexan. It is however not water proof on purpose, so it should circulate a bit. I can also put the intake of the filter to be near the divider, so it will draw water from the bottom crack. Also, i don't use prime if thats the brand name, but i do have dechlorinator that conditions the tap water, and removes heavy metals. I also usually add a bit of stress zyme.

COBettaCouple

The reason I suggest Prime is that ammonia and/or nitrites are likely in the tank and it helps lock those toxins so they don't harm the fish as much. AmQuel+ is another conditioner that does that, but not as well as Prime.

rileyrk190

Ok, next time i will purchase prime. AmQuel is what i am currently using.

rileyrk190

[quote] [ Bacteria shouldn't/doesn't make the water smell - any filter will do, although most of us here recommend external / hang on back filters.[quote]
I meant, i was wondering if because my gravel was smooth it wasnt holding the nitrifying bacteria necessary to take care of the smell.

Anyway, i borrowed a filter for now, and did a partial water change. Hopefully now it wont foul up so quickly.

COBettaCouple

Even smooth gravel should be able to hold a lot of good bacteria on it's surface area.

LuvaBetta

If I recall, Amquel+ has a nasty smell all of its own!