Beta female strange behavior

[Wyckius]

Hello I have 3 betta female fish .on of them is fine swimming around and just checking her territory.But another 2 just stay all day on top or under big leaf .just when I open lid and give them some food they start move and get eat . And after go back on leave .did is normal?

My tank 150l
I have external filtration fluval 207 (I clean it yesterday week (I clean using water taken from tank)
Water change done yesterday 30%
Amonia 0
Rest parameters is good
I feed once a day give frozen blood worm
Flakes ,sinking food ,algae wafers ,baby food
I have 8 Cory fish,5 Amano shrimp ,5 assassin snails,3 plecos ,2 moly balloon Fish,2 platy,10 baby balloon fish,3 beta female fish
Beta fish doesn’t look anything bad (no color change (I change food flakes with vitamins so the color of fish look more brighter now and shines)no fin damage or wounds, no belly swelling ,no red spots, do not look like have blender problem .
Sometimes look like fish dead but as soon as you open lid it start moving thinking it going to be give food .
They are def not hungry because they eat first and left rest food after for another fish .
Any one have ideas what it can be ?or it normal ?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Bettas do like to rest on leaves, it's good that you have the plants with wide leaves they can use. Stores even sell fake leaves you can suction cup to the side of the tank for bettas, "betta hammocks", because they're fond of doing just that!

It's hard to tell whether they're behaving normally when we can't see them though, and being able to see them swim can show a lot more about how their health is, and if their swimming behaviour is normal. Any chance you could shoot a short video of the tank and the fish moving and resting? Only needs to be a minute or two, but can be really helpful.

Sadly the video upload function on the forum doesn't work, but if you can upload to youtube, you can link it here so we can see it.

I am a bit concerned... bettas are solitary fish by nature, which is how they got the name Siamese Fighting Fish - because they don't like to share territory, and even if you're not seeing wounds or actual fighting yet, the three females will still have a pecking order that can change at any time, or they may be stressed just by being trapped in the same tank with the other bettas, or the active one may be bullying and stressing the other two, leading to them hiding away.

How long have you had the tank set up, and this stocking? I am a bit concerned that you seem to be a bit overstocked. Plecos especially are messy fish that produce a lot of waste and have a high bioload, and while it might be okay while you have baby and juvenile fish, plus the help from the live plants and good filtration... you might find as the fish grow and produce more waste, the bioload of all those fish may be too much for a 150L tank. I'd recommend increasing the size of the water changes to at least 50% weekly, and honestly, the bettas would be happier in 5g tanks of their own. I know female betta "sorority tanks" are a popular thing now, but honestly, they're very hard to balance, usually lead to very stressed and sometimes dead fish, and rarely work out in the long term.

But a video would definitely give us a better idea about whether there is an illness there, or potentially bullying behaviour, and we could give suggestions for any potential stocking problems you might face in the future.

 

[MaloK]

What is the temperature of your tank ?

Your ladies looks like Plakats... There is big chances that the Dominant Female won't allow the other to swim around freely in her sight. A chance that you seem to have a lots of hiding places and cover in your tank.

Fighting strains of Betta splendens (Plakat) have been bred for aggression for over six centuries due to the culture surrounding fighting betta fish and betting money on the results.

While Females are considered less aggressive, a recent study found that today's female Betta of the fighting strain, show significantly higher levels of aggression than their female wild counterparts.

FightingBettas have demonstrated how aggressive their female Plakats can be despite the fact that historically only male bettas have been used in fights. The artificial selection of the most aggreessive male and forcing them to fight constantly, slowly rendered the whole breed a lot more agressive than the wild ones.

 

[Essjay]

The usual recommendation is to keep at least four females, though this probably won't work here as the one sounds as though she won't tolerate other females in 'her' tank.



Are you 100% sure the dominant fish is female? Stores often get short finned males in with the shipment of female bettas.

 

[GaryE]

It is surprisingly common for male plakat shortfins to be sold with females. All the store people I know watch like hawks when they get a shipment, and expect some of them to be male. They watch for ones that act like your dominant one.

