Betta Fighting

[namlas]

Hello,
I have had my tank for a month and everything has been going great, until last week I started painting with gloss paint. A couple of them died and I went to our local family owned fish shop. They said it will flush out of their system and it did. But now my male fighting fish is becoming very aggresive and fights with the female fighting fish and the platys. It has already killed one of my platys by ripping its stomach open. Please reply as soon as possible.

Tanks Specs

142 Litre
27 degrees celcius
1 male and female fighting fish
8 male platys
1 male mollie
15 male guppies
5 neon tetras

Thank you
P.S I am new to the forum

 

[fizzlesticks]

Hi Namias,

Welcome to the forum. First things first: male and female fighting fish should never be housed together. You need to separate them asap. The only time they can be housed together is temporarily, for the purposes of breeding — but that takes specialist knowledge and care. Move one to a different tank or a temporary container.

I've often heard that male bettas can't be kept with male guppies (though some people on this forum find that they can). Each fish's temperament is different, and some just don't play nice ever where others are always gentle.

How was the paint getting into the tank? Were you painting the walls?

Cheers,

Fizz

 

[namlas]

We were painting and the fumes or smell must have gotten inside. All of them are fine together now I thing he just did it once. I will keep an eye out for anything else and thank you.

 

[fizzlesticks]

Namias, they will kill each other eventually. There are lots of debates when it comes to bettas, but few will disagree that you can't keep males and females together without eventual trouble. You might not see the nipping—you'd just find a destroyed tail or dead betta one morning.

 

[Tolak]

It can be done, but for having a tank for a month it certainly isn't something for a beginner to try. You'd need plenty of plants, decorations with a lot of holes & such at right angles to each other, all to break up the line of sight and provide access to shelter and an escape route. Tank footprint is more important than capacity when attempting this, as well as some experience with fish behavior.

If the male already tore up a platy that should tell you something. As far as the paint fumes, some large water changes, run carbon in the filter to remove any residual chemicals.