Bad, Bad, Max (Betta)

[lizard]

Max (my newest Betta) is on the "un-favorite fish" list right now. I put him in my five gallon tank yesterday with an adult Platy and six Platy fry that were about one inch long (a couple months old). He chased 'em a little, but no big deal. Today I noticed he was more aggressive towards the fry and some were hiding. I had planned to remove him at some point and just didn't get to it (other stuff, etc...). About half hour ago, I went to feed the fish in that tank and found three of my fry dead!!!!! Of course, one of the dead fry was one of my favorites One of the remaining three fry doesn't look like he'll last too long (my other favorite, of course). Max was quickly removed from the tank and placed in to a Betta hex. Maybe tomorrow he'll go into something bigger...I don't know. For tonight, he's in the hex tank. Everyone else is in bed and I don't feel like setting up another tank for Max right now. I'm mad at him. He never seemed to be an aggressive Betta. He was always easygoing, never flared at me. Took him a week or two before he would even flare at the Bettas in the tanks near him (when he was at school - I have him home with me for break). Bad, bad fishy. I'm mad at Max. He not only killed my fry, but killed my favorite fry I think at least one of my favorites was female too

I have a Betta (who I always thought was more aggressive than max) in my 10 gallon tank and he hasn't killed any of the fry in there (who are tiny). Good Spiderman-Fishy...

I'm unhappy I feel bad for my little fry too. These were fry from the batch of eight I found in my gravel back in October - my first fry

All my other fish are doing well though, everyone survived the move. The fry (half of which are now dead) did the best on the move.

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[wuvmybetta]

I'm glad the move went smoothly , but c'mon, your mad at a fighting fish for killing? It's to be expected , that's what happens when they're not kept alone. As for Spiderman being timid....that's surprising, but I still wouldn't trust him if I were you

 

[lizard]

I'm glad the move went smoothly , but c'mon, your mad at a fighting fish for killing? It's to be expected , that's what happens when they're not kept alone. As for Spiderman being timid....that's surprising, but I still wouldn't trust him if I were you

Well....I do see your point. But still, I'm unhappy my fry are dead They were my first fry and one of 'em was my favorite. Perhaps Spiderman hasn't eaten the fry because they're in a heavily planted 10 gallon tank. And if he ate those fry, I wouldn't mind.
Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[wuvmybetta]

I'm terribly sorry about your babies though,I would imagine they were very special to you

 

[Kossy]

hmmm that is sad but surely you should've predicted you would expect trouble with a betta?

 

[Opcn]

Bettas were at one time normal carnivores I'm sure its just his unsivilized instinct telling him to grab the small fish bu tthen he is unable to eat them. It's not like hes trying to get them to fight. Is it?

Opcn

 

[lizard]

As I expected, the remaining three fry were dead this morning. Also found my last ghost shrimp dead in my 10 gallon. What a morning

Anyway....to answer questions...

hmmm that is sad but surely you should've predicted you would expect trouble with a betta?

Actually, I didn't... I have had another Betta of mine in my 10 gallon community tank for well over a month and have had no problems. While in individual tanks, I always thought the Betta who is now in the 10 gallon showed more signs of assertive/aggressive than the Betta I put in the five gallon. Ignorance/bad judgement on my part, I guess... Ah well, live and learn. At least I don't have to worry about what I'm going to do with all those fry now

I'm terribly sorry about your babies though,I would imagine they were very special to you

Yeah, they were, thanks. They were my first fry...nearly two months old

Bettas were at one time normal carnivores I'm sure its just his unsivilized instinct telling him to grab the small fish bu tthen he is unable to eat them. It's not like hes trying to get them to fight. Is it?

Makes sense... I don't think he was trying to get them to fight...if he was, he failed, 'cause it's hard to fight with something that's dead!

Anyway....that's the latest from the "mortuary". Hopefully that'll be all the morbid news for awhile...