 

[Wyckius]

Temperature is 26
Dominant female defiantly female .I bought her because she was kept with another females which bullied her
In my tank her territory is top right side and she protects just that area rest is fine for her
.

I isolate in separate tank yesterday my beta because she start not to eat yesterday but in the morning I found here dead.
So 2 betas left.
Another behavior change because she always was on bottom but now she’s going to top and sits on leave like that beta who died .she looked swelled a little bit but maybe she eat too much blood worms and it cause this problem.

 

[Wyckius]

My second beta looks like swollen .
Any ideas what can be wrong and what I should do next put in separate tank and give salt or …

 

[Wyckius]

My second beta looks like swollen .
Any ideas what can be wrong and what I should do next put in separate tank and give salt or …

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

My second beta looks like swollen .
Any ideas what can be wrong and what I should do next put in separate tank and give salt or …

I do have an idea, and I'm sorry, but she's dying. It looks as though she's pinconing, meaning she has dropsy, which is end stage organ failure.

What caused that isn't easy to answer, there are many things that can cause organ failure. But it's a painful death and she appears to be suffering, so in your shoes, I'd be using some clove oil to peacefully euthanise her. We can show you the method if you also believe she's reached that point, and choose to end her suffering humanely.

@Colin_T , what do you think? Especially since another betta has also just died?

@Wyckius , can you give us some more info about the tank, please? The whole set up, how long it's been running, water test results, how often you do water changes, added any new fish recently? Are any of the other fish pale, lethargic, gasping, or fin-clamped?

How much of the tank water do you usually change, and how often?

Sorry for all the questions, but since we can't see the tank and can only rely on the info you give us, the more you share with us, the better the chances are that someone will be able to figure out what's going wrong with your fish.

 

[Wyckius]

I bought this tank 4 months ago to update to bigger tank .this is 150l external filter fluval 207.have plants and 2 air stones .
I change 30%of water and clean filter after 17 or 21 day
I have 10 new borns of platy or ballon after Christmas . Another fish look fine nothing strange ,or pale ,no gasping ,fin look fine.
I running out of test and it not delivered today .
Lates test was on Monday
No3-10
No2-1
Gh-8
Kh-5
Ph-7.5
Cl2-0
Co2-6
Ammonia -0

 

[Lcc86]

The only thing I can think of from what you've posted is your water changes. 50% or more weekly is recommended, it could be that water quality has affected these fish. Or it could be that they were ill when you got them and just got unlucky.

 

[Wyckius]

I check water quality before change water and after it always been good.I was change %50 water in my old tank weekly but my fish starting dieing.
I was told that I changing too often and I killing bacteria and my water was too hard .so in new tank I am buying fresh water from shop or boiling and filtrating by myself.
I can’t clean my gravel good everywhere because of plants and some wood decoration which I can’t move .
Do this causing problem maybe ?
Because to clean all I need to take all fish and it will be mission and if I move them from tank they start to stress last time after that i was lost black ,gold and panda Cory and white pleco .they was quote big around 3 month so it was really sad to loose them .

 

[Lcc86]

I check water quality before change water and after it always been good.I was change %50 water in my old tank weekly but my fish starting dieing.
I was told that I changing too often and I killing bacteria and my water was too hard .so in new tank I am buying fresh water from shop or boiling and filtrating by myself.
I can’t clean my gravel good everywhere because of plants and some wood decoration which I can’t move .
Do this causing problem maybe ?
Because to clean all I need to take all fish and it will be mission and if I move them from tank they start to stress last time after that i was lost black ,gold and panda Cory and white pleco .they was quote big around 3 month so it was really sad to loose them .

You shouldn't lose bacteria through water changes, most of the beneficial bacteria lives in your filter and some in your substrate. If you can buy a gravel vacuum this will help you keep the gravel clean and you shouldn't need to remove any fish to do it, you just move it around them and then do a big water change to capture any bits of gunk that might be floating around. As mentioned above your tank is overstocked so more water changes should in theory be helpful, it certainly wouldn't harm your fish.