Betta Behaviour

[jamespond]

It's totally normal mate. Mine does the same thing, and my girlfriends did the same thing as well.
They're pretty intelligent fish, and they *do* like to explore.
They also seem to like squeezing into things and getting half stuck in plants (they like the feel of leaves through their fins i suppose)
Regardless of what you keep him with, if theres neons, or platies, or other bettas, or plutonium rods, what your betta is doing i've seen and heard of happening regularly.
I trust you watch your fish, and you would probably notice if any other fish are bothering him.

i keen a keen eye on him (he's the centre piece of my tank) and the neons don't bother him...1 of the danios attempted to have a nip when i first put him in, but my Betta soon sorted him out by chasing him (as fast as he could..which isn't very!) around the tank...now they leave him to his own devices..which is either squeezing between my balls of moss...or headdown in rocks or gravel.


thanks for the post tho

 

[MadCatter]

Okay, skipping past all the bickering, does your betta have ripped fins, or any sores of any sort? If not, I doubt your betta is being attacked by anything. There is a possibility that he's stressed because of the amount of fish, but I'd dare say that that doesn't make a huge difference either (in my own experience, and the experiences of others that I know). My betta, and bettas I've kept in the past have spent lots of time toward the bottom of the tank "inspecting" their territory, but they also inspect everything in the middle and top, including my fingers when they have entered the tank. When you feed your fish, or put something new in the tank, how does your betta respond? Does it act completely unresponsive, does it hide, or does it come up to see what's going on? Are his colors pale or vibrant?

I'm not saying the other members don't have valid imput - they wouldn't be saying these things if they hadn't experienced them at some point, the same as I have never experienced these problems. I personally think the danios are a larger stress factor than the neons.

Do you have plenty of hiding places for your betta and the other fish? simply adding more hiding places (live plants are wonderful) could provide less stress for your betta. Maybe do a small water change, and add a plant or two. It could perk him up a bit Tell me if he changes!

 

[jamespond]

Okay, skipping past all the bickering, does your betta have ripped fins, or any sores of any sort? If not, I doubt your betta is being attacked by anything. There is a possibility that he's stressed because of the amount of fish, but I'd dare say that that doesn't make a huge difference either (in my own experience, and the experiences of others that I know). My betta, and bettas I've kept in the past have spent lots of time toward the bottom of the tank "inspecting" their territory, but they also inspect everything in the middle and top, including my fingers when they have entered the tank. When you feed your fish, or put something new in the tank, how does your betta respond? Does it act completely unresponsive, does it hide, or does it come up to see what's going on? Are his colors pale or vibrant?

I'm not saying the other members don't have valid imput - they wouldn't be saying these things if they hadn't experienced them at some point, the same as I have never experienced these problems. I personally think the danios are a larger stress factor than the neons.

Do you have plenty of hiding places for your betta and the other fish? simply adding more hiding places (live plants are wonderful) could provide less stress for your betta. Maybe do a small water change, and add a plant or two. It could perk him up a bit Tell me if he changes!

There's plenty of hiding places in my tank...and now you mention it...it is like he's 'inspecting' the bottom of the tank. His fins are all fine and there's no damage to him either

I put my hand in, and he did come up to see what the fuss was about.

 

[mezrie]

My little Harry is fine and he's in with tetras, he's never been fussed by them and soon butts them out the way when its dinner time!

 

[MadCatter]

There's plenty of hiding places in my tank...and now you mention it...it is like he's 'inspecting' the bottom of the tank. His fins are all fine and there's no damage to him either

I put my hand in, and he did come up to see what the fuss was about.

Then there is probably nothing to worry about Obviously, keep an eye on those other fish, because those species have been known to be a little nippy, but I don't think you have an issue. I just got a new girly (I'm excited to take photos, she's a glossy white, without any muttled spots), and she's the least active of all the bettas I've ever had - she actually spends more time hiding under my filter, or at the top of the tank, and I can guarantee that she's not as comfortable as my other bettas that hung out on the bottom of the tank, inspecting everything. I'm expecting a shipment of plants some time this week though, which will give her more to look at and hide in

 

[MarleyBetta]

I'm no expert in fish keeping but my bettas have always stayed near the bottom of the tank and "inspected it". If you're fish has always done this than i would assume it's just his behavior. If its freaking you out you could always move him to a bowl for a couple days or so and see if it makes a difference....Best wishes to you and your betta!

 

[jamespond]

 

[Fate2006]

You're not watching your fish 24/7. You wouldn't even know if they were attacking each other. Your betta is probably hiding from them. & It doesn't matter if its in a "large" tank unless its like 1000gallons which limits the chances of the 2 of them seeing each other down to like 10 in a million. Just because people say they've kept them together just shows they're not smart. This is just another example of one of those if I jump off a bridge, would you things.

Dude just shut up, I've kept 2 females and a male together in a 7 gallon tank with no problems what so ever... you need to learn that just because you think something is true doesn't mean it is... also your statement about it not mattering what size the tank is, it's completly false. Read tropical fish hobbyist august 2006 issue, in the freshwater Q&A section they have a question about keeping male bettas together and you can do so easily if the fish is mild natured... Also it states that the author has seen 2 males kept in a 20gallon tank, although he does not recommend it, it can be done. To note the 2 male bettas in the 20 gallon tank were there for almost 2 years untill 1 died of old age...

