My poor little Liza :(

[BettaMomma]

Poor little Liza.
She was picked on from day one.
She was the smaller and weaker one and got chased around by Cloey (the bigger of the 2 that I tried to put into the 5G hex tank together). Well, ever since her overnight experience getting chased all over tarnation by Cloey, I took them both out, got a 10G tank, well planted with lots of hiding spaces, got 3 other fish and then put them all in.

Everybody is doing just fine and is feisty as ever, except little Liza. I coudln't find her the other day and when she finally made an appearance to come up for air, I noticed that half her tail fin was missing and several chunks were gone from her under fin. I took her out right away and placed her into some tank water in a small fish bowl. I put a drop of stress coat in and tossed in a couple grains of salt.

She has not eaten since I got her 7 days ago. She swims around like she's perfectly happy now that she's in the little bowl - when she was in the big tank she had clamped fins all the time. She still isn't eating, even in the little bowl.

I am not quite sure what to do with her.
Oh, and now not only is Cloey a big nasty bully, but Millie has also decided to give ruling the tank a try. I think she's in a neck and neck run with Cloey for "Tank queen" - but either way, they're both nasties and they just LOOOOVE to chase and harrass the smaller girls.

What to do with Liza?? Suggestions?

 

[Colisa lalia]

I would try tempting her with some frozen or live food, but I would try changing the water every day, just a little, to make sure that the tank water is fresh. Other than that its really up to her whether she feeds or not.

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Poor girly!

Maybe she's just a timid little gal who would prefer to be by herself....I'm sure there's some of those in every species....LOL, I've got a horse who's like that...'clamps her fins' if she has to deal with anyone else....

Hmmm.....maybe ya gotta find room for a bowl now do ya?

Hey, got some pics to share with you, but don't know if you check Email when you're not at work. It's actually a link....if ya Email me I'll send it to ya!

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, I guess I'll just keep giving her water changes.
It seems like now that she's gone from the tank, the two nasty girls have become even more nasty, now with each having one prime target to chase.

Is it even conceivable that I should consider getting one or two more to put into the tank with the girls that are already in there?
I just feel bad for the 2 smaller girls because they're constantly getting harrassed too.

Man, women can be such hags.
lol

OOooOOOoOOooOOH pictures....
I'm going to go check email right now then.
Send away!!!

 

[GrullaQuarters]

I 'think' I PM'd you? If it worked, the link should be there....

 

[BettaMomma]

Just got it - gonna go open it now

 

[Kiarra]

One thing I tried when I had an extremely aggressive female in a community tank was to put the mean one in a divided tank with a male I knew to be aggressive. He couldn't get to her, but she spent the night staring at him as he did his very best to get to her. The next morning, I put her back in her tank, and she hasn't fought with anyone at all since. I'm not entirely sure why this worked, but it seems to have solved my problem.

 

[lovebuzz]

You could try separating them all for some time then re-introducing them , Liza first and Chloey last. This way Chloey may feel like a stranger and not be so aggressive. Not guaranteed though.

 

[BettaMomma]

I'm guessing that at this point if I just put LIza back into the tank she'd be severely picked on, correct?

 

[Raechal]

She is JUST like my little girl, Pea Princess. I first had her in a 29 gallon community with no other bettas and she constantly had stress bars and was REALLY thin. I hadn't seen her eat for weeks. So I found an empty 10 gallon stashed away and I cleaned it out really good and decorated it all nice for her and her stress bars went away within an hour of me putting her in her own tank. She gobbled up everything I put in the tank, especially peas (hence her name). Now she is in a 1 gallon kritter keeper and she is growing finally. Once she gets a little bigger I may put her in the 120 gallon, but I think she is perfectly happy where she is right now. I just think some fish need to be by themselves. She'll probably be better off by herself.

 

[Kiarra]

She'd be the new girl, which, essentially, means that, yes, in all likelihood, she would be picked on.

