Grumpy Betta and pregnant swortail!

[debsmd]

Two problems! Have just got a betta who is chasing one of my dwarf gouramis ( the male?) relentlessly. I guess he thinks it's another fighter? Anyway, I only have one tank. I have isolated Betta for the moment but am scared to put him back in the community tank as I have been reading other postings about bettas finishing off gouramis and swordtails within days. I also have in the 10L tank another dwarf gourami, 2 swortails, one plec, 11 neons, 5 zebra danios. Help...

In addition, I have a pregnant swortail. Think she is almost due so had put her in the isolation chamber but she got so stressed and bashed herself against the plastic so I took her out again. Is it better to leave her in the main tank and expect the fry to be eaten or to isolate her (and the betta!) but have her get stressed.

Help! I am now stressed. Thought this was supposed to be relaxing...

 

[playfulalliecat]

I am not surprised at the Betta and Dwarf Gourami not getting along. The species are too similar to live peacefully under most circumstances. I for one, am not really for putting a betta in a community tank. It has been my experience that they are very susceptible to disease after years of inbreeding and being a "fighting" fish will attack other colorful fish, thus limiting the type of community they can live in.

As for the pregnant swordtail, what kind of contraption did you put her in? We move our platys to a 10 gallon maternity tank when they are getting near time. This way they have plenty of room to swim about and its not that stressful on them. Around here in the US, you can pick up a decent 10 gallon setup with filter, heater, light and hood for around $40. Not too bad considering we now have around 30 platy fry in one of ours and around 30 Christmas fulu fry in the other one. Do you have lots of hiding places in the community tank for the fry? They are very very good at hiding in plants and stuff so if you have plenty of spaces, you might get a few to good size. I really recommend if you want to keep them, then get another tank for them and put in some plants, we use artificial mostly but have some anachris in there as the fry like to nip at them. Even in a seperate maternity tank, hiding places are a must to be able to get away from the mother. Another thing to look at is do you want to keep them or sell/give them away? With them having babies on average every 28 days, you can quickly be overrun with fry!

 

[debsmd]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm in the UK so a 10 tank and heater/filter etc. comes in at about £50-70. We're new at this so wasn't really expecing loads of fry (bad advice) or extra tanks...I'd put the swordtail in a plastic floating fish hatchery from the store. Not very good. Think I may need to get another little tank but still have the betta problem. Maybe I'll try to take him back to the store.

 

[Angel Lady]

The a very nice 1 gallon tank for about 10 bucks that makes a betta very happy they arent used to big tanks any way those frys will come every 28 days or so trust me you will have more than you are ready for in a few months time anyways I know this sounds mean but I am around the 150 mark on guppies and mollies and I am just going to start leaving them in thier big tank when they have them from now on I cant handle them all I dont have anymore room and the lady at the lfs already has someone to buy her fish from so I cant even give them away now if anyone on this forum would like some mollies and guppie fry if you pay shipping charges you are more than welcome to them.