 

[Wisperian]

You're not watching your fish 24/7. You wouldn't even know if they were attacking each other. Your betta is probably hiding from them. & It doesn't matter if its in a "large" tank unless its like 1000gallons which limits the chances of the 2 of them seeing each other down to like 10 in a million. Just because people say they've kept them together just shows they're not smart. This is just another example of one of those if I jump off a bridge, would you things.

Dude just shut up, I've kept 2 females and a male together in a 7 gallon tank with no problems what so ever... you need to learn that just because you think something is true doesn't mean it is... also your statement about it not mattering what size the tank is, it's completly false. Read tropical fish hobbyist august 2006 issue, in the freshwater Q&A section they have a question about keeping male bettas together and you can do so easily if the fish is mild natured... Also it states that the author has seen 2 males kept in a 20gallon tank, although he does not recommend it, it can be done. To note the 2 male bettas in the 20 gallon tank were there for almost 2 years untill 1 died of old age...

I think you're the one that needs to be quiet. You're someone that keeps 3 puffers in a 5g tank. I don't need you to tell me how you keep fish. Honestly, you're just telling people off because you did the something against what's recommended like what James did and you think you want to be right. I really don't care about what some of you people say because its quite obvious they're just plain stupid and refuse to listen to any proper facts people actually have to offer. and really, what the heck are you chances of finding a pair of mild natured males. Unless they grew up together and somehow are absolute angels I doubt they will actually leave each other alone for their whole lives. Like really, if it's so easily done, everyone would do it and we wouldn't have to tell people that males can't be kept together and rename their name to Siamese Kissing & Loving Fish. & I can totally see some hypocrisy here. You just think males and females can be kept together and that sizes of tanks matter.

&& I really recommend that you shut up yourself before you go around telling others to because just because someone decided to back you up in your puffer thread doesn't mean people will back you up here. If you think that you're really all that and deserve the ability to go and tell everyone to shut up because they disagree with you, go ahead. It really isn't anyone's fault if no one ends up liking you or bothering to even read your opinion.

&& to James, I hope you the best and to your bettas and that they actually won't kill each other before you decide to take them out because something bad happens or whatever. Just keep an eye on them and seperate them at any signs of aggression. Usually one small attack or bite triggers something big.

 

[Jaded12]

I'm going to try and be reasonable, but also try and cover a lot in this post

Because they lived together doesn't mean they weren't living in stress . For your information, the fact that you kept 10 neons in with bettas takes away any chances of belief I would have if you told me you actually know tons about your fish considering you've never heard of neons nipping bettas. For all we know you could just be making this up but whatever, they're your fish and not our fault if they get harrassed. The most we could do is tell you you're wrong and feel sorry for your fish.

I don't see why it would be impossible... Just because many people have not had success with bettas and neons being together, doesn't mean it's impossible, after all it depends on the individual personalities of the fish, they don't all share one brain

There's plenty of hiding places in my tank...and now you mention it...it is like he's 'inspecting' the bottom of the tank. His fins are all fine and there's no damage to him either

I put my hand in, and he did come up to see what the fuss was about.

Sounds like you have nothing to worry about hun, all bettas have different personalities, and they're extremely intelligent fish. He may just prefer the bottom of the tank to the rest of it. I had a male plakat in a 20 gallon once, with some white clouds and platies, and he would explore the whole tank but prefered this one top corner, it was just "his" place in the tank and that was that. Good luck!!

you need to learn that just because you think something is true doesn't mean it is... also your statement about it not mattering what size the tank is, it's completly false. Read tropical fish hobbyist august 2006 issue, in the freshwater Q&A section they have a question about keeping male bettas together and you can do so easily if the fish is mild natured... Also it states that the author has seen 2 males kept in a 20gallon tank, although he does not recommend it, it can be done. To note the 2 male bettas in the 20 gallon tank were there for almost 2 years untill 1 died of old age...

I'm sorry, I don't want to start anything, but I have to agree with this statement. You can't group all fish into one category. Fish keeping isn't all black and white, there are a lot of grey areas, and sometimes things work out that "shouldn't" All fish have individual personalities, so just because YOU don't think its right, doesn't mean it couldn't work and work well.

&& to James, I hope you the best and to your bettas and that they actually won't kill each other before you decide to take them out because something bad happens or whatever. Just keep an eye on them and seperate them at any signs of aggression. Usually one small attack or bite triggers something big.

His original post had nothing to do with the tank he USED to have that had a male and a female in it. If your not going to pay attention to the actual post, and attempt to help out with the problem AT HAND, then there's really no point in posting at all is there?

 

[Wisperian]

I meant to say that I hope the tetras wouldn't get to the betta and stuff but I was thinking about the 2 females and male. && some fish just dont go together. Its just they've adapted to the stuff and blahblah I don't know how to explain it. Like dwarf puffers are extremely vicious to make up for their size so small tetras could be fin nippers because they're just small. Its just all things like that. But when people actually have success in keeping them together, I say it's better to rather just keep it to yourself because people will really think that they can try it and I'd rather have people be on the safe side than to have people go and put them together to see if it will work out. All fish of course have their own personalities but sometimes their natural instincts just kick in. Its like how some people are so brave and stuff but when people like throw a baseball at their face its a natural instinct to turn away regardless of how much guts they have.


edit: forgot to say I got this mixed up with another thread.