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[andyt_uk]

.. And if he ate those fry, I wouldn't mind.

as soon as i started reading your post i thought to myself - if he ate them then it is kinda acceptable, but to just kill another fish for the sake of killing isnt really..

and i dont care what other people say about expecting bettas to be like that, and to keep them alone, as many if not more people will say they will only attack other bettas or other betta looking fish (i.e. long fins, body shape etc - there is a word for that but i cant remember it)

i always see bettas in tanks with lots of other fish in LFS's, even this week in a tank with a load of fancy guppy now that i thought was asking for trouble, but he was as quiet as ever.. made me consider getting another

sorry to hear about your loss though, i lost my fry this week too.
3 from my first batch were knocked out of their fry trap i think by snails, i think they climbed in and caused it to topple over.
the second batch i didnt get into the trap at all.. had mother in for a few days but she hadnt dropped, and seemed stressed in there, took her out again and she dropped next night ;-)
saw 3 little ones swim into other fishes mouths and that was the last of them.. ;-)

 

[lizard]

As if losing the six fry wasn't enough...the adult Platy that was in the same tank died as well She was my favorite of the adult Platys. AND THEN...a day or two later, Max (the attack Betta) dies. Oh yeah, and a fry from the 10 gallon died too. That's <counts> nine fish that have died in the last week Sort of frustrating. The vet (who is taking care of my fish for me over break, while I run around and do things like go to the doctor and dentist and do Christmas shopping) said Max was all fuzzy when they found him dead, so he thought it was a fungus.

Such fun Ah well... Except now my five gallon is going to become un-cycled I want to get a few fish to put in it, but I have to move the tank again in a few weeks and don't want to stress the fish out doing that.

What a fun week - nine fish die and I get to go to the doctor and the dentist (which I really don't mine - I like both my doctor and my dentist).

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[andyt_uk]

not a good week!
sorry to hear about all your losses

wouldnot worry too much about cycling your tank, if you have another you can almost instantly cycle it using that - why not place some filter media ready to use in the empty one, into the full one now.

 

[zacharyrapchuk]

i feel sorry for the platys

platys are my favourite fish

if that betta kills one more platy i am coming overthere and squish him :smb:
opps i forgot

HE IS DEAD, DEAD and verry verry verry DDEEAADD :kira:

 

[wuvmybetta]

Sorry about your terrible week Lizard and all of your fish.


Just try and brush it off and enjoy the remainder of your Christmas Holiday


But I do feel for ya because I have to admit...fry are pretty damn cute! I've never dealt with guppy fry before, we've had two that have lived with our turtle forever but I never really paid attention to them (they were supposed to be feeders but the turtle just "kept" them) and they're pretty big now. I bought some feeder shrimp for my fish the other day and I noticed the teeny tiniest fry in the bag, it couldn't be very old at all,maybe a day or two so I chunked it in the turtle tank and omg'sh is it cute when it follows the bigger fry around ,I'm sure you'll have more soon

 

[lizard]

The saga continues....<sigh>

I was looking at pictures of my fry today, and it made me miss them I know I'll have more...oh, wait, no I won't...I only have a male Platy left. The aforementioned fry were special though, 'cause they were my first fry

As of the last time I checked on the aquarium, I had three Corys, a Pleco, a Betta, and a Platy remaining. The female Platy died and the Albino Cory is MIA. The male Platy wasn't looking so good yesterday, but I think Spiderman was chasing him. Spiderman has been moved into the five gallon tank. Because of the slimy "poop" of the male Platy, I determined (with veterinary consultation) that he probably had parasites. I went and got meds last night and started treating. I'm hoping the med is okay for the Corys and Pleco - the box didn't say it wasn't. If I lose my Panda Corys I'll be more upset - they're my favorites and they're harder to find up here. And besides, I really don't have the money to replace my fish right now On the up side, my birthday is coming up, so perhaps I can get some fish for my birthday

So it goes... I'll be back to check on my fish tomorrow (I was there today and the vet is taking care of 'em) and see how many more I have to remove from the tank

'Tis the down side to raising animals...

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[wuvmybetta]

Try boiling a clove of garlic for a minute then drop it in cold water (blanch it until it's soft), plop it in the tank and see if they eat it. Garlic is great for killing parasites

 

[lizard]

I like that idea better than I like the idea of using other meds. However, I've already started the "other meds treatment" so should probably finish it. I will keep the garlic idea in mind though. Thanks!

Pamela
aka Lizard