Betta Attacking Guppies

[chibi]

Last night, I looked at my favorite guppy in my 29 gallon to see his beautiful long tail had been torn to shreds! He still seemed perfectly healthy, though. He was eating, swimming all right (albeit a bit awkwardly), and no sign of illness.

I have a male betta in my tank that's been there for about 3 weeks. However, he is extremely shy and secluded. He likes to swim along the sides, is very very slow moving, and never flares up, even next to a mirror. At first I suspected him, but there are some factors that I'm still confused at. My guppy is very fast, but my betta is very slow. The guppy doesn't seemed to be injured at all on his body, just his tail. And my betta is just too darn shy to even get near any other fish.

What could it have been? I considered posting this in Emergencies, but I needed betta experts on this one. Will my guppy's tail grow back? I'm adding stress coat to help him out.

Thanks!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah betta's and guppies are really not compatible for this very reason.

guppies are too brightly coloured and have fancy tails, betta's think they'e other betta's and fight with them

 

[sylvia]

Your betta is probably not as slow as you think. He certainly won't be as shy after the lights are out

This is the typical result of keeping bettas with guppies and, unless you seperate them, it'll happen again. Your guppy's tail can grow back if he isn't stressed, stays healthy and doesn't develop any secondary infections - but it won't be helpful to keep the betta in with him when he's trying to recover - especialy if there's a re-occurance.

 

[PaPeRo]

Do you have any other fish in the tank other than the betta?

 

[chibi]

Do you have any other fish in the tank other than the betta?

I've got in my 29 gallon:
5 gold tetras
5 flame tetras
2 golden algae eaters
1 female guppy
3 male guppies
2 balloon mollies
6 panda corys
1 halfbeak
1 betta

Yeah, I know it's a bit crowded. I suspect the halfbeak if it wasn't my betta, because he always chases my guppies. I've never seen him hurt them, but I don't know... there's always a chance.

 

[DarkEntity]

You should seperate the Betta from the rest, get him a small 5 Gall tank with a filter and 25w or 5w heater etc and he will heal nicely without the hassle from the guppy feeder fish.

 

[Ravenwing]

Yeah, I think your tank might be a bit crowded....I don't know anything about halfbeak's but I know bettas and guppies do not go well together. I would strongly suggest (as others have) to give your betta a tank to himself =) (2.5 gallon to 5 gallon would be perfect) My boys have a 2.5 gallon tank all to themselves (5 tanks, 1 betta per tank) and they _love_ it. Betta's will think that the guppy is another betta and will attack it. Also, some tetra's are known to try and attack betta's fins....so in the best interest of all of your fishies...find mr betta a new tank!

Good luck =)

 

[xXMrBonesXx]

I've seen a female betta drag a guppy around a tank by it's tail

 

[Somethings Fishy Here]

While it is a little off topic, you may also want to add a few more female guppies. Why I myself dont follow the three females per one male rule (I've never had any problems as long as there are as many males as females), having more males than females could cause some aggression in addition to the betta being in there.