Perhaps put her back in and pull out her two tormentors? Make them live away from their tankmates for a day or two, and then put them back in the tank, so THEY'D the new girls.

 

[BettaMomma]

I think I may just get her her very own little tank.
The poor little dear is now in a 1/2G fish bowl - pressed up against the glass in the girls' big tank, in the hopes that that will keep her tank a teeny bit warm.
She stares into the big tank like she wants to go back.
When other fish swim by, she follows them.
But... she wasn't happy in that tank. Her fins were always clamped and she was always hiding. And when she emerged for the last time before I pulled her out, half her tail fin and part of her bottom fins were chewed up.
I might get her one of those little 1G AquaClear triangle tanks and put her in the kitchen at my house with a little live plant and a little airstone.
She deserves to be in something better than that bare stupid little fishbowl.
Besides, the other girls are already growing like weeds so they now are even more big than she is.

She STILL has not eaten.
I'm going to try to pick up some live bloodworms today and see if that will get her going. She looks at food and then swims on by.
I've tried freeze dried blood worms, daphnia and pellets.
NOTHING.
Also maybe if I move her away from the big tank maybe she'll focus on other things besides all the girls swimmin in that HUGE tank right in front of her face...?

 

[Raechal]

I think I may just get her her very own little tank.
The poor little dear is now in a 1/2G fish bowl - pressed up against the glass in the girls' big tank, in the hopes that that will keep her tank a teeny bit warm.
She stares into the big tank like she wants to go back.
When other fish swim by, she follows them.
But... she wasn't happy in that tank. Her fins were always clamped and she was always hiding. And when she emerged for the last time before I pulled her out, half her tail fin and part of her bottom fins were chewed up.
I might get her one of those little 1G AquaClear triangle tanks and put her in the kitchen at my house with a little live plant and a little airstone.
She deserves to be in something better than that bare stupid little fishbowl.
Besides, the other girls are already growing like weeds so they now are even more big than she is.

She STILL has not eaten.
I'm going to try to pick up some live bloodworms today and see if that will get her going. She looks at food and then swims on by.
I've tried freeze dried blood worms, daphnia and pellets.
NOTHING.
Also maybe if I move her away from the big tank maybe she'll focus on other things besides all the girls swimmin in that HUGE tank right in front of her face...?

My little girl is in a 1 gallon kritter keeper now with a small cave and a live plant and she is doing great! She is next to Angus's 1.5 gallon bowl with a piece of colored paper in between them that I can remove to let them flare for a little for entertainment. When I first isolated her into her 10 gallon I would put some freeze-dried bloodworms in there as all of my boys and girls LOVE them, but she just swam up to the top and looked like she was going to eat it, but just stared at it and swam off. I then dropped a pea into the water and she dove after it and started picking off pieces and really ripping into it, shaking her head and all. I found out she likes to take rather big pieces from the surface, drag them under the water, shake them around a bit, and then eat them. I was crushing her food up really small as I thought that would be easier for her.

She really liked the tubifex worms I gave her. They are like cubed and they come in a little canister. I would break off a chunk and put it in her tank and she'd drag it under water and rip it to shreds.

Hope Liza gets better and starts eating. You could try moving her. Maybe she is just too entertained by looking at the other fish to even focus on her food.

 

[BettaMomma]

Oooh - I might try the pea idea tonight.
I will move her from the tank, too.
She seems to be swimming around just fine, she's not clamping her fins anymore and I have noticed some new regrowth with the sparkly water she's been getting, so we'll see. I'm thinking she'll have to be a loner for quite a while.

 

[BettaMomma]

Well, Liza has her new little home setup. She has a 1/2 gallon fish bowl with gravel, a couple of beach pebbles and a plant in it. She seems to not mind it too much - she's swimming all over the place. And she's parked in the kitchen.

She still hasn't eaten - she passed up blood worms, pellets and daphnia.
I'm gonna cook up some peas in a second. We also have a big bellied boy at our house because *AHEM* I think someone was overfeeding him. (NOT me).