Betta Got In A Fight.

[Timberbatch]

Well I woke up to the best thing this morning. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me as I saw my one male betta on the side he shouldn't be on. (tank is divided) Then I saw my other betta on the ground not moving. I woke up my girlfriend and we got my silver betta (Ezio in my sig) the heck out of that tank into a spare cup we got our other betta in. My heart restarted when I saw the injured betta (Poseidon in my sig) get up and start swimming. I'm pretty sure he was playing dead because I saw Ezio poke him and he didn't move. My goodness he is torn to bits, thankfully its only his fins, no bite marks to the body or open gashes. He is a twin tail half moon so his once flowing fins are now frayed and ripped. My thoughts as to why the divider had a gap is I just put a large snail in there, about the size of a US 50cent piece and he had already bulldozed one of my poor plants. I think he may of gotten wedged and moved it just enough for one of the bettas to slip through. I'm not mad at Ezio, I understand its in their nature.
 
I had gotten some betta fix the other day as Poseidon was already suffering from a torn fin due to a plastic plant I had in there. (evil things) And I've already added that today. 
 
Here's a comparison shot of the damage

 
Before:

After:

 
 
Despite how horrible he looks, he is acting completely normal and even displaying and flaring at Ezio lol. He has a healthy interest in food and does his little happy dance when he thinks he is going to get fed. I just wanted to know if there is anything besides the bettafix and water changes I can do for him? Thanks for reading my lengthy post!

 

[TaurineLittle]

Wow nice save! Sorry to hear about Poseidons fins though

. Is he fully grown? If not he may have a better chance of growing his fins back. But even if he is I'm pretty sure he will grow them back, though his fins may not be the same beautiful colour they used to be. I think the best thing you can do is regular water changes, other than that he should take care of himself.

 

[Tuxyu3]

Clean water, regular water changes of a fairly large volume are what i recommend when fish need healing and that has always worked for me. He should be back to full health soon enough.
 
On another note, can your Betta's see one another? I would always have a blacked out partition in order to prevent the fish attempting to get to each other.

 

[Timberbatch]

Wow nice save! Sorry to hear about Poseidons fins though

. Is he fully grown? If not he may have a better chance of growing his fins back. But even if he is I'm pretty sure he will grow them back, though his fins may not be the same beautiful colour they used to be. I think the best thing you can do is regular water changes, other than that he should take care of himself.

Thanks for the replies! Yes I believe he is full grown, was about the same size when I got him if not a tad bit bigger. I think the bettafix says to treat for a week then do a water change. Which almost works out perfectly as I did a water change 2 days ago.
 
 

Clean water, regular water changes of a fairly large volume are what i recommend when fish need healing and that has always worked for me. He should be back to full health soon enough.
 
On another note, can your Betta's see one another? I would always have a blacked out partition in order to prevent the fish attempting to get to each other.

They can probably see the shadows of each other but not fully. They notice each other occasionally and do their little flare war and then go off to their separate sides. I put a large marble and a small fake plant at where the gap was (there is no gap anymore I made 100% sure of it) so hopefully that will help. They usually don't stick near the divider too often and are usually up near the front of the glass wanting food as usual. Ezio is currently resting in his plant and Poseidon is swimming about watching the snails. 
 
If the aggression gets worse what could I put in that could maybe deter it? Thanks so much for the reply!

 

[TaurineLittle]

Thanks for the replies! Yes I believe he is full grown, was about the same size when I got him if not a tad bit bigger. I think the bettafix says to treat for a week then do a water change. Which almost works out perfectly as I did a water change 2 days ago.

 
Ah yeah, good luck man! I hope Poseidon is back to full health soon
 
 
 

If the aggression gets worse what could I put in that could maybe deter it? Thanks so much for the reply!

 
Would an airstone work? I'm thinking the bubbles may distract them...

 

[Timberbatch]

Oh that'd be a good idea! My filter creates a lot of bubbles already so I'm surprised it doesn't already distract them haha. Thanks for the advice though! I hope he's in good health soon too, I don't care if his fins come back orange I just want him to be healthy again

 

[TaurineLittle]

It may work, my guppies love to swim through the air curtain, whether your bettas will do the same I don't know. Worth a shot though
No worries.

 

[Tuxyu3]

Just to check, are you absolutely sure that the fish got through the gap or is it possible Ezio jumped over the divider? The only reason i ask is because i have heard many times of Betta's doing whatever they can to get to each other if they can see each other and they are indeed very capable jumpers.
 
As for the whole thing about them seeing each other, if i was you then i would just make sure it is not stressing them out too much (i have even heard a bit of flaring can keep some Betta's happy, though i can the testify as to the validity of those claims) though i would imagine that as long as they can break the line of sight to the other then they should be fine. Of course a lot of this all depends on the personality of your individual fish.
 
Also remember to keep a sharp eye out for any potential infection on the wounded fins, this should not happen if the water is clean and i would imagine it is even less likely if it is being treated with medication but it's better to be safe than sorry

 

[Timberbatch]

Just to check, are you absolutely sure that the fish got through the gap or is it possible Ezio jumped over the divider? The only reason i ask is because i have heard many times of Betta's doing whatever they can to get to each other if they can see each other and they are indeed very capable jumpers.
 
As for the whole thing about them seeing each other, if i was you then i would just make sure it is not stressing them out too much (i have even heard a bit of flaring can keep some Betta's happy, though i can the testify as to the validity of those claims) though i would imagine that as long as they can break the line of sight to the other then they should be fine. Of course a lot of this all depends on the personality of your individual fish.
 
Also remember to keep a sharp eye out for any potential infection on the wounded fins, this should not happen if the water is clean and i would imagine it is even less likely if it is being treated with medication but it's better to be safe than sorry

 
I believe there is no way he could of jumped. There is at least a four inch gap between the water line and the top of the divider(It was meant for a 10g but I cut it down to size) I know for a fact there was a gap because that is how Poseidon got back to his side when he was laying on the gravel on Ezio's side. Ezio had liked to hang where the gap was due to the fact that is where a fake plant was, he probably went ooh whats this and went into Poseidon's side and you can probably guess what happened from there.
 
The line of sight can be broken for sure, they usually flare at each other for about 20 seconds then go on their way. Thank you for the suggestions and advice, I really do appreciate it
 

It may work, my guppies love to swim through the air curtain, whether your bettas will do the same I don't know. Worth a shot though

No worries.

Ezio gets the most current since he in on the side with filter. I can't tell if he likes it or not, if he didn't I'd assume he'd avoid it but he swims straight into it sometimes so I dunno haha. Thank you though!

 

[Paradise3]

What dividers do you use? If you use Penn Plax then keep checking them regularly. They tend to rot away after a bit sometimes.

 

[Timberbatch]

Oh jeez I think it was a Top Fin? Yeah I looked up a pic and it was for sure a Top fin.

 

[Paradise3]

If they have a mesh like thing in them like the pann plax ones then watch it. This has happened to a few people on the Betta Splendens group that I'm on. This is a photo taken by one of the women who's betta's had practically ripped each other to shreds because they were getting in and out of each others section through this.

 

[Timberbatch]

Holy crap! Yeah that is not the type I have. Mine is more of a metal mesh, kind of like a screen. Thanks for posting the pic though!

 

[Paradise3]

Holy crap! Yeah that is not the type I have. Mine is more of a metal mesh, kind of like a screen. Thanks for posting the pic though!

 
Okey Doke, was just letting you know and no problem. I think people need to be made aware just in case. I'm not saying it will happen to every single Penn Plax divider but it has happened quite a few times to different people with divided tanks.

 

[Timberbatch]

Man that is unfortunate