constant flaring

[keith565]

Hi Guys,
not sure if this is a silly question.
i have had my bettas for over 4 months now, most of them i keep in a single tank divided by glass partitions. up until now i have always kept male-female-male-female and so on, keeping up to 8 fish in each row. these tanks vary from 10 g to 16g.
now i have more males than females i was wondering if it is ok to keep males side by side with them being able to see each other?
would they constantly flare at each other, or get used to seeing each other.
any help would be much appreciated.
also, if this is not a good idea, any suggestions how to block their view.

many thanks
keith

 

[Joby]

I have males in divided tanks and at first they will go crazy and flare at eachother but settle down in a couple of days. I put a plant in each section so they have somewhere to go hide if they want some quiet time. Mine do flare at eachother still but seem to enjoy the stimulation, kind of "hey I'm a better stud than you" They've been like this some months and 2 have had succesful spawns already so it can't be all bad for them.

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

Mine get "mopey" if they can't see each other...Some bettas can't handle the stress of constantly seeing each other and will chew on their tail but as long as they aren't doing that I'd say let 'em look!

 

[Dart]

I have my 5 males in a little row in their kritter keepers and they don;t flair comstantly at one anther, it just happened occassionally. Usually when i change the water because i mix the order around and they realize each other all over again

 

[SRC]

I let mine see each other everyday (except sat/sun..I'm not here then) but I don't let them do it all the time. I've heard letting them flare constantly can damage their gill plates.

But umm.....did you mean that you have 8 fish in a 10gallon tank? That'd only be like 1/2 gal for each fish. Might wanna re-think that imho.

 

[keith565]

no, i probably didn't explain the tanks.
i have 5 tanks, smallest is 10 g. each tank is seperated into 4 6 or 8 compartments.
ie, 2x10g is 4 compartments, 2x12g is 5, 1x15g is 6 compartments. so minimum water for each fish is 2.5g
i have removed the larger tank (8 fish) to put in some breeding tanks.
hope that explains the setup better. )
each compartment is filtered and has some plant in for them to play with or sleep on.
thanks guys
site

 

[coconutman39]

what i do is i take an envelope or piece of paper folded long ways and poke a hole or two at water level, maybe a bit lower. put it inbetween them and when they go to grab a breath they will catch glimpses of one another, flare, but lose sight quickly and dont flare for extended periods of time. let me know what you do.

 

[splashluff]

But umm.....did you mean that you have 8 fish in a 10gallon tank?  That'd only be like 1/2 gal for each fish.  Might wanna re-think that imho. 

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. meheheh, you are SO sucky at maths SRC! and this is coming from some one who is uber-sucky at maths. 10/8 is greater than 1... that would leave, like, 1.2 gals for each Betta.

sorry, I just had to laugh at you How do you get 1/2gal each out of a 10g divided 8 times?... . Are you getting enough sleep?


um, sorry OP. I'm hi-jacking your thread ~_^... I know that a lot of people here house a bunch of boys together, side-by-side in a divided tank and don't have any problems. Just be carefuly about jumpers!! As far as I've seen, males flare almost as much at females as they do at other males. As long as your boys are pretty chill they should do well personally, I could never keep my 2 boys in a divided tank because my HM is a freak and he'd annihilate his own tail with that much stimulation.

 

[oneponygirl]

I know a lot of people do it but I've also heard from many breeders that it is too stressful for the males to be able to see each other all the time. I tried it for a week with my Pewter and Wraith. Wraith did fine but Pewter was so stressed (even though he had 8 gallons worth of the ten gallon divided tank and tons of places to hide) by the time I moved him both of us were miserable. Recently I got another male unexpectedly (why I didn't expect it when I was going to the LFS for something else, I'll never know) so I put him in the divided tank with Wraith. This time both of them seem kind of off. It's hard to tell if it's from seeing each other or the heat. The new guy may or may not have stress stripes, I can't tell easily because of his color and Wraith has lost part of his tail. Looks like he may have chewed it. I need to gind someplace for the new guy now. I should have known better.

 

[bkk_group]

it's been said time and again that using opaque dividers is the only way to go when housing males side by side. people in thailand just laugh at us here when they hear how we house our fish, no joke. i would only use clear dividers if i had females side by side. gahhd, your fish will be so much happier if they have a regular flare time, but that involves work on your (the owners) part in that you have to remove the cardboard divider once a day to let them see each other, i know, lots of work.

 

[bkk_group]

I let mine see each other everyday (except sat/sun..I'm not here then) but I don't let them do it all the time. I've heard letting them flare constantly can damage their gill plates.

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yes it's true, i have seen blown gillplates on fish who have been housed side by side for extended periods of time, not a pretty sight.

 

[SRC]

. meheheh, you are SO sucky at maths SRC! and this is coming from some one who is uber-sucky at maths. 10/8 is greater than 1... that would leave, like, 1.2 gals for each Betta.

[snapback]885129[/snapback]​

Be carefal at what you laugh...especially things you do not grasp...for fear of being laughed at in return.


The basic Fish Keeping theory is 1" of adult fish per 1 gallon of water (not including fins..body mass is considered only).

Most bettas are approx. 2.5" when fully mature (some are bigger, some are smaller but generally speaking 2.5" is the norm).

So if you have ( 8 ) 2.5" fish in a 10 gallon tank...

2.5" multiplied by 8 = 20. 10 divided by 20 = 0.5.

The way I see it..that leaves 1/2 gallon for each fish, theoretically speaking.

I have a 22 gallon tanks that houses 8 bettas, mine have 1.1 gallons each.

This isn't arithmatic/school house maths..it's fish bowl maths.

So laugh all you want, if you should so choose too.

**also a 10 gallon tank is generally 19.5" L x 10" w x 12" H...to divide tha tup into 8....the sections would have to be 2.44"L x 10'W x 12"H .

  Recently I got another male unexpectedly (why I didn't expect it when I was going to the LFS for something else, I'll never know) so I put him in the divided tank with Wraith.  This time both of them seem kind of off.  It's hard to tell if it's from seeing each other or the heat.  The new guy may or may not have stress stripes, I can't tell easily because of his color and Wraith has lost part of his tail.  Looks like he may have chewed it.  I need to gind someplace for the new guy now.  I should have known better.

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Why not buy some opaque plexiglass, have it cut to fit inside your tank, and glue it in. You can drill soem small holes init before glueing it in..so the water still flows through, but they can't"really" see each other..just put plants all along the divider.

 

[oneponygirl]

I tried opaque, even just seeing the other fishes silhouette caused him to flare. This is true with Pewter, not Wraith. Wraith doesn't seem to care who is around him. He must know he's the biggest betta on the block and doesn't have to act up.

The new guy behaves the same as Pewter, I don't think either one are suitable for divided tanks. It's too bad, both Pewter and the new guy have gorgeous tails that look like they have huge potential (they are not veiltails) and I wish I could afford to house each of them in the big tanks but since they won't settle down their going to have to go in 1 or 2 gallons max. I can't afford as many big tanks as I would like.

 

[lljdma06]

I have clear partitions in my divided tanks, but I don't have so many compartments. There are only 3 male bettas in my 10gallon and 2 in my 15. In addition my tanks tend to be heavily planted, not just one or two. The 10, in my opinion is a little thinly planted now, but I will remedy that when my favorite LFS gets plants in on Friday. I also tend to look for mellow, rather than agressive fish, as these tend to cohabitate better under those circumstances. It takes me awhile, therefore, to find a betta I like. Fassolt and Fafner, were held for me a week and I would visit them before I finally committed to buying them. But the LFS knows me by name, and I can afford to be that picky.